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- T6 Ocean 150 4Motion
Just sold the California.
We got a decent offer from a dealer having had the roof repaired; I'd fully cleared it out just in case the offer (we'd asked them to value it) was good - and we were very happy with what we were offered and the funds have just cleared.
The van gave us some cracking holidays but taking into account depreciation, they weren't exactly cheap...
It's been the most expensive yet troublesome vehicle we've had BUT it never (quite) let us down while we were away and it allowed us to stay in some beautiful parts of Europe with our children. I believe the fixes (new style EGR valve, proper roof sorting, etc) should mean it's now reliable for years to come but it pushed our patience to the max.
Mixed emotions - glad to have sold it (the dealer sale was partly motivated by the lack of response to the first ad on here despite LOADS of views so it made me a little nervous) but it's been a big part of our lives.
Clearly I won't be on here much but I'll put some accessories up for sale (Pucer roof cover, Thule levelling ramps, Zonesleep lower mattress, and a few more bits) and am happy to help anyone else out, especially those camping with young kids - we've learned a lot over the three years we've had it with 2 x 5 weeks in Europe (Northern Spain, Provence, the Ardeche, Pyrennees, SW coast of France, Asturias, Galicia), a week in Mull and another week in Britanny plus many other trips closer to home.
Our original reason for buying it was partly because we were half an hour from the sea and wanted to be able to stay right next to it when needed - we moved to Polzeath (with the sea a minutes walk away) a year later and suddenly found our local use wasn't happening; but we still did the Euro trips and still had fun.
As a daily, it's just too thirsty - sub 20mpg on local, hilly roads, despite other running costs being quite low (insurance, servicing, etc). It also spent far too much time at the dealer - I actually think it will probably now be fine for years having had almost all common issues sorted but even though everything was covered under warranty, with our local dealer 35 minutes away, it was a royal PITA. I'm also glad to be rid of diesel - I was a fan of the early common rail style diesels, power and torque aplenty but in the last five years I think the emissions reducing nonsense (DPF, EGR valve, DMFs, etc) just aren't up to the job and cause too many premature failures. We now have two petrols on the drive and I'm now happy with that. The replacement won't have us wincing every time a van/lorry squeezes past on a country lane - the Cali wasn't the most ideal country lane hack.
So mixed emotions - a cracking vehicle in many ways, still the best camper by miles but I feel VW build quality has slipped a lot in recent years; yet no alternative offers anything I'd feel more confident with.
We're taking a break from van world now but we have some happy memories but it was time to move on; the money for the van (replaced by a much cheaper Subaru Outback 2.5 MANUAL SE which was a bargain) is going towards an fairly massive investment opportunity - fingers crossed!
Some great people on here - I hope you all enjoy your Calis as much as we (mostly) did.
We got a decent offer from a dealer having had the roof repaired; I'd fully cleared it out just in case the offer (we'd asked them to value it) was good - and we were very happy with what we were offered and the funds have just cleared.
The van gave us some cracking holidays but taking into account depreciation, they weren't exactly cheap...
It's been the most expensive yet troublesome vehicle we've had BUT it never (quite) let us down while we were away and it allowed us to stay in some beautiful parts of Europe with our children. I believe the fixes (new style EGR valve, proper roof sorting, etc) should mean it's now reliable for years to come but it pushed our patience to the max.Mixed emotions - glad to have sold it (the dealer sale was partly motivated by the lack of response to the first ad on here despite LOADS of views so it made me a little nervous) but it's been a big part of our lives.
Clearly I won't be on here much but I'll put some accessories up for sale (Pucer roof cover, Thule levelling ramps, Zonesleep lower mattress, and a few more bits) and am happy to help anyone else out, especially those camping with young kids - we've learned a lot over the three years we've had it with 2 x 5 weeks in Europe (Northern Spain, Provence, the Ardeche, Pyrennees, SW coast of France, Asturias, Galicia), a week in Mull and another week in Britanny plus many other trips closer to home.
Our original reason for buying it was partly because we were half an hour from the sea and wanted to be able to stay right next to it when needed - we moved to Polzeath (with the sea a minutes walk away) a year later and suddenly found our local use wasn't happening; but we still did the Euro trips and still had fun.
As a daily, it's just too thirsty - sub 20mpg on local, hilly roads, despite other running costs being quite low (insurance, servicing, etc). It also spent far too much time at the dealer - I actually think it will probably now be fine for years having had almost all common issues sorted but even though everything was covered under warranty, with our local dealer 35 minutes away, it was a royal PITA. I'm also glad to be rid of diesel - I was a fan of the early common rail style diesels, power and torque aplenty but in the last five years I think the emissions reducing nonsense (DPF, EGR valve, DMFs, etc) just aren't up to the job and cause too many premature failures. We now have two petrols on the drive and I'm now happy with that. The replacement won't have us wincing every time a van/lorry squeezes past on a country lane - the Cali wasn't the most ideal country lane hack.
So mixed emotions - a cracking vehicle in many ways, still the best camper by miles but I feel VW build quality has slipped a lot in recent years; yet no alternative offers anything I'd feel more confident with.
We're taking a break from van world now but we have some happy memories but it was time to move on; the money for the van (replaced by a much cheaper Subaru Outback 2.5 MANUAL SE which was a bargain) is going towards an fairly massive investment opportunity - fingers crossed!
Some great people on here - I hope you all enjoy your Calis as much as we (mostly) did.
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