forum negatively

[buster]

Hi everyone my name is buster and I live in Leeds.
I am thinking of buying a second hand California but all I seem to read about are problems.
I know forums you generally do only hear the bad things so can anybody convince me
As to why I should spend £40k on a vehicle with all these problems.
Thanks

 

[BerndRos]

With respect your an adult. All you can do is look at the forum and vans and then make a decision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[johnyboy]

I think people who don't have issues do not bother to post as much as they are out having fun in their vans!

I have a warranty-covered issue on the computer knob but that is why I chose one with a few months left to be on the safe side

 

[cozmo1589]

I did a lot if research on the Cali before buying one and have to agree that for a while I thought they seemed very problematic but then realised owners who have encountered some or lots if problems will feel inclined to post up on forums for help and advise. What you don't see is happy owners with trouble free motoring posting up saying mine is great I thought I'd tell you so. So I would say that yes they have their little issues just like every single car in production. On the whole they are very reliable, can do some seriously high mileage without breaking a sweat and are immense fun. I love mine and plan on owning it for many many years to come and will just keep it clean, regularly serviced and treat it with respect. ;-)

 

[buster]

I did a lot if research on the Cali before buying one and have to agree that for a while I thought they seemed very problematic but then realised owners who have encountered some or lots if problems will feel inclined to post up on forums for help and advise. What you don't see is happy owners with trouble free motoring posting up saying mine is great I thought I'd tell you so. So I would say that yes they have their little issues just like every single car in production. On the whole they are very reliable, can do some seriously high mileage without breaking a sweat and are immense fun. I love mine and plan on owning it for many many years to come and will just keep it clean, regularly serviced and treat it with respect. ;-)

This is the kind of answer I was looking for thanks

 

[GrannyJen]

When I was being asked to stump up £50+k in January I did wonder why I was doing it. It seemed an awful lot of money for a door that will not close, a roof that will only rust, a steering column that will clunk, a control panel that will fade like an ancient actress.....

Instead I picked up a fabulous vehicle, a bundle of laughs, a gorgeous thing to drive, a smug thing to wave from when the other side of the height barrier that others cannot get under, a magical place when wild camping in places that huge signs warn other vehicular traffic not to go to,a great place to have a BBQ on the beach, a cozy warm place on a cold wet winters night, a vehicle to revel in the freedom that it can go anywhere, I can overnight anywhere.

Problems? What are those?

Oh yes, my floppy light got too floppy and had to be replaced.

Niggles? Loads. Its not as long as a winnebago, not as fat as my last caravan, not as fast as a ferrari, not as heavy as a juggernaut, in fact if I wanted to moan I could moan on and on and on. However I don't want to moan, I want to smile, have a laugh, feel content and enjoy my life and by heck my Cali helps me do that.

 

[Alan]

grannyjen...

here here
wish I could write posts like that,but it would be nice if VW would move a little faster on some of these issues

Alan

 

[Meoncoast]

Think all forums are places where people off load so you can get a distorted overview of a product.
Are you a cut 1/2 empty or 1/2 full person at the end of the day this will colour your outlook. Iam happy we our van. When we decided to buy a campervan did not what a fiberglass buble (large or small) we did not want a denby T2 so looked at t5 conversions and found the California best decision we made going back to the original post only you can decide if its for you good or bad If not sure I would hire one. I would echo Grannyjennys post just read her blogs to see the positives :hello

 

[buster]

Thanks again everybody.great post grannygen I guess there is two sides to it
It's nice to hear positives. Hiring is a great idea I hadn't thought of

 

[AlanC]

We were looking at various campers, including Bilbos, old Splits and Bays and Californias amongst others as various shows.

Decided we could not afford a Cali, but hired one to try. Found out it was for sale and made an offer when we returned it. OK, it has a high mileage for a Cali, was well maintained although it had some silly little bits that needed doing. I am practical enough to sort these out myself and had a great time over the winter doing so. Now been out in it 4 times and looking forward to 4 weeks in France, come July.

The forum is about folk seeking help and advise

Read between the lines and you will see they are all still owning Calis, all still using them and still enjoying them, despite the grumbles.

Incidentally, when I take ours to work my colleagues are all envious and want to have a look inside.

Go for it, you won't regret it, and we are here to help if you do need some advice.

Alan

 

[James]

I mean this with the greatest respect but lately I do feel the forum has turned into something quite negative, there are problems with the Cali and they've well raised and documented but lots of us do own our Calis with minimal fuss, use each day and enjoy them.

I think the forum has become a bit of a mouthpiece for those with a grievance and I am not sure the forum should function for that reason alone.

People are devaluing their own 40k+ purchase, you're not the first to raise this recently.

If you look through the forum you find a high degree of positivity, love and fun for all things Cali, forums do magnify issues, who comes onto any forum to say, I had a nice drive today... Not many.

Have a look through the forum, there are some great owners and experiences


James

 

[mister_blobs]

I'll add some more positive comments. We have had our Cali for 2 months now and have been away in it for 4 weekends. It has done over 2000 miles and been to the Wye Valley, South Wales, Lake District and Scotland. It is an easy drive and the joy of turning up at a site and being ready in a minute or two (level the vehicle and raise the roof) is brilliant.
Even loading and unloading bikes is easy.
We have 2 boys (12 and 15) and it is great to be able to do things with them without excessive forward planning.
We thought that we might use the Cali every other weekend but already it looks like we could be away in it every weekend from July to September - there's just so much to do and the van offers so much flexibility.

 

[Meoncoast]

since we have had the Cali we have sold the home BBQ if we want one we go off it the van :smile

 

[gatvol]

Tony Blair and the labour PC brigade indoctrinated us that to say anything negative is bad, other than trolling those who meandered away from the official line, remember "that bigoted woman"

To my mind this was a sinister attempt to erode freedom of speech. In 1990 we had freedom of speech in the UK and when I met Americans at university I could not believe the effect PC had on their lives. Now we have PC here and communication here is grossly degraded as a result.

Life is not all rosy. Things go wrong. Injustices occur. Negative things happen. My best friend got Parkinson's disease in his 30s. Is this a Tony Blair opportunity ? Or a gross f@cking sh1t thing to happen to a wonderfully engaging and decent man. If your vocabulary does not balance the positive with the negative you either have the most perfect life, or your observations are grossly biased.

When I bought my Cali I was sold the dream that it was not an amateur night conversion with the inevitable small budget problems. I was told that the Cali was a properly engineered machine, worthy of a substantial premium. Indeed the first ever VW factory produced campervan. I imagined that by buying my Cali I would not have to endure shabby build quality, fragile sub contracted components, and routine trips to get things fixed.

No car I have ever owned had given me more trouble or required more warranty work. It really is amateur night. After covering about 12000 mikes in her and keeping her in a warm garage the problems I have endured are shocking. 1970s Fiat. And I never wanted nor bought a 1970s fiat. My 15 yr volvo and 20 yr merc humble the Cali with their predictable reliability. Bubbling alloys, bubbling roof, failed CCU, failed radio, new water gauge, drivers door rubbing on cill, new main instrument cluster, failed passenger window switch. What a joke.

BUT no other campervan offers the fantastic, intelligent, design of the Cali. If I could sell this hunk of crap and replicate its amenity with a reliable Japanese or Korean vehicle benefitting from a long warranty I would. But as of now nothing can touch the Cali in terms of its versatility. So I keep her for now. But her 9 lives are running out

 

[GrannyJen]

Thanks again everybody.great post grannygen I guess there is two sides to it
It's nice to hear positives. Hiring is a great idea I hadn't thought of

I would hire. Any camper van is a heap of compromises. Go anywhere size but the price is cramped, and in comparison, spartan habitation. How much do you need that "go anywhere"?

I hired one, chucked my two dogs and Sister in it, and all four of us went off for a few days trial in the new forest. My sister had a nice comfortable bed in a B and B, My doggies had a nice sleep cuddled up to me. I had a totally crap sleep on a hard lumpy bed in a cali. First on my new vehicle accessories list - a Mattress topper.

I could have, and did, list a heap of negatives from that trip.

Too long for my drive ( First time out and I bashed it on my gate post). Easily solved, the gate posts just had to go.

Lousy nights sleep - not any more, beautiful nights sleep with a topper.

Definitely an automatic box. No more stalling on roundabouts

A few other negatives, but then a huge list of positives. I paid over the cash, not stopped smiling since.However hiring was a sensible move, it blew away the "glamour" and added hard reality as well as a hard bed into the thought process.

 

[Claudiopinto]

I think people who don't have issues do not bother to post as much as they are out having fun in their vans!

I have a warranty-covered issue on the computer knob but that is why I chose one with a few months left to be on the safe side

On the point there