Hello Andy,
I've just read your test review with great interest.
We too own T6 seven seater Beach which performs excellently for us as both and our family as an MPV and camper van. It was intended as a long term ownership prospect and so it shall be. It's a brilliant vehicle that does everything well and we won't be getting rid any time soon.
However, earlier this week and before reading your post, my wife and I decided to visit our dealer to take an in depth look at the GC 680. As we get older the draw of something larger and completely self contained has become slightly more appealing. Campsite toilet and shower facilities being closed at present hasn't really played a major part in our current interest but it has helped to focus our minds on the self contained idea. We are looking mainly but not exclusively at longer non touring holidays on remote Certificated Sites that are often devoid of facilities. A few years ago I did some research and identified the Autosleepers Winchcombe as our ideal motorhome. The project was shelved when we bought our first Cali, although the interest still remains. This trip to our VW Commercial dealer was to look at the 680 and do a comparison with a view to exploring the issue further.
IMO this vehicle comparison isn't strictly fair as the Winchcombe is a full blown MH whereas the 680, despite being almost as large, feels more like an intermediate CV pitched between the smaller Campervan and the sometimes larger Motorhome markets. Never the less both sleep two, both have kitchen and full bathroom facilities and both cost roughly the same amount. The main difference is that the 680 has a full permanent double bed whereas in the Winchcombe the bed has to be made up from the sitting room seating. Here's a short video to illustrate what I am talking about:
Anyway enough about the Winchcombe as it's my thoughts on the 680 that I wanted to offer up. To anyone who is thinking of owning one or who already has one, these are purely our thoughts.
VW Grand California 680
Firstly the things we liked:
1. The build quality is what you'd expect from VW. Everything had a nice quality feel to it and the fit and finnish was superb.
2. The warranty covering the whole van along with the ability to extend it to five years is also good.
3. A cheapish service package is available.
4. The dash and cab area seem to be very practical and not too fussy.
5. The interior has plenty of storage.
Things we didn't like:
Living area:
4. The main living area was disappointingly cramped compared to our current Beach.
5. The two seat bench was tiny and only really suitable for very narrow people or children. Accordingly adults would have little or no elbow room when eating.
6. Also the two seat bench seat back was set in the bolt upright position due to it being fixed onto the vertical bathroom wall. I doubt if it would be a comfortable place to sit long term especially in transit.
7. Why have that two seat bench at all when the van only has sleeping facilities for two? The shorter GC 600 has an option to provide sleeping accomodation for a further two children. Why not the bigger 680? Seems daft to me.
8. The table is rather too large for our liking.
9. Storage for said table appears to have been an after thought. Surely better storage could be designed. Strapping it down on top of the bed seems very poor design indeed.
Bathroom:
10. The bathroom is a welcome addition but we found it rather too cramped.
11. We don't like this sort of design where when you take a shower everything in the room gets wet and needs drying off afterwards.
Kitchen:
12. The kitchen seemed rather basic compared to other vans of this type. With only a two burner stove it didn't seem to be competing at the same level. At least the sink is a reasonable size.
13. We didn't like the fridge. Whilst being well made we felt it needed high wire sides to prevent items falling out when opened. Whilst not a major issue the design also means that much of the cold air in the fridge is lost everytime it's opened. That can't be a good thing.
The permanant bed area:
14. This is the most impressive part of this van and is a major advantage over our Beach. However, we did see one potential issue. I suspect that the four section split mattress may tend to part when being slept on leaving an uncomfortable gap. Some form of cover or fitted sheets would probably be needed to hold everything together. Apart from that niggle it appeared to be a pleasant enough place to sleep.
Main gripes:
15. VW's design is fresh and different. However, we both felt that it also presented some major issues. The mid bathroom design is good in one respect as it can be approached from either end of the van enabling the occupants to easily get to it regardless of what is going on elsewhere. However, it's big disadvantage is that it does divide the van in half, both width and length ways. In our view this along with the protruding overhead lockers, tend to make the whole package seem rather claustrophobic compared to other designs.
16. This design feature also made the kitchen feel rather cramped and we didn't like the way it half blocked the main slider opening either.
17. Finally there's the price. Compared to our other option, the Mercedes Benz Coachbuilt Autosleeper Winchcombe, it does seem rather over priced. I'm not sure what discounts are available, if any, on said motorhome and I know that our dealer would give a generous discount on the GC but even so both vehicles start off at a similar price. In fact your example of £86k for the GC puts it at several thousand pounds dearer than the overall cost of the coachbuilt! As a comparison the latter has a cooker featuring three gas burners plus and electric induction hob, an oven, a grill and an extraction unit. In addition this MH has a microwave, a huge fridge freezer, a large bathroom with toilet, wash hand basin and a full sized separate shower cubicle. It can also seat up to ten persons round two tables (both included). And it's only 0.5m longer than a GC 680!
Our conclusion:
The overall design is very brave. It provides a well made interior that includes a huge fixed double bed, plenty of storage, a bathroom with both toilet and shower facilities and somewhere to cook, sit and eat etc and all within a quality VW chassis. However, we have discounted it as a future ownership possibility because for us, we felt that it's far too compromised in the above mentioned areas.
It has been a useful exercise as we now know that whilst the GC 680 is a quality product it will never be for us. In fact the whole exercise has shown us that we are not yet ready to commit to the larger CV or MH idea. So for the time being the project has once again been placed on the back burner. Since this issue is clearly an itch that at some point will need to be scratched, our thoughts are now to take another look in two or three years time, when we will probably be looking for a nearly new low mileage Winchcombe.
One final thought. The way we see it is that the GC is better suited to touring than a MH and being a VW I'm sure it's great to drive. OTOH for us at least, a MH is more something to be driven to a site where you would then spent most of your time in and around that location.
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