We've decided on a Beach...or have we?

[bilberry]

So many questions my head is aching!

1. We think it's got to be a Beach because we want to cook outside and love the chat over washing up at campsites.

2. Should we keep our Berlingo XTR (five years old) or trade it in? We've been using it as a minicamper (see campfiremag co uk for a bit about that). Two lots of car tax, insurance, maintenance and MOT? Plus extra 'lane tax' as we pay into a kitty in our hamlet. All that versus the extra miles on the Beach, its bigness etc?

3. New or second-hand? Drive the Deal with our spec looks around £35,000 new, but would we get trade-in? Can we wait months for a new one? But second-hand ones are all a distance away, so harder to view.

4. Privacy glass, parking sensors, bluetooth, mudflaps, Natural Grey, roofbars....any other essentials?

5. Could somebody just tell us to get on with it!

 

[calikev]

Ok get on with it

 

[Maud]

I say sell/trade-in the Berlingo as once you have your Cali you will just want to drive it everywhere; small enough to go/ park anywhere a large car can and you will save the money on running an additional vehicle

Now just get on and do it

Maud

 

[Bramco]

Get on and do it!

And add the aux heater. It is worth every penny.

Also I think you might find the roof bars would be cheaper from Halfords or the Interweb. VW accessory prices tend to be a bit inflated.....

 

[Meoncoast]

+1 getting on with it, from a past Balingo owner

 

[timber]

+1 getting on with it, from a past Balingo owner

I would have a beach if it had four motion and a 180

 

[bilberry]

OK. I'm going to do it....but new/secondhand?

Tell me more about the auxiliary heater? With no EHU, doesn't that run the battery down?

Getting excited, though with niggling bits of logic getting in the way!

 

[Maud]

You could go the whole hog and look for an SE, then you have aux heater as standard plus you have the option of inside equipment for poor weather and you can still cook outside the rest of the time.

Oh and the MFSW is something else I would suggest for your list, especially with the premium Bluetooth.

Maud

 

[Maud]

I found that going new, with a 10% discount negotiated from my local dealer, was not much more (if at all) than buying an ex-demo or nearly new privately. It does depend if you want to wait though of course.

 

[WelshGas]

Don't new Beaches come with 240v electrical hookup as standard?
Also the Auxiliary diesel heater, uses very little power once it has started. Very useful if you intend to use it all year round.

 

[GrannyJen]

Sell the berlingo, buy the beach and do my washing up as you love it so much

 

[Bramco]

Maud, I would agree about the MFSW and Bluetooth.

The advantage for us of the Beach over SE is that you get a double bed downstairs.

And Rebecca the auxhilliary heater uses diesel and only a bit of power to run it. With the Beach now having hook up if you are hooked up you can connect a small fan heater to save fuel. There are some threads with links but I bought one the other day for less than £10. And of course if you are on hookup you can also boil a kettle. So eat out and have a continental breakfast.

It's funny how you see used SEs advertised as never having been cooked in. So it seems that apart from the 42 litre wine cooler the rest of the furniture in the SE just makes the van a lot heavier and makes the downstairs bed really narrow. Just our biased view of course.

 

[Maud]

I can see your point about the bed, Bramco. I plan to mostly sleep up top so that I can leave the downstairs ready for the morning, and if I do sleep downstairs, there should be plenty of room for just me and the dogs However, I can see that a bigger downstairs bed would be an advantage if you use it a lot.

 

[bilberry]

Thanks, everyone. That's so helpful. Just one final question...114 or 140?

 

[Meoncoast]

+1 for 140

 

[WelshGas]

All I know is we manage very well with the SE bed downstairs. Does depend how big a bed you need. At least with the SE SWMBO stays on her side.

 

[soulstyledevon]

+2 140
I wish the 180 was available as I would buy that

 

[bilberry]

Thanks for everyone's advice and encouragement...we've now bought our Beach. We pick it up on March 5. Now to accessorise! It's just like getting a Barbie doll and wardrobe at the age of 8.
What cooker shall we buy? Should we get an electric kettle? How best to store things? What kayak rack? Exciting research ahead.

 

[Hotel California]

Thanks for everyone's advice and encouragement...we've now bought our Beach. We pick it up on March 5. Now to accessorise! It's just like getting a Barbie doll and wardrobe at the age of 8.
What cooker shall we buy? Should we get an electric kettle? How best to store things? What kayak rack? Exciting research ahead.

Just browse the forum and you wil get many answers ....and maybe even more questions
Cheers!