Never having owned a 3 ton van before I am totally unaware of it's limitations. Now I know that you should never say never but the caravan and camping hard standing sort of site just isn't our scene. We are more the pitch up in the corner of a farmers field where the water tap is located next to the barn type of campers.
Previously, my mode of transport has been a VW Passat estate. This is normally fully loaded with camping and climbing equipment and I will take this anywhere (commom sense prevails obviously). In all the years I have been doing this to the best of my knowledge I have never been bogged in. But on the same note I am aware other people have.
So obviously you would have to use a modicum of common sense on the terrain that you take it on, ie muddy swamped fields would be a definite no no. But in general and this would include the type of tracks that Granny Jen was talking about how prone are they to getting stuck? A lot more likely than a fully ladened estate car?
Now I apologise to all you seasoned camper van owners out there to whom this would appear to be an obvious question, but if I am about to splash out all of my hard earned cash, and as you guys have already stated....... l want the right van for my type of lifestyle.
I appreciate everyones help and understanding here.
The Cali is probably no more prone to getting stuck than a normal family car and on some surfaces that weight would be an advantage.
What changes is where and when you would take a Cali. A normal family car may be ok on that green field this afternoon, but there may be torrential rain that night that turns that field the following morning into a mud bath where you would not normally want to take your family car. However you may have pitched your Cali in that field that afternoon and woken up the following morning to find that if you didn't deliberately drive onto a mud bath then you are in one now.
Similarly snow squalls, Scottish ones, can happen any time in remote areas of Scotland and if you find yourself in one, on an isolated road, then you have to get yourself out of it, a situation where the weight would be an advantage. Again there were a number of people this year who were allowed by French police to proceed through the Alps when heavy snow left thousands stranded because again winter tyres and/or 4WD.
I was in Wester Ross in January, terrible weather came in, the police closed the road due to an accident but let me avoid a 70 plus mile detour because my 4WD and winter tyres meant it was likely I could get through the blocked road, which I did with ease. I might have got through with normal 2WD drive and winters, but would I have had the confidence to try?
From my pov, knowing where I wanted to go and not wanting to be dictated to by the weather, 4WD was like buying an insurance policy that will be there for the lifetime of the vehicle. I could not categorically state "Yes" or "No" to whether I needed it or not, just "Yes" to "Yes, I want that comfort of mind"
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