Should I get this van?

[Bear]

Hello everyone
I’m looking at buying a California with the following spec and wondered if it’s a good deal?
Dealer wants £68,000 and there is no movement on price and only offering a 6m warranty.

Ocean 204 4motion 2022 plate
23150 miles
2 previous owners
Mechanical diff lock
Tow bar with trailer stabilisation
Pro Nav
Alcantara seats
Mojave beige
Shower connection
80 litre fuel tank
Power sliding door
VB air suspension - dealer did not know much about it

I’ve been following the forum for a while since we hired a California a few times and now we’re ready to take the plunge and get one and wonder if we should go for this one. Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice.

 

[sticky1]

I suspect it’s a bit of a unicorn and you may have to swallow the price if it’s the van you really want.
I think if it were me I would be putting a deposit subject to a proper survey.

 

[Bear]

Thanks @sticky1 what kind of survey do you mean? Like from the RAC for example?

 

[Malc24]

We hired a T6 4 motion and driving gently could only get 35 mpg max. Also hired & then bought a new T7 (Multivan) Diesel Ocean (from Breeze in Poole) for not much more money than the price of the T6 you referenced and have been getting 42 to 45 mpg. The T7 also came with servicing, warranty, breakdown cover - all for 5 years, and lots of things that make it nice to drive including height adjustable front seats. But the T7 is not a 4 WD unless you go for a hybrid and, for reasons I don’t understand, the hybrid attracts luxury car tax. (Diesels don’t). I would suggest trying a T7 before deciding. However, some T6 owners will be along shortly …

 

[Californication69]

Hello everyone
I’m looking at buying a California with the following spec and wondered if it’s a good deal?
Dealer wants £68,000 and there is no movement on price and only offering a 6m warranty.

Ocean 204 4motion 2022 plate
23150 miles
2 previous owners
Mechanical diff lock
Tow bar with trailer stabilisation
Pro Nav
Alcantara seats
Mojave beige
Shower connection
80 litre fuel tank
Power sliding door
VB air suspension - dealer did not know much about it

I’ve been following the forum for a while since we hired a California a few times and now we’re ready to take the plunge and get one and wonder if we should go for this one. Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice.

Have you driven a 6.1 ?
How tall are you?
Any back issues ?
The lack of height adjusting drivers seat caused me to sell 2x 6.1’s Oceans.
I have a T7 / MV Beach on order from Breeze
150bhp diesel.
Drove a MV for 2 weeks and it was half decent. / 100% better than 6.1 seat.
And £64k (£4.5 discount for finance and £4K dealer discount) for a fully loaded beach with 5 years service, warranty, breakdown, MOT.
2.9% apr. No brainer.

Any reason you really need 4M
Yes, it’s better at pulling away with 4M on a 6.1 as it’s a different animal to the t7/MV Cali.
I’ve hoofed a 150ps MV diesel and the chassis sits lower and hasn’t got the movement of a 6.1.
Just my 5p

 

[Up10]

We have

Hello everyone
I’m looking at buying a California with the following spec and wondered if it’s a good deal?
Dealer wants £68,000 and there is no movement on price and only offering a 6m warranty.

Ocean 204 4motion 2022 plate
23150 miles
2 previous owners
Mechanical diff lock
Tow bar with trailer stabilisation
Pro Nav
Alcantara seats
Mojave beige
Shower connection
80 litre fuel tank
Power sliding door
VB air suspension - dealer did not know much about it

I’ve been following the forum for a while since we hired a California a few times and now we’re ready to take the plunge and get one and wonder if we should go for this one. Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice.

We have a similar spec van but without the air suspension which I understand is a £3-9k addition. More later.
We are very happy with ours but there are 204, 4wd Cali detractors. We like the way it drives and how it pulls effortlessly up hills. We are looking forward to taking it to Scotland and Norway (undoubtedly to sit behind 140bhp Motorhomes!)
On the surface, £68k is expensive but it is a high spec vehicle with plenty of extras. Don't expect to get much more than 30mpg though!
Check any existing or residual vehicle warranty and included services/mots with a VW dealership, any of them should assist with this even if it isn't being sold by them. It may have one and it may be 5 years so it would take you to 2027. Also ask if you could set up a warranty and service plan on that van to give you peace of mind. The warranty is with the van, not the owner.
As for the air suspension, it could make the ride more comfortable or it could even have a self levelling capability which would save you carrying ramps and would be a nice to have addition. Also see if this brand is approved by VW otherwise you would not be able to take out the VW warranty I was suggesting earlier.
If it is all compatible and VW are happy to extend the warranty, then it is probably not an unreasonable price but look at the condition and do your homework before committing.
There are some lovely vans out there, don't be pressured into this one unless you are really happy with it. But, in principle, it sounds OK.
Good luck.

 

[Bear]

Have you driven a 6.1 ?
How tall are you?
Any back issues ?
The lack of height adjusting drivers seat caused me to sell 2x 6.1’s Oceans.
I have a T7 / MV Beach on order from Breeze
150bhp diesel.
Drove a MV for 2 weeks and it was half decent. / 100% better than 6.1 seat.
And £64k (£4.5 discount for finance and £4K dealer discount) for a fully loaded beach with 5 years service, warranty, breakdown, MOT.
2.9% apr. No brainer.

Any reason you really need 4M
Yes, it’s better at pulling away with 4M on a 6.1 as it’s a different animal to the t7/MV Cali.
I’ve hoofed a 150ps MV diesel and the chassis sits lower and hasn’t got the movement of a 6.1.
Just my 5p(

with my eight year old) hired a 150 T6.1 and drove all the way to Scotland in it. We covered 1500 miles in the four days we had it. I’m 5 foot 5 (I’m a woman). I just found the 150 didn’t pull away as quickly as I’d like and my daily driver

 

[Bear]

Sorry that reply didn’t format properly. Trying again.

I hired a 150 T6.1 24 plate and drove me and my eight year old all the way to Scotland in it. We covered 1500 miles. I’m short - 5’5. No back issues yet - in my early 40s. I’ve decided on a 204 4motion as want a more powerful van than my 149 bhp daily. And4 motion to not have fear about going on cheap grassy campsites rather than staying on gravel pitches. We plan to be really adventurous- Alps, Scandinavia so want the AWD to give me the confidence as I am the solo driver.

 

[Bear]

We have

We have a similar spec van but without the air suspension which I understand is a £3-9k addition. More later.
We are very happy with ours but there are 204, 4wd Cali detractors. We like the way it drives and how it pulls effortlessly up hills. We are looking forward to taking it to Scotland and Norway (undoubtedly to sit behind 140bhp Motorhomes!)
On the surface, £68k is expensive but it is a high spec vehicle with plenty of extras. Don't expect to get much more than 30mpg though!
Check any existing or residual vehicle warranty and included services/mots with a VW dealership, any of them should assist with this even if it isn't being sold by them. It may have one and it may be 5 years so it would take you to 2027. Also ask if you could set up a warranty and service plan on that van to give you peace of mind. The warranty is with the van, not the owner.
As for the air suspension, it could make the ride more comfortable or it could even have a self levelling capability which would save you carrying ramps and would be a nice to have addition. Also see if this brand is approved by VW otherwise you would not be able to take out the VW warranty I was suggesting earlier.
If it is all compatible and VW are happy to extend the warranty, then it is probably not an unreasonable price but look at the condition and do your homework before committing.
There are some lovely vans out there, don't be pressured into this one unless you are really happy with it. But, in principle, it sounds OK.
Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. I test drove it and liked the way it had more power than the 150 we hired. My daily driver has149 bhp so I finally want a more powerful vehicle.

I am a bit wary about the VB suspension as it’s aftermarket but other posts on this forum indicate that it carries a LONO letter of no objection from VW and it won’t invalidate VW warranty in general. It has the levelling function which I think we will find useful as I did not want to faff about with levelling blocks on our hire van and we ended up sleeping with our heads at each end of the bed across the four nights depending on what felt “right” from a level point of view. I’m not interested in the air suspension part of it though as am happy with the drive.

 

[Up10]

Thanks for your reply. I test drove it and liked the way it had more power than the 150 we hired. My daily driver has149 bhp so I finally want a more powerful vehicle.

I am a bit wary about the VB suspension as it’s aftermarket but other posts on this forum indicate that it carries a LONO letter of no objection from VW and it won’t invalidate VW warranty in general. It has the levelling function which I think we will find useful as I did not want to faff about with levelling blocks on our hire van and we ended up sleeping with our heads at each end of the bed across the four nights depending on what felt “right” from a level point of view. I’m not interested in the air suspension part of it though as am happy with the drive.

Ditto, we sound like similar operators!
I too, am only 5'4" and female. The drive suits me, it's a van and drives like a van. It puts me in holiday mode. If you don't like vans and want a car, buy a T7!
We bought this spec to drive hills and camp on grassy pitches. We have had near misses escaping mud in the previous van so hope the dif lock keeps us moving in those conditions.
We don't mind about a slight tilt on the van as we are lazy when it comes to messing about with ramps and they take up a lot of storage especially with our wide tyres!
We're of to Norway in August and Scotland next week. We have travelled in North Slovenia, Italy and Germany (in the snow!) This is why we have the van we have.
Good news on the VW non objection! You sound like you are asking the right questions.
I wonder why the previous owners sold it? Were they going for a bigger van perhaps?

 

[Dixiewixie]

Ditto, we sound like similar operators!
I too, am only 5'4" and female. The drive suits me, it's a van and drives like a van. It puts me in holiday mode. If you don't like vans and want a car, buy a T7!
We bought this spec to drive hills and camp on grassy pitches. We have had near misses escaping mud in the previous van so hope the dif lock keeps us moving in those conditions.
We don't mind about a slight tilt on the van as we are lazy when it comes to messing about with ramps and they take up a lot of storage especially with our wide tyres!
We're of to Norway in August and Scotland next week. We have travelled in North Slovenia, Italy and Germany (in the snow!) This is why we have the van we have.
Good news on the VW non objection! You sound like you are asking the right questions.
I wonder why the previous owners sold it? Were they going for a bigger van perhaps?

I’ve moved from a T6 to a T7 and haven’t lost that ‘holiday mode’ feeling . Still feels a bit van-ish and that’s a good thing

 

[Sad]

Sure, it's alot of money, but if it's got everything you want and need it doesn't look too bad a value having a quick look at some of the prices of others in the for sale section on here.
I've always liked the idea of the VB air suspension, but can't afford to consider it!! There are naysayers about it (but aren't there for everything), but I'm sure there are hundreds of happy customers also. I understand it can be vulnerable to puncture if you're going to go green-laning with it, so depends on what your ideas are with the 4motion.

 

[sidepod]

Nobody going to mention how the 204 engine loves to destroy itself then?

 

[Fishface]

Nobody going to mention how the 204 engine loves to destroy itself then?

I believe 2022 is beyond the CXEB engine variant and is the modified "OK" version. Stand to be corrected. 11 years of T6 ownership, never got stuck on a campsite and 140/150 versions always pulled really well. IMO 4motion, air suspension are just further things to expensively go wrong, so I personally would swerve them.

 

[FivetonesCali]

Nobody going to mention how the 204 engine loves to destroy itself then?

This is the DMZA engine, there’s no reports (yet) of this being as fragile as the CXEB. If you want 4mo this is the best bet.

As for VB Air, this is the VW approved air suspension. It doesn’t have a brilliant reputation but will have advantages in terms of levelling and keeping low for marginally better fuel economy.

The price itself seems to be around the going rate for the spec currently.

 

[Californication69]

Sorry that reply didn’t format properly. Trying again.

I hired a 150 T6.1 24 plate and drove me and my eight year old all the way to Scotland in it. We covered 1500 miles. I’m short - 5’5. No back issues yet - in my early 40s. I’ve decided on a 204 4motion as want a more powerful van than my 149 bhp daily. And4 motion to not have fear about going on cheap grassy campsites rather than staying on gravel pitches. We plan to be really adventurous- Alps, Scandinavia so want the AWD to give me the confidence as I am the solo driver.

Sounds perfect for you then

 

[Bear]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

 

[Alexlex85]

Id offer £64k and tell them to either take it leave it. At least you gave your best shot and wont have any regrets.
£68k is a lot of money when you are getting in T7 warranted territory.

 

[Bear]

The main risk for me is the VB air suspension. It’s fitted aftermarket and is probably difficult to maintain? Does anyone have any experience of this system?

 

[WelshGas]

The main risk for me is the VB air suspension. It’s fitted aftermarket and is probably difficult to maintain? Does anyone have any experience of this system?

Some bedtime reading.

VB air ride failure - what replacement?

We had VB Air fitted in summer 2018. After five years of great benefit from it, the front right airbag would not hold its air. We finally identified this as the cause of the poor ride (rather than rough roads) last month when in Ireland on Europe’s most westerly campsite, 500 miles from home...

www.t6forum.com

 

[Sad]

Have a look with the search function. I can find that @Skootyalan has/had a 204 with VB, but they've not been active for a while. There'll be other, but probably not many. The T6 forum may help also (www.t6forum.com) but a search on there might also put you off the system entirely!!

 

[Kingfisher]

I just had VB air suspension installed on my T6 two months ago. Before deciding, I read all I could find on the Dutch, German and British forums. It is very difficult to draw conclusions just from forum activity, but my main take aways were these:

• Some people were not pleased with the system because it does not meet the expectations they had. By all means do a good long test drive over different road conditions.
• An older design sometimes developed leaks at the top of the front struts, needing the entire struts to be replaced. VB offered reduced pricing for this when out of warranty. 2022 plate may already have the new design, I don't know. A good test for current leaks related to this problem is to turn the steering to full lock while in offroad (raised) mode.
• During (the aftermath of) Covid, VB had problems in their supply chain. During this period people could not get replacement parts timely and were understandably quite frustrated.
• Quality varies widely between VB fitters. If any work on the system is needed, find a VB approved fitter that has actual experience with transporter/california and good customer service.
• The system is really expensive, and replacements are thus also expensive. Good to know going in.
• Many users are extremely happy with the system. For them it just works. @bvddobb reported needing their first repair (new sealing rings) after 150.000 km, many of which on really bad offroad tracks such as in Iceland, West Alps and Pyrenees.

The self levelling is an absolutely wonderful thing to have, especially if you are travelling as a solo driver. Driving onto levelling ramps without an extra pair of eyes to guide you can be challenging sometimes. Other than that, the lowering allows just a bit of extra headroom in parking garages and the raised mode allows you to be a little bit more adventurous in getting up farm tracks etcetera for wild camping or for scenic breaks. None of that is necessary, just a nice (and expensive) option to have.

Regarding price, your original question: I'm not really following UK prices. This van is absolutely top spec though, and especially the combination of 4motion, diff lock and air suspension is rare and sought after. High pricing is to be expected.

 

[sticky1]

Thanks @sticky1 what kind of survey do you mean? Like from the RAC for example?

I would definitely want to ensure that the van hasn’t been in any accidents and is mechanically perfect.

 

[Californication69]

Whoever is selling it, can you get a Trusted VW independent to go and plug in the OBDB port and check the fault codes over the last 4 years.
Check service history for the Haldex service too.

 

[SusiBus]

It's a top spec van. 4Motions with diff lock are rare, add to that air suspension, it becomes very rare indeed. Then add a tow bar, it was ordered by someone who either intended it for some serious use, or just liked spending money. I'd pcay extra money for it and hope it hadn't been used to tow a massive boat to the coast every weekend ( salt water ). But l wouldn't buy it in a colour l didn't like.