Should I wait???

[neilhop76]

Hi all!

I've just returned from a week in a rented campervan (T5 Cali, 180 4 motion manual - devon cool campers). We had a great time and my family are now pressurizing me to look into buying a van.

I just have a couple of queries that I thought you may be able to help me with...

1) We are a 2 car family. We'll keep the small car (Suzuki Swift). I just wondered what the California was like in use as a day-to-day car? Is it much bother?

2) I've read that there is a new T6 on its way. Anybody know when? Will it take long before the T6 gets the Cali treatment?

Anyhow, I think I've well and truly resigned myself to the California. It will be great here in Cornwall for weekends by the beach!

Neil

 

[Martin]

Hi and welcome,

We originally purchased our Cali just for camping and days out but I ended up using it all the time and the car just sat on the drive depreciating, so I sold the car and have no regrets at all as I now only have one lot of insurance and road tax to pay for.

As for the T6 ... this is due at some point but you could be waiting a few years and in that time you could be out having fun in your Cali.

 

[swigle]

Hi Neil

My Cali was always going to be my daily driver.

A few points I considered and accepted were:

- Fuel consumption. I decided not to fret to much about it. I get low 20's round town (lots of short journeys, in the 30 - 40 mph range), but that shoots up to mid 30's as soon as a a 50 mile motorway trip is thrown in to the mix. So it is costing me more in fuel, but given the size of the tank (80 litres), I don't have to fill up that often, so the pain is that bit less!

- Vehicle length, in relation to parking. Initially I was over cautious, resulting in a lot of suitable parking spots being passed up, opting for a longer walk from the more spacious spot further up the road. Given the choice, I still aim for the empty bit of the carpark, but am now much less phased by going for the last spot in the carpark. The front and rear parking sensors are a godsend and highly recommended!

- Vehicle height. This remains my only issue. I will NOT go anywhere near a 2m height sign, so multi storey carparks are out, and so are quite a lot of surface carparks (v. annoying!). So trips to a new town centre usually start of with an extra 15 mins trying to find a suitable carpark.

Steve

 

[RobdeBear]

I use our 174 4motion on the daily run to the office and get 33 mpg going in and 27 coming home. I find the narrowness of parking spaces more of an issue than anything else as I'm a bit podgy and have to park nearer to one side of some bays that I would like in order to be able to get out - although I 'could' use the sliding door, of course.

Height-wise (no roof bars) 2M is no problem at all and we have found plenty of underground and multistorey car parks both here and in Europe to be fine - although it pays to do your research on the internet before traveling. Forget 1.9M I'm afraid but 2M is fine. My concern there is with the tightness of the turns in some multistoreys but that's not something you're going to find out until you're in there I'm afraid.

One thing that did freak me out though was getting off-route in Paris and finding ourselves in the lowest road tunnel I have ever seen arond La Batterie. Although we were OK I was absolutely convinced we were going to clunk the roof and this thing seemed to go on forever, with people whizzing past us and those behind totally unimpressed by my cautious progress. It was like going through a warp tunnel or something in a sci-fi movie and really unsettling.

If you want to have a break at lunchtime the Cali can be a nice place to escape to with a cool drink and relaxing in comfort listening to Radio 4 or something nice on the stereo, watching the world go past outside oblivious of your presence.

Yeah, go for it!

 

[James]

I use our 174 4motion on the daily run to the office and get 33 mpg going in and 27 coming home. I find the narrowness of parking spaces more of an issue than anything else as I'm a bit podgy and have to park nearer to one side of some bays that I would like in order to be able to get out - although I 'could' use the sliding door, of course.

Height-wise (no roof bars) 2M is no problem at all and we have found plenty of underground and multistorey car parks both here and in Europe to be fine - although it pays to do your research on the internet before traveling. Forget 1.9M I'm afraid but 2M is fine. My concern there is with the tightness of the turns in some multistoreys but that's not something you're going to find out until you're in there I'm afraid.

One thing that did freak me out though was getting off-route in Paris and finding ourselves in the lowest road tunnel I have ever seen arond La Batterie. Although we were OK I was absolutely convinced we were going to clunk the roof and this thing seemed to go on forever, with people whizzing past us and those behind totally unimpressed by my cautious progress. It was like going through a warp tunnel or something in a sci-fi movie and really unsettling.

If you want to have a break at lunchtime the Cali can be a nice place to escape to with a cool drink and relaxing in comfort listening to Radio 4 or something nice on the stereo, watching the world go past outside oblivious of your presence.

Yeah, go for it!

I thought it was only me who spent lunchbreaks in the Cali? It's great, got the mobile router, coolbox and a comfy seat

Great everyday vehicle, easier in some respects than a car

James

 

[NickE]

We've always been a one car family, and now we've bought the Cali we're selling our Passat Estate. The Cali has proved to be quite managable in London traffic and parking. Make sure you get those parking sensors though!

 

[MisterTea]

+1 for those parking sensors. They r Priceless!

I'd also endorse the point above about not waiting for T6. a) because you will miss out on all those fab days, weekends, holidays you could have enjoyed with your Cali today (every week we get at least one memorable enjoyable moment in our Cali that we wouldn't in a car) and b) if you start waiting for the next model now, you'll always regret it when a new facelifted model or minor enhancement comes out in the future. My view is get one now and make it part of your life such that you will want to grow old with it and won't want to change it.

Each van I've had (thats 3 now) has given me great memories. And I hated saying goodby to them. The first I had for nearly 20yrs. The second for nearly 10. And this one I hope to keep for 20.

 

[James]

Can't be sure there will be a T6 California.

There are a number of possibilities, firstly, simply put, there could be a T6 California but equally there may not be.

The California is a complex vehicle and will it be worthwhile for VW to produce another. They could simply produce the Beach or something similar.

Also, what will the next generation of VW Commerical vehicles be? VW could base the California on something aside from the T6, maybe the much fabled and often flirted with Microbus project.

Buy one now, enjoy it, it will keep its value well

James

 

[choplee]

Basically there's no reason to wait ... If you want a Cali and you have the budget then get one ... Simples

 

[Paulro]

I think it's all about getting value in terms of quality time in the van.
We have had ours for 2 years and for a year used it as our only vehicle which wasn't a problem. The only problem was that we didn't use it as much as we should in the way for which it was designed.
I'd say if you will get some use from it that really can improve your quality of life then its something you should really consider. They are superb vehicles and you become really attached to them.

 

[caligraphy]

You could buy a 2nd hand T5 then you wont lose that huge chunk of money as you drive it out of the showroom. Our 174HP T5 is the same amount of fun as our old 102HP T4 just newer (and a lot more powerful). The T5 pre-facelift is cheaper and the only real change is the engine. I prefer the proven 2.5 unit anyway. You can buy a 2nd hand one from a dealer with warranty (as we did) or take over an existing warranty from a private seller. These forums can tell you much about what to look out for. On the pre-facelift T5 the only real problem was a bad earth shunt which could leave batteries prematurely dead (700 quid to replace). Most would have had that fixed under warranty.

We drove our T4 as our day to day car but the T5 only does duty in summer. We live in rural Sussex and I drive 44 miles of mostly single lane backroads. Width is an issue as I need to fold the mirrors for much of it (Land Rovers at the same height). Mud, deep puddles, ice and snow mean I prefer our BMW X3 with winter tyres in cold weather. Manual is cheaper and less likely to have an expensive fix. The more powerful engines mean fewer gear changes. Mine lugs up most things in 5th or 6th gear. Bucket loads of low down grunt.

My fuel economy is usually 40+ mpg, down to 30+ for severe stop start. On my daily run on back roads (summer only) up down hills and having to pull off the road for other cars I still average 40-44 mpg but that may be driving technique (change early using the engine's torque, crawl in stop/start using only idle speed, avoid braking by anticipating). Any hard acceleration and revving will kill consumption on such a heavy beast The real time MPG reading is a good tool for tuning driving habits.