Used T5 vs new T6?

[CampervanTime]

Hi Everyone

I'm just wondering what people's initial reaction would be to this theoretical question...

We've not had a camper before but really are taken with the Cali SE/Ocean.

Although we could afford a new T6 150 with a bit of spec added (say £56k), I am wondering if we would be better going for a used T5, somewhere around the £30k mark instead?

How much life would a 70-100k miles T5 2.5ltr have left in it? Do they wear well? Would we just end up selling it a year or two after owning and buying a newer one, or is a used T5 99% as good as a new one?

I ask as there is a 95k mile 2009 SE for sale (2.5ltr manual) at a VW dealer for £29995, with 12 months warranty etc and it just got me thinking !

Thanks

 

[Sad]

We're picking up our 2008 2.5 auto with 62k on Wednesday

We see it as 90% of the Cali experience for half the cost (and we can't actually afford the new prices... Yet!)

There're plenty of owners on here with similar aged Calis with much higher mileages, but like with any used vehicle you can never guarantee reliability.

 

[Hotel California]

@itguy , seems your full of Q's and never seen a Cali in the flesh (as you say yourself in the other post).
My suggestion would be (if you can affort both ....as you state above ) :
First go and check out both new and used Cali's , ride them ,compare detailing and price .
Sleep a few nights and read some "looking to buy " posts the forum and for sure the "roof corrosion" tread (with a pot of popcorn next to you).
Then decide....

 

[Sad]

Oh, and I think most people will encourage you to try before you buy! Hire one for a weekend and see how you get on with it...

 

[CampervanTime]

Yes absolutely re hiring one for a few nights, and we want to do that in Oct / Nov so we can really see it's all round year ability.

This won't be a quick purchase for sure. We've got a car we need to shift first as I'm getting a company car in Oct, then we'll have some time to do some proper thinking.

If new, we were thinking maybe order Dec / Jan and hope for delivery June / July 18 possibly. But... that's if we don't fall in love with a used one over the winter of course...

 

[Gasgas]

I ordered my new T6 in sept 16 didn't arrive until July 17 ,if you get a good up front deal maybe pre Reg then the depreciation is going to be about the same pro rata taking in the maintenance costs and repairs on the older vehicle ,both should be desirable .

 

[Flood51]

I would buy a looked after T5.1 2010 onwards check the roof as per HC.

 

[reserves]

I would buy a looked after T5.1 2010 onwards check the roof as per HC.

As above.

 

[Elmo3]

I've been round the houses with this one. My conclusion was that if you can drum up the funds, you are better off flushing out a good deal on a new / demo T6. The strong residuals work both ways. When I look at the T5's for sale, many of these are up for pretty much the new price achievable at the time of purchase. I'd prefer to apply this model to run a newer vehicle than an old one in the hope that when I sell, the financial loss will be minimal. Only time will tell of course!

 

[reserves]

It depends how sensitive your bank balance is to depreciation.

Pick up a used T5 for around £35k and I can't see it being worth less than £30k in 4 years time, that's cheap motoring.

In my opinion the T6 doesn't offer that much more over the T5, it's the same camping set up and the T5 (post facelift) are a great drive, no Ad Blue to worry about.

That said, I have a T5 and have never driven a T6, so maybe I'm biased. All I can say is that personally I can't see any reason for me to spend £20k to upgrade.

 

[MattBW]

I had a look at similar Beach to mine in age and mileage etc and they were all more than I paid for it as a demo 2 years ago which boggles my mind. Weirdly they (T5) seem to have gone up not down with the T6 but I also stand by a demo often being a good option..

 

[GillianC]

The one advantage of buying a new one that would sway me is the opportunity to buy an extended warranty for a very good price when brand new. Extending it after the three year expiry is extortionate. I have had to use the warranty a lot!

 

[reserves]

Agree about the warranty.

The other issue of course is that Diesel and Petrol are on their way out, so depends if you feel comfortable investing in these technologies at a brand new vehicle price.

 

[bvddobb]

We have never bought a new car, ever, even though we could afford it. Financially, buying a new car is one of the worst investments possible, generally: the initial depreciation, just driving it off the dealer's premises, is enormous. For the same money one can buy a much richer specced second hand one than new.

Once the initial depreciation is done, Cali's especially seem to be keeping their worth very nicely. We bought our T5 Cali second hand, and we just have had to have it revalued for renewing the insurance. In 5 years we have had to depreciate € 2k.... While taking it from 80.000 km to 160.000 km... There's hardly a car out there who will do better, financially...

When going for a second hand T5, stay away from the 180 hp 4-cylinders, and from the 176 hp 5-cylinders, and from the 5-cylinders from before model year 2008, and you have a good chance to be fine!
(Now, people will come with examples of how some such motorised cars have been fine for years. Yes, they are there - ours is one! But read the international forums, and you will find that those motors tend to have more issues than the others).

Our € 0.02.

 

[Bellcrew]

We have never bought a new car, ever, even though we could afford it. Financially, buying a new car is one of the worst investments possible, generally: the initial depreciation, just driving it off the dealer's premises, is enormous. For the same money one can buy a much richer specced second hand one than new.

Once the initial depreciation is done, Cali's especially seem to be keeping their worth very nicely. We bought our T5 Cali second hand, and we just have had to have it revalued for renewing the insurance. In 5 years we have had to depreciate € 2k.... While taking it from 80.000 km to 160.000 km... There's hardly a car out there who will do better, financially...

When going for a second hand T5, stay away from the 180 hp 4-cylinders, and from the 176 hp 5-cylinders, and from the 5-cylinders from before model year 2008, and you have a good chance to be fine!
(Now, people will come with examples of how some such motorised cars have been fine for years. Yes, they are there - ours is one! But read the international forums, and you will find that those motors tend to have more issues than the others).

Our € 0.02.

The problem could be how the various governments will treat diesel vehicles in the future, the use of adblue on the T6 was a step change in NOx reduction and should ensure it is OK for a fair few years yet.
This is assuming the mock outrage is about reducing pollution and not just a way to increase the tax take.

 

[bvddobb]

The problem could be how the various governments will treat diesel vehicles in the future

For new vehicles, yes. For old vehicles we gamble they, like old soldiers, will be left to 'fade away'. We intend to drive ours until she dies (another 300.000 km at least, we reckon ), until then we will probably just have to deal with he growing number of low emission zones here and there, and they are usually where we don't want to go anyway. When she dies (ours is a girl, definitely), we'll see again.

 

[RodCouncil]

For me it's low risk on the Cali part but on our 2009 SE we had to replace a turbo and DPF, it's the T5 underpinnings that will catch you out as most examples are generally well taken care of, but with 12m warranty, why not

 

[Mark13]

Actually, initial costs considerations aside, really don't think it matters terribly.

If we have any regrets, its only that we didn't get one earlier. Can't imagine our experiences would have been any less wondrous had someone else used it first . . . and we had planned to get a 6 at end of warranty, but I think decided now not to bother.

OK, bound to be some relative servicing/reliability/warranty questions, but my tuppence would be it's a pretty specialist sort of vehicle so probably just worth getting it checked out if buying used.

Make sure its got a heater though.

 

[reserves]

Actually, initial costs considerations aside, really don't think it matters terribly.

If we have any regrets, its only that we didn't get one earlier. Can't imagine our experiences would have been any less wondrous had someone else used it first . . . and we had planned to get a 6 at end of warranty, but I think decided now not to bother.

OK, bound to be some relative servicing/reliability/warranty questions, but my tuppence would be it's a pretty specialist sort of vehicle so probably just worth getting it checked out if buying used.

Make sure its got a heater though.

Good advice.

All Cali's have heaters though. It's only the beach that it's an option.

 

[Mark13]

Good advice.

All Cali's have heaters though. It's only the beach that it's an option.

Ah, yes, of course, thanks . . . and might begin to undermine my own argument by suggesting a heater with the brilliant remote control thing as an essential. But that could start to get silly . . .

 

[Ryemslie]

The older Cali you speak of has been at that dealers for months. Looks great from the outside with all the sporline extras & bike rack but quite a basic spec interior wise. I'd say knock a couple of thousand off the asking price & with the 12month warranty it'd be a good buy. What I would say though is that being in a similar position, looking for a late t5.1 or late t5 I'd say that prices this last few weeks seem to be getting more reasonable as we head into the latter part of summer if you're looking for a late t5.1

 

[BikerGran]

2007 T5 2.5 auto bought 14 months ago with 65000 on the clock, looked like new at the time and drives beautifully.
Important to have full service history and make sure that it's had the long life oil used. I expect to need a turbo at some point though there are no problems with it currently - that will be expensive but of course I saved so much buying a 9 year old vehicle.
Also being pre-owned it came with extras like the sides for the awning and insulated covers for the front windows none of which are cheap to buy.

Another plus for me is that I don't feel the need to 'baby ' it, so I'm not crying over the scratch I got from the hedge in the narrow lane to a campsite last month.

 

[DJ315]

When we bought ours, we looked at and drove both a late T5 (2015), and a new T6. Ordering a new one soon became a non-option due to the excessive delivery time - and to be honest the huge price-gap with a virtually new car which the dealership we chose (Scharphof in Nijverdal, NL) offered a large numbers, imported directly from the VW-factory in Germany, all company-cars, very low mileage and camper-part often never used.

Price-wise the difference between a one-year old T5 and virtually new T6 was negligable. Big difference was that the T5's usually come with all thinkable options (as ours does), and a new or virtually new T6 with the same options is (in the NL) about 20k more expensive! I also felt the ride (seating position behind the wheel) in the T5 was better than in the T6 - which surprised me, the steering wheel seems to be postioned lower, which did not work for me.

All in all we chose to buy a virtually new T5, with all options, for a very sharp price. And with the 180 HP engine and DSG, which are I think the best combo available (I do not agree with the statement this is a bad engine..).

 

[CampervanTime]

Well we've finally managed to talk to the VW Leicester sales team and we're going in on Saturday to have a proper look at their T6 Ocean they have in the showroom and possibly have a quick spin round the block in one.

They also do hire them out so we're going to talk to them about costs/dates in October when we can try one properly.

I'm quite enjoying the prolonged buying experience of this actually (probably because it means we can save up a decent deposit) - it just feels like the wait will be really exciting.

Strange how an order for a new T6 would take longer to be built that the new house my mate is looking to buy, which doesn't even have a spade in the ground for it yet!!!