Thoughts on California Purchasing

ferret99 · Apr 24, 2016

Hi, I'm considering what California to buy currently.

It seems that even the older T5 vans are at their lowest about £30k and there will be maintenance costs with an older van. As I need to use it occasionally for work it needs to be reliable. Looking at newer vans, dealers seem to have late T5 Calis but want late £40k's for them when, with a discount, you can get a new T6 Ocean for around £50k i.e. for not much difference.

With the current finance offer and the fact that you can get four services and the extended 2 year warranty for not much more than £500, does this not seem to tip the scales in favour of just buying a new one? Thoughts welcome on my analysis!
Cheers.

daveyboydanger · Apr 24, 2016

ferret99 said:
Hi, I'm considering what California to buy currently.

It seems that even the older T5 vans are at their lowest about £30k and there will be maintenance costs with an older van. As I need to use it occasionally for work it needs to be reliable. Looking at newer vans, dealers seem to have late T5 Calis but want late £40k's for them when, with a discount, you can get a new T6 Ocean for around £50k i.e. for not much difference.

With the current finance offer and the fact that you can get four services and the extended 2 year warranty for not much more than £500, does this not seem to tip the scales in favour of just buying a new one? Thoughts welcome on my analysis!
Cheers.

Sounds like you've already started to think that new is the way for you.
Sometimes it's the finance that sways it. Have you enough money to buy a second hand outright? New is cheaper pcm because of the finance setup with a balloon payment etc.
What would you like to spend almost 50k on?
Do what you want to do. Don't want to spend all that money for second best. So it's down to whether you like the t5 or t6 I reckon. (They're not much different!).

marshian70 · Apr 24, 2016

There is no reason why a well maintained older van should not be reliable. I'm a buy new fan having bought our last 7 cars new. However we went down the buy outright second hand route with our Cali due to the limited mileage we expect to cover and the desire to keep a lid on depreciation

Gavinskii · Apr 24, 2016

I have an early T5 California SE (badged a Comfortline which enjoys almost all the features the new T6 now comes with as standard!!) with the 5 cyl 2.5 Litre engine, which is bullet proof!

Mine happens to have come from Germany (because I wanted a left hooker for continental trips).

I've had it a year now and used it for trips to the alps skiing, and numerous w/e away + for carrying big items to the dump etc.

Outside of a service, it hasn't cost me a penny. I can assure you that I paid around £7k less that you suggest (for a very high spec vehicle), which was only about £5k more than some chancers were asking for quality T4 California's (which I owned previously)!

If you are tempted by a lefty, give me a shout and I will let you know where to find a good selection!

larrylamb · Apr 24, 2016

ferret99 said:
Looking at newer vans, dealers seem to have late T5 Calis but want late £40k's for them when, with a discount, you can get a new T6 Ocean for around £50k i.e. for not much difference.

I think a lot of this pricing is because the T5 Calis are available now for the spring/summer whereas ordering a new T6 you might not see it till Christmas, so it all depends on whether you need a camper van for this summer or not.

ferret99 · Apr 24, 2016

Not desperate for this summer, so 6 months is fine. I'm sure older vans are reasonably reliable too really, so maybe I just prefer the idea of a nice new one to keep for a good few years!

ferret99 · Apr 30, 2016

Well, so ordered a 204DSG 4motion today. Looking forward to plenty adventures!

T6 CFO · Apr 30, 2016

ferret99 said:
Well, so ordered a 204DSG 4motion today. Looking forward to plenty adventures![/

Well done. Nice to get the order in and stop thinking about options.

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