VW California Beach with independent heater?

[jarda]

Hi, I'd like to ask whether the VW California Beach (particularly around 2006, like this one) has independent heater from the factory.

If yes, what kind of heater it is? Is it using petrol and runs from the second battery?

I am asking because I've seen most of the advertisements for used ones which state "independent heater" included.

Thanks in advance!
Best, Jarda

 

[WelshGas]

Hi, I'd like to ask whether the VW California Beach (particularly around 2006, like this one) has independent heater from the factory.

If yes, what kind of heater it is? Is it using petrol and runs from the second battery?

I am asking because I've seen most of the advertisements for used ones which state "independent heater" included.

Thanks in advance!
Best, Jarda

In the UK the Diesel Parking Heater was an Option, not fitted as standard.
It runs on diesel and powered by the Leisure Battery if factory fitted.

If there was a petrol engined Beach and the Parking Heater was a factory fitted option then VW would have used the petro version of the heater.

Beware, VW did fit a Webasto heater as a engine coolant heater to aid engine warming in cold temperatures. It automatically comes on if the outside temperature is 5c or less.

 

[jarda]

Great, thank you for a clear explanation!
Jarda

 

[jts46]

Didn’t realise the beach was produced in 2006.

 

[clarinetbcn]

During those early years of Beach manufacture, the pop-top was optional, the internal finish behind the first row was limited, with a lot of bare sheet metal showing around the windows, and only the 2 seat bench was available, which made it really the cheap starter California, light years from today's highly flexible Multivan based vehicle with seating up to 7 and sleeping for four. These days VW has separate assembly lines for the Transporter and the higher finish Multivan which the Beach, Coast and Ocean are based on. It's sad that VW evolved the Beach into a sophisticated version of the California, and then someone at VW who was out of touch and thought it was still an entry level vehicle decided to make it unavailable in the UK.

Edit: on another thread someone has posted the German publicity photo for the four versions of the 6.1 California line. The Beach Camper is advertised as the Beginner's Camper. It looks like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Someone at VW is responsible for developing the Beach into what it is today, a vehicle which fills a need for a different purpose than the Ocean/Coast, and someone else in marketing is trying to promote a concept of the Beach that VW itself left behind years ago. With this level of unawareness of their own California market, no wonder VW keeps producing a van which has some of the same frustrating design errors as 15 years ago.

 

[owen_h]

Didn’t realise the beach was produced in 2006.

In the UK market the earliest California Beach was around 2011 on the T5.1 base vehicle (multivan variant). I have seen photos of earlier T5 left hand drive Beaches but don’t think these were sold in the Uk.

 

[jarda]

During those early years of Beach manufacture, the pop-top was optional, the internal finish behind the first row was limited, with a lot of bare sheet metal showing around the windows, and only the 2 seat bench was available, which made it really the cheap starter California, light years from today's highly flexible Multivan based vehicle with seating up to 7 and sleeping for four. These days VW has separate assembly lines for the Transporter and the higher finish Multivan which the Beach, Coast and Ocean are based on. It's sad that VW evolved the Beach into a sophisticated version of the California, and then someone at VW who was out of touch and thought it was still an entry level vehicle decided to make it unavailable in the UK.

Edit: on another thread someone has posted the German publicity photo for the four versions of the 6.1 California line. The Beach Camper is advertised as the Beginner's Camper. It looks like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Someone at VW is responsible for developing the Beach into what it is today, a vehicle which fills a need for a different purpose than the Ocean/Coast, and someone else in marketing is trying to promote a concept of the Beach that VW itself left behind years ago. With this level of unawareness of their own California market, no wonder VW keeps producing a van which has some of the same frustrating design errors as 15 years ago.

Yes exactly, that's what I am looking for exactly this old Beach, affordable - no fancy stuff, just a Multivan which is in factory modified to support sleeping (just rotating front seats, foldable rear bench, two batteries and ideally a pop-up roof), that's it. But these more modern versions do not seem to target this part of the market lately..