Grand Cali 600

[mazzaroona333]

Hi Everyone,

I am thinking of buying a grand cali 600 but I just have a few questions!

Can it be configured with travelling seats for 5?
Do you think 3 kids can fit in the second bed? (We are a family of 5! Kids are 7,5 and 3 but obviously we’d want to keep the van for at least the next 5 or 6 years)
Is it best to buy second hand? If so, where’s best to find one?

Thanks!

 

[Camperfamily]

I started a similar thread for the same 5-seat challenge in a GC600:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/5-seater-grand-cali.40937/

You can’t specify a 5 seat Grand Cali so would have to go down the modification route

 

[mazzaroona333]

Thanks so much. That’s so frustrating - on the website I thought it said it could be configured with 5 seats Thanks for letting me know!

 

[VW54WKSJUNE82]

Thanks so much. That’s so frustrating - on the website I thought it said it could be configured with 5 seats Thanks for letting me know!

I'm literally having the same dilemma at the moment. I'm looking to buy a 600 too and I think I'll go down the route of having a removable 5th chair placed in the second row which will be purely just for travelling and then removed and stored in the garage at the back or placed in a pop up storage tent outside when camping. I'm not 100% sure this can be done but can't see why not. My children are 14, 11 and 3 so in regards to sleeping I'll just opt for one of these www.cabbunk.co.uk for one to sleep on

 

[mazzaroona333]

Wow that's really helpful. So who do you get to put the removable chair in?! I'm so new to all of this. Do you ask VW to do it or do you go to a converter company and get a custom made van?

My friend has scared me a bit saying that with the grand Cali it will massively restrict which campsites we can go to as a lot of the lovely rural ones will only take small campers (up to 4.9m) and with the larger ones it's also hard to go down narrow windy lanes to remote places. Does anyone have a view on this? Wondering whether we should get a smaller van converted to fit 5 instead but worried it will be a massive squash and not particularly fun!!

 

[Wondering Star]

I have a vehicle of similar size, not a Crafter but a 6m Sprinter. Never been refused entry to any campsite, some of the remote National trust sites only take vans of a smaller size due to access problems but always happy to accept ours. Restrictive access sites sometimes have worries regarding vehicle width as it can be a concern for oncoming traffic and passing places, problem for larger Motorhomes only in my experience.

 

[mazzaroona333]

I have a vehicle of similar size, not a Crafter but a 6m Sprinter. Never been refused entry to any campsite, some of the remote National trust sites only take vans of a smaller size due to access problems but always been happy to accept ours. Restrictive access sites sometimes have worries regarding vehicle width as it can be a concern for oncoming traffic and passing places, problem for larger Motorhomes only in my experience.

Ok, this sounds good! Thank you

 

[andyinluton]

Having just done 10 days in the highlands on a lot of single track roads, there's nowhere I wouldn't go with a GC600 that I would go with an Ocean, its only 130mm wider and 1000mm longer it fitted widthways in every marked parking bay we found and only stuck out over the end by a little bit. All the sites we used saw it as a Campervan rather than a full size motorhome.

 

[mazzaroona333]

Having just done 10 days in the highlands on a lot of single track roads, there's nowhere I wouldn't go with a GC600 that I would go with an Ocean, its only 130mm wider and 1000mm longer it fitted widthways in every marked parking bay we found and only stuck out over the end by a little bit. All the sites we used saw it as a Campervan rather than a full size motorhome.

So great to hear. Perhaps if we can get a removable 5th travel seat (how do we do that?!) it will work for us!