Petrol California beach; questions and thoughts on petrol and interior.....

[Jerseyroberts]

Hello,

This site is great. Have taken lots of advice already.

Excited to have ordered today a petrol manual beach in starlight blue with moonrock interior. I added alcantara seats (with comfort dash plus 6.33 screen), parking sensors, green tinted privacy glass windows, and an extra side window.

1. Has any one driven a new VW petrol van? (Or have any thoughts on the subject). I chose petrol as it will mostly be used for small distance surf trips (under 20 miles) and school pick ups. Once or if lucky twice a year to the south of France or Cornwall.

2. Does anyone know when/if an automatic petrol in the beach will become available?

3. I added alcantara seats but to do this you need to add comfort dash package plus a larger radio screen (6 inches). Are either the seats, the comfort package (what is this) or the larger screen (is this all it is) worthwhile and why?

4. I have opted for moonrock colour interior. Does the whole inside therefore match (are the inside panels, the floor and seats all moonrock colour)? I find the website for build your own highly confusing as only shows black floor with alcantara moonrock seats.

Now just to wait and look forward to a spring arrival.

Thanks for advice and opinions

 

[Hotel California]

Welcome on your first post .
There's a rather big tread on petrol Cali's here....
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/tsi-opinions.21343/unread

 

[Jerseyroberts]

Welcome on your first post .
There's a rather big tread on petrol Cali's here....
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/tsi-opinions.21343/unread

Thanks very much for your reply and directing me to the other thread.

 

[Hotel California]

Just someone who orderd a TSI yesterday
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/ocean-tsi-204-dsg-ordered-smg-tonbridge.21475/unread

As i have a 2012 SE i wanted to test drive a TSI .
I want to test drive a 4motion DSG (Coast or Ocean) but no testverhicle availeble in Belgium in that set up according VW Belgium.

 

[Crell]

Congrats on the order.

2) no one knows. Options often improve with age of a vehicle, but there are no guarantees. Changes to spec usually align to model year changes, and we had the MY18 one very recently.

3j Don’t spec the comfort seats. It’s nothing to do with the comfort Dash but you’ll end up with front seats that don’t swivel!
Comfort Dash also includes the excellent climatronic air con as well. Which is about 800 on its own. I much prefer the comfort Dash, others prefer the uncomfortable one.

Not sure about the bigger screen, but lots upgrade to the discover nav anyway.

4)I’m pretty sure it’s seats only.

Some other suggestions.
Add the interior comfort plus lights - I forget the name but the rear / door lights are worth it unless you like a dark boot.
Think about the option that gets you the upgraded headlights to H7s from the Caravelle rather than the dire H4 versions on the beach.
Tow bar prep - if you ever need a towbar this makes things a lot easier.
Multi function wheel - just for convenience.

Also, if you’re surfing I’d ditch the expensive alcantara seats and go with the cloth and throw some waterproof covers on them.

 

[Stoneybroke]

I'm a comfort dash fan, just sad we got ours before you could colour coordinate it!

I'd recommend adding the reversing camera to the parking sensors.

 

[Jerseyroberts]

Congrats on the order.

2) no one knows. Options often improve with age of a vehicle, but there are no guarantees. Changes to spec usually align to model year changes, and we had the MY18 one very recently.

3j Don’t spec the comfort seats. It’s nothing to do with the comfort Dash but you’ll end up with front seats that don’t swivel!
Comfort Dash also includes the excellent climatronic air con as well. Which is about 800 on its own. I much prefer the comfort Dash, others prefer the uncomfortable one.

Not sure about the bigger screen, but lots upgrade to the discover nav anyway.

4)I’m pretty sure it’s seats only.

Some other suggestions.
Add the interior comfort plus lights - I forget the name but the rear / door lights are worth it unless you like a dark boot.
Think about the option that gets you the upgraded headlights to H7s from the Caravelle rather than the dire H4 versions on the beach.
Tow bar prep - if you ever need a towbar this makes things a lot easier.
Multi function wheel - just for convenience.

Also, if you’re surfing I’d ditch the expensive alcantara seats and go with the cloth and throw some waterproof covers on them.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've emailed the dealer to ensure I didn't spec the comfort seats!

For the seats the waterproof covers just seem like they would slide and be uncomfortable. I am hoping the alcantara seats are resilient.

The colour on the inside will likely be a surprise then. Am wanting all moonrock but as you say, maybe it's a mix of moonrock seats and black flooring.

 

[Crell]

I love alcantara in cars, and would usually spec it over leather. I know where you’re coming from but in my experience it’s not that good at dealing with life particularly with water involved.

Have a look at the Brandrup seat covers they’re a very snug fit and give some water resistance. They don’t move and come in all the VW fabrics to keep the OEM look.

We went for the new vw covers made by Inka. We just travelled for 10 hours back from Scotland and they are excellent. They seem better than the old ones we had on our Caravelle and again a tighter fit. They aren’t slippy at all, though I think that’s partly because they are on cloth seats in our beach rather than the full nappa leather that we had before.

If you stick with alcantara would love to see some pics when it arrives.

 

[Bill R]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've emailed the dealer to ensure I didn't spec the comfort seats!

For the seats the waterproof covers just seem like they would slide and be uncomfortable. I am hoping the alcantara seats are resilient.

The colour on the inside will likely be a surprise then. Am wanting all moonrock but as you say, maybe it's a mix of moonrock seats and black flooring.

I'm having the same seats and from memory, when I looked over a similar vehicle, the floor is the same colour as the seats - could be wrong but it's how I remember it
Bill