Selling my Cali

[daveTT]

I am thinking of trading in my Cali for a Mercedes Devon motorhome am I mad
The wife is finding the Cali a little small but I love the way it drives so am a little reluctant

 

[Calincolnshire]

The in-laws have a merc Autosleeper and it is great but its huge in comparison . Certainly not as car like as the Cali. Dash especially is more commercial. It's a different beast in my opinion not wrong but different. Cali fits our lifestyle and we use it as a normal car . The Devon is a motorhome and not quite at home in tesco carpark. To be fair we make may make the switch to motorhome at some point but not for some time (reteriment)

 

[2into1]

I sympathise as I walk the fine line between campervan and motorhome with my LWB high hard top Westfalia.
I personally found the pop-top short wheel base campers just too small. I had to take a drive away awning to make enough room, but then you are almost camping, worrying about packing away wet gear.
I love my van. There is no boot like in the pop tops, but there is loads of storage, so everything has it's place (not in a box in the boot). I get a built in loo and a fully insulated hardtop. You of course trade off looks / driveability and convenience (2nd car use).
Every choice brings huge compromises. You can't avoid them. All you can do is understand the compromises and choose the van that best suits what you want to do with it.
I don't know the budget you are working to, but do perhaps have a look at the new Westfalia Joker (the modern version of mine). It may work for you.
If it has to be bigger, the James Cook Westfalia on the Mercedes is a fantastic piece of kit, but only in LHD. With the Westy's, you'll still recognise much of the kit / design from your Cali.

 

[daveTT]

Thanks for your replies guys I hadn't thought about the joker. It really will be a sad day if I do let the Cali go but I do need to think about the both of us. The toilet is the main think for us as we
Are getting on in years and can't manage to go through the night. Food for thought

 

[Retiredron]

I agree with all Wilupo7 has said, after years of VW camper vans we have ended up with a bit more comfort but still refer to it as a VW camper van :cool
Ron.

 

[Calimark]

Check out the Globecar Roadscout R which is made by Dethleffs. It is only 5.4m long and is almost the same width as the Cali. It comes with a toilet, shower and a rear fixed large double bed and an option for a large single 3rd bed. Loads of storage and is cheaper than the Cali. I recently old my Cali and I am very tempted by this one. It also has the option of a raised roof if you need to sleep 4 or 5. At 5.4m it is ok to park and it is well insulated for winter camping.

Quite a good alternative to the Cali if you dont need it as a daily car.

 

[2into1]

Quite a good alternative to the Cali if you dont need it as a daily car

Or if you are not 6'4" tall! When I looked at other van conversions, most of the beds were squeezed in across (not down) the van, which means lanky type like me simply can't fit in them.

 

[Calimark]

The double bed Is 1.96 x 1.4 which Is pretty good.

 

[2into1]

The double bed Is 1.96 x 1.4 which Is pretty good.

6' 4", that is good for transverse beds. Quite how they get that in the same van that most can only achieve 5'11" I'm not sure. That's the first transverse bedded van I could fit into!

 

[Calimark]

I agree. I am about the same height as you and it is one of the reasons this van was on my radar. They have a 95ltr water tank (both) so showering Is very possible. They are Also branded as Possl in europe. Check out some of the youtube vida on them.

 

[Hubert]

They are Also branded as Possl in europe.

I think Possl make the vans for quite a number of the German companies, with slightly different trims for the different brands.

The Autosleeper Topaz sounds good, until you look at the meagre storage facilities, we couldn't fit in what little we take away.

Hubert

 

[daveTT]

Thank you all for replying this is a difficult dilemma as I love the Cali. Some very good point made
I don't think I will change until at least the spring so plenty of time to decide.
Thanks again Dave

 

[Anonymous]

We have had many campers vans and 3 calis
We moved over to motorhome too as the mrs wanted more room and comfort, I must say its fantastic around Europe ect and in cold British weather,the amount of times we had to put the roof down in our Cali due to wind wasn't funny atall at 3am.i love the calis but we went up in the Vw family to a t5 gp Karmann motorhome stunning we have a small van to so best of both worlds
No regrets

 

[KernowLad]

Blimey - the Topaz makes the Cali looks like a bargain - £57k and only a 140 engine and no 4Motion?! And brown trim...

 

[Freeley]

We have had many campers vans and 3 calis
We moved over to motorhome too as the mrs wanted more room and comfort, I must say its fantastic around Europe ect and in cold British weather,the amount of times we had to put the roof down in our Cali due to wind wasn't funny atall at 3am.i love the calis but we went up in the Vw family to a t5 gp Karmann motorhome stunning we have a small van to so best of both worlds
No regrets

Those karmann's look amazing - I ordered the brochure for a browse before we bought our cali but they were serious money! There was no chance of us buying one of those sadly.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Iain&Shani]

We are also in a similar pending sale scenario! Our long term plan has always to move up to a motorhome circa Sept 14 but we are seriously researching currently and are heading to the next show at the NEC! SWMBO has said......."If we see what we want---we'll get it!"

I love the Cali and what it has given us but............

I think you might see a third Berg on the boards sooner rather than later!

 

[calikev]

That's a shame Iain :cry: :cry:

 

[Martin]

Everyone is leaving us Kev :?

Be sad to see you go Iain ... We actually did things the other way round, we went from two different size motorhomes before settling for the Cali .. I guess in an ideal world we need a Tardis style Cali !

 

[KernowLad]

That's a shame; a proper Cali stalwart leaving us :-(

 

[Calimark]

We are also in a similar pending sale scenario! Our long term plan has always to move up to a motorhome circa Sept 14 but we are seriously researching currently and are heading to the next show at the NEC! SWMBO has said......."If we see what we want---we'll get it!"

I love the Cali and what it has given us but............

I think you might see a third Berg on the boards sooner rather than later!

When you are at the NEC, check out the Globecar Roadscout R (only 5.4m long). Check out this youtube video of the equivalent Possl version (exactly the same as the Globecar Roadscout R).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgo0tAQXSJ0[/youtube]

 

[Anonymous]

Thinking about selling the Karmann in the near
Future,sore subject but we don't get to use it as we should due to
Work.....so freeley you prob could afford one lol.180 dsg gp model its a fantastic motorhome

 

[Iain&Shani]

Cheers chaps. We've really enjoyed using it and I felt we were pretty near getting it right in terms of what we took and where we stayed. However that shouldn't be lost when we move up to something bigger!