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Thinking of swapping my California for a Beach

J

jeannie

VIP Member
Messages
174
Location
Kingston, near Lewes
Vehicle
T5 SE 174 4Motion
Thinking of changing my fab California 4 motion 2011 for a beach only because I need a 5 seater now as got a grandson
Will be so sorry to see it go but no option to have a 5th seat in 4 motion
Anyone changed from Cali to beach and any regrets?
 
Also thinking of changing my California 4 motion 2017 for a beach only because I need a 5/7 seater now as got a new (3rd) baby due in December and need the fifth seat desperately!
 
I swapped due to 3rd child. Still love it, just have to work things slightly different to before.
Can't put the kettle on without getting out of bed!
 
Thinking of changing my fab California 4 motion 2011 for a beach only because I need a 5 seater now as got a grandson
Will be so sorry to see it go but no option to have a 5th seat in 4 motion
Anyone changed from Cali to beach and any regrets?
We bought a new T5 4motion SE in late 2015 and then a few months later purchased a seven seat T6 Beach to cart the grand kids around in etc. (We actually wanted a Caravelle but the seven seat Beach was around the same price, much more flexible and holds it's value better). We had them both at the same time and enjoyed them but in different ways. However the SE, which we had intended to use as our private escape capsule, stood around idle for too much of the time waiting for us to find the opportunity to sneak off in it. So we eventually took the pragmatic decision to sell it. It was an amazing vehicle but then so too is the Beach. Do I regret our decision? No, not for a moment.

The Beach proved to be such a useful multi purpose vehicle and is amazingly good at almost every thing you throw at it. Ours was a seven seater so could be used as a people carrier as well as a camper van and general purpose family car. It was used for everything. Since sold and now awaiting delivery of Beach number 2!

Do I miss the SE? I did at first but not any more. To be brutally honest, we never used the water tanks once in the time we owned it, rarely wanted to cook in it, found the sink too small and I disliked the wardrobe design. I found the fridge to be a nuisance as you had to remove everything from the top before getting anything out. Having said all of that I still think it's a brilliant design but not one that suits our personal needs at this time.

With the Beach we could do everything that we could do in the SE and a whole lot more besides.

I would stress the point that these are purely my conclusions and not intended as the start of another round of the old Beach verses SE/Ocean ding dong.

One last thing, do I miss the 4motion?............... No !
That vehicle was an ex demo van so came with that option and a mechanical dif lock as well but I can honestly say it's not something I would have ordered. In fact we never had cause to find out how good it was. Each to their own but it's not something that I personally found to be cost effective.
 
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Had both and the only thing the Beach lacks is the simple option to have a cuppa easily in the AM! Apart from that space is better and as a day to day it’s more useful for me. With >2 a Cali is always a marginal proposition for camping more than a couple of days so it works for that. That’s my opinion.
 
Beach t6.1 has a mini kitchen!
Love my beach and don’t need a kitchen as prefer to cook outside. The huge bed is the best thing ever!


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Mini kitchen? Is it a portable?
Just read that the roof is not electric. Is that correct?
 
Mini kitchen? Is it a portable?
Just read that the roof is not electric. Is that correct?
The mini kitchen in the T6-1 Beach looks as if it is a purely fixed in unit. However, it appears that VW isn't going to allow the UK market to to have the T6-1 Beach. So for the time being at least, if you want one, you'll have to buy a LHD one from main land Europe. If you do that, I believe the electric roof is an option.
 
The cuppa dilemma is easily solved with a Alpkit Brukit or a jetboil :) you wont have a fridge either though.
 
So thanks for all the comments. Really useful. Next question is how easy or not is pulling down the roof manually?
 
Really easy reach up pull down, secure the clips, close the Tambour hatch


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So thanks for all the comments. Really useful. Next question is how easy or not is pulling down the roof manually?
Ahh! Now that depends on the individual doing it. I would suggest you try doing it before going any further. I'm sure your nearest dealer or Beach owner would let you try. Personally I have never had a problem closing the roof but there is a technique.

First ensure you have opened a door or window on the leeward side of the vehicle. Then look for
the bar running transversaly inside the front of the pop top roof. Attached to that and dangling down is a looped strap. To close the roof you need to stand between the front seats facing towards the rear of the vehicle with your head inside the roof compartment. Stand on the edge of the front seats if necessary. Then reach up and grab the strap. It does move along the bar so you'll need to centralise it to get a good pull otherwise the roof may come down in a wonky manner. You will then need to pull down to overcome the upward trust of the hydraulic struts. If you are of slight build you may need to hang on the strap to bring it down but I doubt if most people would need to do that.This effort depends on the individual. Having started to bring the roof down you should be in a position to monitor the roof canvas folding in properly and to pull it in if it isn't. The roof will then reach a point when it will stop closing. At this point you will need to gather the canvas adjacent to the individual roof securing buckles and stuff it all behind the strapping tab on top of each buckle. Having done that pull the roof down further to the fully closed position and secure the over center catch and safety clasp. Be sure to avoid catching the canvas in the over centre catch as the mechanism will punch two neat holes in your canvas if it gets trapped. This sounds nasty but if you are aware then it's easy to check and avoid. You can both see and feel that the buckle isn't trapping the canvas. Having done one side then do the other. Once closed, gather up the canvas and tuck it away before closing the trap hatch. Finally take a walk around the van to check all is stowed away correctly.

When written down like this it looks complicated but it isn't. Instead it is simplicity itself. It's also unlikely to ever go wrong.
 
We are so glad we switched. The manual roof is so much easier then the electric - less problematic when windy. You can buy an accessory like a big elastic band that goes around the roof. Makes it so easy to pull it down. The only down side is that you can raise the electric roof with 60 kilos in the roof box. Can’t do this manually. With the Beach you get a full size Kingsize bed downstairs. So much better.
 
Had both and the only thing the Beach lacks is the simple option to have a cuppa easily in the AM! Apart from that space is better and as a day to day it’s more useful for me. With >2 a Cali is always a marginal proposition for camping more than a couple of days so it works for that. That’s my opinion.
We have a small table that stays up when the bed is made up kettle, mugs, tea in bed no problem
 
Ahh! Now that depends on the individual doing it. I would suggest you try doing it before going any further. I'm sure your nearest dealer or Beach owner would let you try. Personally I have never had a problem closing the roof but there is a technique.

First ensure you have opened a door or window on the leeward side of the vehicle. Then look for
the bar running transversaly inside the front of the pop top roof. Attached to that and dangling down is a looped strap. To close the roof you need to stand between the front seats facing towards the rear of the vehicle with your head inside the roof compartment. Stand on the edge of the front seats if necessary. Then reach up and grab the strap. It does move along the bar so you'll need to centralise it to get a good pull otherwise the roof may come down in a wonky manner. You will then need to pull down to overcome the upward trust of the hydraulic struts. If you are of slight build you may need to hang on the strap to bring it down but I doubt if most people would need to do that.This effort depends on the individual. Having started to bring the roof down you should be in a position to monitor the roof canvas folding in properly and to pull it in if it isn't. The roof will then reach a point when it will stop closing. At this point you will need to gather the canvas adjacent to the individual roof securing buckles and stuff it all behind the strapping tab on top of each buckle. Having done that pull the roof down further to the fully closed position and secure the over center catch and safety clasp. Be sure to avoid catching the canvas in the over centre catch as the mechanism will punch two neat holes in your canvas if it gets trapped. This sounds nasty but if you are aware then it's easy to check and avoid. You can both see and feel that the buckle isn't trapping the canvas. Having done one side then do the other. Once closed, gather up the canvas and tuck it away before closing the trap hatch. Finally take a walk around the van to check all is stowed away correctly.

When written down like this it looks complicated but it isn't. Instead it is simplicity itself. It's also unlikely to ever go wrong.
Thanks for your detailed and easy to understand description. Will find a dealership and try it out
 
Thanks for your detailed and easy to understand description. Will find a dealership and try it out
I think you'll love the Beach.

One final note. Some find the over centre catches rather stiff to use. They can be adjusted but they are holding the roof tight shut so do need to be as tight as you can manage.
 
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