VW Camper van - where to buy?

[mikeiow]

rustyuk said:

Robotron-2084 said:

The only issue/s with a Cali is they are all swb, suicide side door and you can’t put them through the business.

I looked long and hard at them before I got my Kombi, I’d still like one, but not until the kids have left home.

A kombi is treated as car for tax purposes unfortunately

But sadly not for speed limit issues, I believe!
I know speed is a minor irrelevance for campervan, but I’d like to at least have the option to do 70 on a dual carriageway without risking my licence....never understood why a Kombi cannot do 70 but a VW shuttle/caravelle is allowed 70....

....I know: another reason I should stick with camping

[Robotron-2084]

rustyuk said:

A kombi is treated as car for tax purposes unfortunately

Sorry, yes, you’re correct.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

MrC986 said:

A 102ps van can be easily remapped by the way to 140.

And the rest...

[bernieburger]

Thanks for all the help. Have passed the details on to my friend. Think she is now in discussions with CamperKing : )

[mikey P 500]

We have a camperking t 5.1, it has been converted about 5 years now and it's all holding up well. I am sure there are other good conversations that are great too. (This is only one I have direct experience of).
If buying again would get a van with Aircon (as we are now thinking about spending £1400 retro fitting. otherwise most have a similar spec rock and roll bed, side kitchen, pop top roof, most the smaller details don't really matter in my opinion as you will have great fun (once allowed out camping) in what ever you buy.

[troika]

I went round the houses with this and it always came back to a Cali. We’re on our 2nd Ocean. The first one dropped £1500 in 2 years which made buying another new one a no brainer. The new one (coming up to a year old) has a 5 year bumper to bumper warranty and 4 year service pack. There is a lot of kit that can go wrong. Can’t wait to get back out, it’s utterly fabulous.

[GetCarter]

Lockdown rules finally allowed me to pick up a California Ocean today. Ex T6 demonstrator with 149 miles on the clock, 15k+ off list to an equiv 6.1. Too good to miss.

I had the first Cali in 2003, (and when I mean first, I mean MMM magazine came to take photos of it for their front cover) so thought it was about time I had another. Inside has improved somewhat!

[Robotron-2084]

GetCarter said:

Lockdown rules finally allowed me to pick up a California Ocean today. Ex T6 demonstrator with 149 miles on the clock, 15k+ off list to an equiv 6.1. Too good to miss.

I had the first Cali in 2003, (and when I mean first, I mean MMM magazine came to take photos of it for their front cover) so thought it was about time I had another. Inside has improved somewhat!

£15k off list makes it difficult to walk away, being an ex demo does it have led lamps, comfort dash, acc, 4-Motion etc?

I very nearly got one, but I needed LWB and didn't like the suicide door for my kids.

We love our Transporter, it gets far more use and attention than my V8 toy.

[toon10]

GetCarter said:

Lockdown rules finally allowed me to pick up a California Ocean today. Ex T6 demonstrator with 149 miles on the clock, 15k+ off list to an equiv 6.1. Too good to miss.

I had the first Cali in 2003, (and when I mean first, I mean MMM magazine came to take photos of it for their front cover) so thought it was about time I had another. Inside has improved somewhat!

Very nice and sounds like a great deal. I'm looking at ditching my car when the PCP is up and picking up a California Ocean. I'd not want to use one as a daily driver as I'd want to keep the miles for family fun and not work. Now it looks like I'll be working from home full time, it's the perfect opportunity to have one on the drive for the odd shopping run and weekends away. I've been looking at them for a long time. There is a conversion specialist in my area and their vans look great but they are so expensive it just doesn't make sense when you can get a real one for similar money. Most conversions seem to be based on the basic 102bhp van. Buying new can really bring the cost up for even one or two essentials on the spec sheet.

Enjoy!

[hyperblue]

mikey P 500 said:

We have a camperking t 5.1, it has been converted about 5 years now and it's all holding up well. I am sure there are other good conversations that are great too. (This is only one I have direct experience of).
If buying again would get a van with Aircon (as we are now thinking about spending £1400 retro fitting. otherwise most have a similar spec rock and roll bed, side kitchen, pop top roof, most the smaller details don't really matter in my opinion as you will have great fun (once allowed out camping) in what ever you buy.

Can you point me in the direction of the air con retrofit you’re looking at?

[troika]

GetCarter said:

Lockdown rules finally allowed me to pick up a California Ocean today. Ex T6 demonstrator with 149 miles on the clock, 15k+ off list to an equiv 6.1. Too good to miss.

I had the first Cali in 2003, (and when I mean first, I mean MMM magazine came to take photos of it for their front cover) so thought it was about time I had another. Inside has improved somewhat!

Great stuff. Have you put a 5 year warranty on it? You can do it up to 90 days from date of first registration. It’s a no brainer.

Already reports of the new 6.1 control panel causing problems with the electric roof. Last of the 6 is a better bet for the money I reckon.

[Robotron-2084]

troika said:

Great stuff. Have you put a 5 year warranty on it? You can do it up to 90 days from date of first registration. It’s a no brainer.

Already reports of the new 6.1 control panel causing problems with the electric roof. Last of the 6 is a better bet for the money I reckon.

That's a really good point, I negotiated my warranty at the time of purchase, it's 5 years and 150,000 miles. I seem to remember it was something like £300 up front or tripple that if you tried to add it at the end of three years.

I'm a paperwork geek and paid £10 for a proper service book too, so all my physical stamps are right there rather than sat on a computer somewhere.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

rustyuk said:

My only concern is the diesel engine, I can see the T5 engine being banned / charged for very soon. Maybe the T6 Euro 6 soon after?

Edited by rustyuk on Wednesday 27th May 21:45

In the grand scheme of things, the T5, moreso the T5.1 CR unit is a relatively new engine. Look at the number of 20, 30+ year old diesel vehicles on the roads which aren't charged for or banned. T5s are, I'd imagine, years away from being charged for.

[troika]

Robotron-2084 said:

troika said:

Great stuff. Have you put a 5 year warranty on it? You can do it up to 90 days from date of first registration. It’s a no brainer.

Already reports of the new 6.1 control panel causing problems with the electric roof. Last of the 6 is a better bet for the money I reckon.

That's a really good point, I negotiated my warranty at the time of purchase, it's 5 years and 150,000 miles. I seem to remember it was something like £300 up front or tripple that if you tried to add it at the end of three years.

I'm a paperwork geek and paid £10 for a proper service book too, so all my physical stamps are right there rather than sat on a computer somewhere.

Yep, I got mine thrown in. The beauty is that you can easily sell as a private sale after 3 or 4 years and the buyer has total confidence should anything go wrong. I got 16% discount on a brand new unregistered Ocean last July once they had announced the 6.1. I think 20% was possible on the very last ones. The depreciation if you buy well and sell privately is tiny.

[Robotron-2084]

That's a great discount, I got 17.5% on my Kombi 2 years ago, way before the 6.1 was on the horizon.

I'll get a Cali when I retire and it's just the two of us, I'll tow the Cali behind my Motorhome.

[rustyuk]

For some reason the picture of the Cali above seems to be reversed or the van is left-hand drive?

[RizzoTheRat]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

rustyuk said:

My only concern is the diesel engine, I can see the T5 engine being banned / charged for very soon. Maybe the T6 Euro 6 soon after?

Edited by rustyuk on Wednesday 27th May 21:45

In the grand scheme of things, the T5, moreso the T5.1 CR unit is a relatively new engine. Look at the number of 20, 30+ year old diesel vehicles on the roads which aren't charged for or banned. T5s are, I'd imagine, years away from being charged for.

Presumably they're Euro 4? Quite a few European cities starting to ban them (I have Euro 4 2.0 CR Octavia) but unlikely to be an issue out of city centres for some time to come.
https://www.green-zones.eu/en.html is good site to check.

[Robotron-2084]

rustyuk said:

For some reason the picture of the Cali above seems to be reversed or the van is left-hand drive?

It's RHD, but they are built for the Euro market, so it has a slider on the wrong side for us over here.

[rustyuk]

Robotron-2084 said:

It's RHD, but they are built for the Euro market, so it has a slider on the wrong side for us over here.

Understood

[troika]

Robotron-2084 said:

That's a great discount, I got 17.5% on my Kombi 2 years ago, way before the 6.1 was on the horizon.

I'll get a Cali when I retire and it's just the two of us, I'll tow the Cali behind my Motorhome.

Good work! Cali discounts (T6) were typically 5 - 9%, so lower than the transporters. I know someone who’s ordered a new 6.1 Ocean with 8% which seemed pretty good.