So many Issues!

[tobydogplaystation]

Can i first say how informative and helpful the answers to members problems are.
Having owned a t5 conversion for 9 years without any serious concerns, I decided to go for the California ocean , confident that being a factory produced item the quality would be better than my old model. I am so far very satisfied with the vehicle but concerned by the number of faults raised by members i am beginning to wonder if i have made the right choice. Can a few satisfied members happy with their new purchase raise their hands to put my mind at rest.

 

[Brodger3]

I have the same concerns trading in my T5 Caravelle for a new T6.1 Beach Tour. The Caravelle has been totally reliable and very robust inside and out with standing three kids. I have camped in it a number of times and it has stood up to the kids abuse. I did not go for the full camper as their is more for them to break. Reading the forum it appears that lots of stuff breaks or goes wrong without any help from small kids.

 

[WelshGas]

Can i first say how informative and helpful the answers to members problems are.
Having owned a t5 conversion for 9 years without any serious concerns, I decided to go for the California ocean , confident that being a factory produced item the quality would be better than my old model. I am so far very satisfied with the vehicle but concerned by the number of faults raised by members i am beginning to wonder if i have made the right choice. Can a few satisfied members happy with their new purchase raise their hands to put my mind at rest.

I have the same concerns trading in my T5 Caravelle for a new T6.1 Beach Tour. The Caravelle has been totally reliable and very robust inside and out with standing three kids. I have camped in it a number of times and it has stood up to the kids abuse. I did not go for the full camper as their is more for them to break. Reading the forum it appears that lots of stuff breaks or goes wrong without any help from small kids.

By the very nature of Web Forums, they attract the complaints and failings of any product. They never attract the praise as those owners are out enjoying their purchase.
If you want the perfect vehicle then you would be paying 10 x as much. Even Roll Royce, Aston Martin etc have warranties and they cost a lot more than a California and do a lot less.

 

[SteveBristol123]

As WelshGas says - forums aren’t a balanced guide. It’s a very helpful place to post and get help when you have a problem hence the volume of stuff here where people report any issues they are having.

 

[BeeBee]

California Ocean T6, bought new from Liverpool VW and now starting our 5th year of ownership. Definitely a complex vehicle so lots could be problematic, but for us nothing really major has gone awry.
During the last service, cam belt and water pump replacement ( as is required ) we did feel this was an expensive requirement and on a less complex vehicle would probably have questioned its need. There was a wee ‘ad blue’ issue resolved under warranty at this point, which I’ve noticed mentioned previously on the forum.
The only other issue has been a small ‘star lock’ from the underside table leg fixing which we hope to resolve ourselves.
We don’t have kids in the van, but we do have a big boisterous Labrador, not a chewer I might add, so I guess there are lots of us who have as relatively carefree travel as one could hope for nowadays.
We cook, eat, sleep, day trips and holiday in our van and try not to worry about ‘issues’.
We have however learned so much from the forum, including what ‘could be problematic’ and also the possible ‘fixes’.
Enjoy the journey.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

California Ocean T6, bought new from Liverpool VW and now starting our 5th year of ownership. Definitely a complex vehicle so lots could be problematic, but for us nothing really major has gone awry.
During the last service, cam belt and water pump replacement ( as is required ) we did feel this was an expensive requirement and on a less complex vehicle would probably have questioned its need. There was a wee ‘ad blue’ issue resolved under warranty at this point, which I’ve noticed mentioned previously on the forum.
The only other issue has been a small ‘star lock’ from the underside table leg fixing which we hope to resolve ourselves.
We don’t have kids in the van, but we do have a big boisterous Labrador, not a chewer I might add, so I guess there are lots of us who have as relatively carefree travel as one could hope for nowadays.
We cook, eat, sleep, day trips and holiday in our van and try not to worry about ‘issues’.
We have however learned so much from the forum, including what ‘could be problematic’ and also the possible ‘fixes’.
Enjoy the journey.

If you had your Cambelt and water pump replaced very recently then it didn’t need doing unless your mileage was very high.
VW new criteria is now replace every “10 years” or 160k miles.
It’s been a terrific money spinner for VW but now they have been sussed and had to admit they were wrong. Now the UK is the Same as the rest of Europe.

 

[Californication69]

Can i first say how informative and helpful the answers to members problems are.
Having owned a t5 conversion for 9 years without any serious concerns, I decided to go for the California ocean , confident that being a factory produced item the quality would be better than my old model. I am so far very satisfied with the vehicle but concerned by the number of faults raised by members i am beginning to wonder if i have made the right choice. Can a few satisfied members happy with their new purchase raise their hands to put my mind at rest.

New 6.1, 8 months old now, and absolulty love it.
No issues apart from maybe a bad starter motor battery. Warranty for 5 years. Some free services.
Amazing “can do everything” vehicle.
So 100% satisfied.

 

[andyinluton]

I am so far very satisfied with the vehicle but concerned by the number of faults raised by members i am beginning to wonder if i have made the right choice. Can a few satisfied members happy with their new purchase raise their hands to put my mind at rest.

We are on our 3rd Ocean & have covered a total of about 100,000 miles in just under 10 years in them.

We've had the following go wrong:

1st van rear brake light fell out - ended it up being fixed by VW as part of a campaign
Side door latch needed replacement - £35 off ebay for parts
2nd van - an early T6.1 had trouble with roof sagging, took 3 visits but fixed properly in the end
Current van - nothing wrong with it.

We have camped with up to 4 kids in the van over the years & have yet to break any part of the trim.

As others have said a forum does concentrate on problems rather than happy people with perfect vans. When you've got one person with three faults commenting on each fault & three or four separate threads running on each of those faults it soon makes it look like every van has lots of problems.

Currently there are about 20 people with leaking roofs, it is a real problem for those with a leak but VW will come up with a solution, It has already been suggested on another forum that a revision has been made to the bellows design.

At the end of the day there are thousands of happy campers and relatively few with problems.

 

[BeeBee]

If you had your Cambelt and water pump replaced very recently then it didn’t need doing unless your mileage was very high.
VW new criteria is now replace every “10 years” or 160k miles.
It’s been a terrific money spinner for VW but now they have been sussed and had to admit they were wrong. Now the UK is the Same as the rest of Europe.

Back in April, so I’m guessing it was still relevant .Looks like we just missed out !

 

[Corradobrit]

Newish MY23 Cali Coast Edition 204HP 4Mo with new bellows. After 5k+ km I can say I am very happy. Yes it has a couple of minor niggles that I might expect for any new vehicle eg a few drips of water entering along the tailgate seal. This should be an easy fix with seal adjustment or adding an additional secondary seal. No biggie. I do have concern about the bellows issue but so far no leaking. I expect a proper fix will be available if I get one.

 

[WelshGas]

If you had your Cambelt and water pump replaced very recently then it didn’t need doing unless your mileage was very high.
VW new criteria is now replace every “10 years” or 160k miles.
It’s been a terrific money spinner for VW but now they have been sussed and had to admit they were wrong. Now the UK is the Same as the rest of Europe.

This is my email from VWUK.

I have asked for clarification regarding the milage difference.



Re: Volkswagen Biturbo California SE- Service interval

Dear Mr Woodsford

Thank you for getting in contact with me at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle UK, regarding the service interval for cambelt change for the above-mentioned vehicle. I apologise for the delay in response.

Please find requested information below:

Recommended interval for cambelt is between 40.000 and 100.000 miles.

I hope this information and update on the case 04060209 proves useful.

You may receive a Customer Satisfaction Survey via email. This is solely a reflection on the service that I have provided. I would be grateful if you have the time to complete this, as it will help me to provide the best customer experience possible.

Should you require any further assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to get in direct contact with me on the contact details below.

Thanks for reaching out to me at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle UK.

Kind regards

Aldene C. Fredericks Customer Relations Advisor

T: 0800 7834 909 E: customercare@vwcv.co.uk Volkswagen UK Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Yeomans Drive Blakelands Milton Keynes MK14 5AN www.volkswagen.co.uk

 

[Corradobrit]

If you had your Cambelt and water pump replaced very recently then it didn’t need doing unless your mileage was very high.
VW new criteria is now replace every “10 years” or 160k miles.
It’s been a terrific money spinner for VW but now they have been sussed and had to admit they were wrong. Now the UK is the Same as the rest of Europe.

Bad timing, the service was completed just before the announcement

 

[larrylamb]

Recommended interval for cambelt is between 40.000 and 100.000 miles.

About as vague as you can get from VW.
No age related interval now?

 

[Ozzy Pete]

This is my email from VWUK.

I have asked for clarification regarding the milage difference.



Re: Volkswagen Biturbo California SE- Service interval

Dear Mr Woodsford

Thank you for getting in contact with me at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle UK, regarding the service interval for cambelt change for the above-mentioned vehicle. I apologise for the delay in response.

Please find requested information below:

Recommended interval for cambelt is between 40.000 and 100.000 miles.

I hope this information and update on the case 04060209 proves useful.

You may receive a Customer Satisfaction Survey via email. This is solely a reflection on the service that I have provided. I would be grateful if you have the time to complete this, as it will help me to provide the best customer experience possible.

Should you require any further assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to get in direct contact with me on the contact details below.

Thanks for reaching out to me at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle UK.

Kind regards

Aldene C. Fredericks Customer Relations Advisor

T: 0800 7834 909 E: customercare@vwcv.co.uk Volkswagen UK Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Yeomans Drive Blakelands Milton Keynes MK14 5AN www.volkswagen.co.uk

Between 40k and 100k miles means absolutely nothing. Is it 40k or is it 100k or is it 10 years. This “could” mean on a transporter used for deliveries which does a high mileage then replacement every year. Or it could mean for someone like myself with 27k miles after 8 years another 5 years.
What we really need is a positive answer for years and miles.

 

[Corradobrit]

Between 40k and 100k miles means absolutely nothing. Is it 40k or is it 100k or is it 10 years. This “could” mean on a transporter used for deliveries which does a high mileage then replacement every year. Or it could mean for someone like myself with 27k miles after 8 years another 5 years.
What we really need is a positive answer for years and miles.

To me that means check the belt every 10K. They rarely fail without some indicator such as cracks in the rubber. The belts are reinforced so a few minor cracks are not an indicator of imminent disaster.

 

[GrannyJen]

In answer to the OP:

I had a California Ocean and an SE for 8 years.

In that 8 years I drove over 100,000 miles and over 500 nights camping.

I had an intermittent leisure battery charging problem that never stopped me using the thing and was resolved in 3 months of trial and testing:

I had an electric door motor fail on me.

This is a summary of my problems.

As others have said, social media forums are a magnet for people to air complaints and problems and tend to over emphasise issues. Rarely does someone burst on to a forum to say "my camper is the very best thing since sliced bread" but I have done so many times despite not eating sliced bread

The California is an excellent vehicle in my experience.

 

[dspuk]

I am so far very satisfied with the vehicle

Looks like you answered your own question - I’d be happy with your clear satisfaction TBH and not worry too much about others problems.

As others have said, people come to forums to complain more than praise.

We’ve had zero issues.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

To me that means check the belt every 10K. They rarely fail without some indicator such as cracks in the rubber. The belts are reinforced so a few minor cracks are not an indicator of imminent disaster.

To me it means that VW UK tried to be too greedy. At servicing VW say that they check the cambelt so that’s a given.
They got it wrong and then try to wriggle out of what they have been telling us to do for the last 20 + years.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

We have had a number of problems with ours some fixed under warranty and others we have paid for ourselves.
We have had both leisure batteries replaced under warranty. The awning came apart at the seam and we paid a third for a replacement as we were 6 months out of warranty. We had lacquer lift off the front and rear bumpers at exactly the same time and VW refused to do so we paid for that. We had the dreaded roof paint bubble which VW did under warranty. We had problems with the paint lifting off the front cowl which again we had to pay for As VW refused to do. All in it has cost us about £1200 which we shouldn’t have really have had to pay for. The vehicle has been serviced by VW and looked after meticulously by us from new, yet we have had problems we really wouldn’t expect from a well looked after vehicle.

 

[Greg&Mel Australian Cali]

My T6.1 kicks Apple CarPlay off the system regularly and when it does this all of the driver assist functions stop working until I turn off the van and on again. It wouldn’t be so bad if the VW software was half reasonable, which it isn’t.
Everything else is great and I would do it again even if I was aware of the software issues. Does everyone have this problem, or is it a warranty issue?

 

[Californication69]

My T6.1 kicks Apple CarPlay off the system regularly and when it does this all of the driver assist functions stop working until I turn off the van and on again. It wouldn’t be so bad if the VW software was half reasonable, which it isn’t.
Everything else is great and I would do it again even if I was aware of the software issues. Does everyone have this problem, or is it a warranty issue?

It’s a known fact for the VW California Apple play on Wi-Fi / BT mode.
I don’t use the BT mode.
It only uses apple car play when plugged into the cable.
And then no issues.

 

[jason.oneill4]

We do love our T6 and enjoy having it however: there is no ignoring the quality issues of some parts of the van and the level of service from VW can be questionable? For what it’s worth I think forums are not necessarily negative places, rather places for support given the cost of the van and the fact that VW can be a bit neglectful…

 

[calibusje]

I don't think this forum gives a negative image about the california or in particular the t6.1. People focus on the messages with issues, big and small.
Of course there are problems, it is the most sold converted transporter and even the most widely sold camper. What do you expect? For the price that nothing will ever be wrong? Pretty utopian in my opinion. They are a lot of error-free california's, there are few with big problems and then the ones with the electronics issues you read about (are mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the sellers and therefore owners about the completely new electrical system of the t6.1). About that central control screen: after I received a decent explanation during a technical afternoon at CamperCentrum Amersfoort in the Netherlands, I understand the vehicle better. The 'rest' button, the use of the heating (and why it sometimes 'goes wrong' with incorrect use, the reason behind it), the maximum charging function (use, reason for it), the camper mode and many more: all things that are actually very good put together and work perfectly. Could it be more simple? I guess so but that's how it is.
Of course, I will not ignore the serious problems there could be like any vehicle of any make or type can have that has nothing to do with the fact that this is a California. I'm thinking of engine problems, multimedia system or whatever.
That there were savings with the latter is certain: this can be found in an article I posted quite some time ago. Still, the t6.1 is well put together and was only saved on, for example, felt in the glove box, the button on the center pillar to lock the car when you go to sleep and a few other small things. Overall the t6.1 is as good as the t6 but people are like this: the old one is always better they think; well: wait until the new t7 cali and then they can say that the t6.1 was better (although I am very curious about the successor but this is another story).
There is much more positive and help here than problems. It's even rather normal that small problems are reported: where else do you go, I also prefer to ask such a large group before I walk to the dealer. Often the answer comes from the group.
You're already worrying about problems that don't exist and voilà: a post titled: 'So many Issues'. This can therefore be counted among the negative by future cali owners. I do understand thought... I've also had a moment when I thought I made a bad buy, really, but it all worked out and was glad I kept going. Anyway: it is and remains a converted transporter, but one of the best. The squeaks and creaks from the beginning I had with ours have all been neatly resolved. And believe me: they were nerve-breaking, but the smile that comes on my face regularly when you drive a cali - and certainly when you meet another cali - makes you realize what you are driving: a dream for many and reality for you. Our kids love it and practically grew up in it (first 10 years making ours travels in a t4 westfalia california and now the new t6.1 coast). Just back from 5400 km with the four of us and I can only conclude that this is a perfect companion. Now 15 months old and 31000 km (about 50 nights in it) and I'd be sorry if I didn't buy one. All the best with yours. I just hope that future cali riders don't just read the titles of the posts... even some of mine

 

[capt kirk]

my t6 is still going fine, waterpump was a bit weepy but bolts nipped up and been fine since, had an issue with the Kitchen lights staying on but fixed and my knob broke on the control unit but other than that nothing serious. still on original batteries and a delight to drive. been many places in europe and home. would love to update but finances wont allow now retired. i will keep it as long as health permits.Many more years in us yet......

 

[WelshGas]

I don't think this forum gives a negative image about the california or in particular the t6.1. People focus on the messages with issues, big and small.
Of course there are problems, it is the most sold converted transporter and even the most widely sold camper. What do you expect? For the price that nothing will ever be wrong? Pretty utopian in my opinion. They are a lot of error-free california's, there are few with big problems and then the ones with the electronics issues you read about (are mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the sellers and therefore owners about the completely new electrical system of the t6.1). About that central control screen: after I received a decent explanation during a technical afternoon at CamperCentrum Amersfoort in the Netherlands, I understand the vehicle better. The 'rest' button, the use of the heating (and why it sometimes 'goes wrong' with incorrect use, the reason behind it), the maximum charging function (use, reason for it), the camper mode and many more: all things that are actually very good put together and work perfectly. Could it be more simple? I guess so but that's how it is.
Of course, I will not ignore the serious problems there could be like any vehicle of any make or type can have that has nothing to do with the fact that this is a California. I'm thinking of engine problems, multimedia system or whatever.
That there were savings with the latter is certain: this can be found in an article I posted quite some time ago. Still, the t6.1 is well put together and was only saved on, for example, felt in the glove box, the button on the center pillar to lock the car when you go to sleep and a few other small things. Overall the t6.1 is as good as the t6 but people are like this: the old one is always better they think; well: wait until the new t7 cali and then they can say that the t6.1 was better (although I am very curious about the successor but this is another story).
There is much more positive and help here than problems. It's even rather normal that small problems are reported: where else do you go, I also prefer to ask such a large group before I walk to the dealer. Often the answer comes from the group.
You're already worrying about problems that don't exist and voilà: a post titled: 'So many Issues'. This can therefore be counted among the negative by future cali owners. I do understand thought... I've also had a moment when I thought I made a bad buy, really, but it all worked out and was glad I kept going. Anyway: it is and remains a converted transporter, but one of the best. The squeaks and creaks from the beginning I had with ours have all been neatly resolved. And believe me: they were nerve-breaking, but the smile that comes on my face regularly when you drive a cali - and certainly when you meet another cali - makes you realize what you are driving: a dream for many and reality for you. Our kids love it and practically grew up in it (first 10 years making ours travels in a t4 westfalia california and now the new t6.1 coast). Just back from 5400 km with the four of us and I can only conclude that this is a perfect companion. Now 15 months old and 31000 km (about 50 nights in it) and I'd be sorry if I didn't buy one. All the best with yours. I just hope that future cali riders don't just read the titles of the posts... even some of mine

One thing I will take issue with, that the California is a converted Transporter.
It is not. A conversion would be a vehicle that is built in one form and use and then converted to another form and use.
The California is based on a Transporter but built from the ground up as a California with its own roof system, not a solid metal roof with a hole cut in it and a fibreglass top hat.