HectorPascal
Lifetime VIP Member
Good evening reader,
My Missus and I have just returned from our first week in a rented 2015 180 SE 4-Motion Cali as part of our preparations for becoming fully fledged Cali owners. I have recorded a few observations here just in case it is of any interest to people, perhaps in the same situation.
We deliberately chose October as we thought it might reflect better on the realities of Cali-living and show up any shortcomings as neither of us have any experience of tenting or camping. We extravagantly joined the Caravan Club for a year even though we doubt we will use it again in the next 12 months.
My daily car for the last 8 years has been a Merc E320 estate which is a pretty flawless bit of motor car. We plan to use the VW as a replacement.
Would we find a panel-van comfy? Would we find the whole campsite thing a bit of a drag? Would we actually try to cook a meal on a double gas-ring and very little space? Would we find it cold? And would we find the beers and white wine cold enough? Could we contemplate wafting off to Southern Europe for a month in this thing? Questions, lots of them.
Driving the Cali:
Great! This vehicle is probably easier to cover long distances in than the E320 - really. The Cali cruises solid-as-a-rock at (ahem) 80 mph and the cruise control is better than the Merc. MPG is a bit off as you would expect (more air to shove out of the way) - we got 29mpg and this was verifying exactly the trip computer's 'long term figure' by calculation at the pump. In other road situations it is a nice thing to drive with the extra eye height always welcome. The 7-speed DSG auto is a peach.
Sleeping:
Very, very comfortable upstairs (why do we call it that when there are no stairs). Super control of ventilation
and the programmable parking heater is nice in the morning. Easy enough to wriggle down from with sixth-decade stiffness and a snap to push to roof up for a pot of coffee. If you need to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night - surely shoddy planning - then it's a good idea to remember to de-activate the alarm before hauling on the sliding-door handle. (If any of our fellow campers last week are reading this, apologies).
Comfort & warmth:
Phew! The Parking Heater is FANTASTIC - sorry for the over-emphasis but it is warranted. Bugs in rugs never had it this good. The control panel is a wee bit ponderous to use for adjusting temperature though.
It would have been good to experience close to zero degrees C ambient conditions but 5 or 6 was no problem.
Cooking:
My better half is pretty handy at knocking up very tasty fare. On this trip she limited herself to heating pre-preparations and boiling rice etc. but I am sure this is a learned skill over time. It must be fun to cook outside in summertime though. Space is not in abundance obviously and we both played the 'counter-top shuffle' as you place item o the top of the fridge and then need access and vice-versa. Being an organised chef might be an asset in the Cali.
Fridge:
Does it's job well. Too well, in fact, beers need thawing out on the 'max' setting although on one night, whilst we slept with rellies in their house, the fridge gave up due to power conservation we suspect. Surprising after only 18 hours.
Pro's and con's:
It's all been 'Pro's so far. But what about the 'con's'? Just chatting with management whilst writing this I have just asked her what we did not like. Actually, there is nothing if you accept the limitations of the space - no loo etc. - There were a few broken clips and fittings here and there which made us question VW's material specification sometimes but this is probably ham-fisted rental-monkeys like ourselves mis-handling things.
Specification-wise, I would opt for the 204psi 4-motion with 7-Sp DSG (the Lake District's Hard Knott Pass convinced me of this) although a 2WD would have been completely adequate in the sunny, dry conditions we experienced. We would be hanging as many 'toys' on it as we can afford at the time.
Finally, the Caravan Club's facilities were pretty much uniformly superb. Staff were most helpful, courteous and friendly and the whole representing good value.
Now. To work out a financial plan. I think we might need one of those!
My Missus and I have just returned from our first week in a rented 2015 180 SE 4-Motion Cali as part of our preparations for becoming fully fledged Cali owners. I have recorded a few observations here just in case it is of any interest to people, perhaps in the same situation.
We deliberately chose October as we thought it might reflect better on the realities of Cali-living and show up any shortcomings as neither of us have any experience of tenting or camping. We extravagantly joined the Caravan Club for a year even though we doubt we will use it again in the next 12 months.
My daily car for the last 8 years has been a Merc E320 estate which is a pretty flawless bit of motor car. We plan to use the VW as a replacement.
Would we find a panel-van comfy? Would we find the whole campsite thing a bit of a drag? Would we actually try to cook a meal on a double gas-ring and very little space? Would we find it cold? And would we find the beers and white wine cold enough? Could we contemplate wafting off to Southern Europe for a month in this thing? Questions, lots of them.
Driving the Cali:
Great! This vehicle is probably easier to cover long distances in than the E320 - really. The Cali cruises solid-as-a-rock at (ahem) 80 mph and the cruise control is better than the Merc. MPG is a bit off as you would expect (more air to shove out of the way) - we got 29mpg and this was verifying exactly the trip computer's 'long term figure' by calculation at the pump. In other road situations it is a nice thing to drive with the extra eye height always welcome. The 7-speed DSG auto is a peach.
Sleeping:
Very, very comfortable upstairs (why do we call it that when there are no stairs). Super control of ventilation
and the programmable parking heater is nice in the morning. Easy enough to wriggle down from with sixth-decade stiffness and a snap to push to roof up for a pot of coffee. If you need to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night - surely shoddy planning - then it's a good idea to remember to de-activate the alarm before hauling on the sliding-door handle. (If any of our fellow campers last week are reading this, apologies).
Comfort & warmth:
Phew! The Parking Heater is FANTASTIC - sorry for the over-emphasis but it is warranted. Bugs in rugs never had it this good. The control panel is a wee bit ponderous to use for adjusting temperature though.
It would have been good to experience close to zero degrees C ambient conditions but 5 or 6 was no problem.
Cooking:
My better half is pretty handy at knocking up very tasty fare. On this trip she limited herself to heating pre-preparations and boiling rice etc. but I am sure this is a learned skill over time. It must be fun to cook outside in summertime though. Space is not in abundance obviously and we both played the 'counter-top shuffle' as you place item o the top of the fridge and then need access and vice-versa. Being an organised chef might be an asset in the Cali.
Fridge:
Does it's job well. Too well, in fact, beers need thawing out on the 'max' setting although on one night, whilst we slept with rellies in their house, the fridge gave up due to power conservation we suspect. Surprising after only 18 hours.
Pro's and con's:
It's all been 'Pro's so far. But what about the 'con's'? Just chatting with management whilst writing this I have just asked her what we did not like. Actually, there is nothing if you accept the limitations of the space - no loo etc. - There were a few broken clips and fittings here and there which made us question VW's material specification sometimes but this is probably ham-fisted rental-monkeys like ourselves mis-handling things.
Specification-wise, I would opt for the 204psi 4-motion with 7-Sp DSG (the Lake District's Hard Knott Pass convinced me of this) although a 2WD would have been completely adequate in the sunny, dry conditions we experienced. We would be hanging as many 'toys' on it as we can afford at the time.
Finally, the Caravan Club's facilities were pretty much uniformly superb. Staff were most helpful, courteous and friendly and the whole representing good value.
Now. To work out a financial plan. I think we might need one of those!
