VW ID Buzz California Cruise - Anti Climax

[RedWhiteMonkey]

It's never used up. EV used in place of 1st and Reverse and recharged when driving. When cruising battery recharged and pure IC mpg 50-60mpg.

Thanks for the clarification.

Can you elect to drive solely on electric? That would be useful for short trips.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for the clarification.

Can you elect to drive solely on electric? That would be useful for short trips.

Yes, very useful. And you can select how much EV battery you use in Hybrid mode. Recently drove 1000 miles, no charging enrolee and arrived with 50% EV battery remaining. Average 53mpg .

 

[Camperfamily]

Interesting to see this. It’s probably closest to the Caddy California in the Cali family.

It seems to be targeting a different target market to the original T/ Multivan Cali, in sleeping 2 adults only. I would imagine it will attract a relatively niche market segment, but could do well in that.

 

[WelshGas]

I don't know why some members are complaining. There are enough posts on the Forum by members who:-
1. Never cook in the vehicle due to smells.
2. Never use the water tank unless they get poisoned by the water.
3. Remove the awning because of the aesthetics.
4. Are just a couple.
5. Just stay in the UK.

So what's not to love a vehicle for 2 that you can sleep in and travel 60 miles outside of town for one or two nights and tour around breaking camp in 5 minutes.

 

[RedWhiteMonkey]

I don't know why some members are complaining. There are enough posts on the Forum by members who:-
1. Never cook in the vehicle due to smells.
2. Never use the water tank unless they get poisoned by the water.
3. Remove the awning because of the aesthetics.
4. Are just a couple.
5. Just stay in the UK.

So what's not to love a vehicle for 2 that you can sleep in and travel 60 miles outside of town for one or two nights and tour around breaking camp in 5 minutes.

Including you. You clearly complained about the range earlier in this thread.

I'm very much live and let live, people camp in many different ways and just get the setup that suits but I'm struggling to see the justification for this Buzz California. If there is a market I bet a normal Buzz will be able to fitted out for camping cheaper than what VW will want for a Buzz California.

 

[Chriskend]

We have a fleet of over 50 vans at work so we have demo’d a number of ev vans to test if they will replace the existing ice. Have tried merc, Vauxhall, ford and maxis to name a few. The results once the vans were loaded to the max (the engineers run at max weight with all the tools and gear) were quite dismal, all vans covered 80-120 mls, having said that, when empty they were touching the 200 mark. In Scotland that doesn’t cut the ice. Shame as I do like ev’s

 

[WelshGas]

Including you. You clearly complained about the range earlier in this thread.

I'm very much live and let live, people camp in many different ways and just get the setup that suits but I'm struggling to see the justification for this Buzz California. If there is a market I bet a normal Buzz will be able to fitted out for camping cheaper than what VW will want for a Buzz California.

Oh I made full use of my 2014 California over 140,000 miles. But camping and Campervaning has changed since Covid. Now we travel 15-20,000 miles a year staying in hotels, ready pitched safari tents etc all over Europe and U.K.
For me I would want 400 miles Real World Range come rain or shine. Hence a Hybrid, full EV for local trips and a 400 miles Real World range before filling the petrol tank.

This new California is not for me but for those mentioned in my post 29 above.

 

[Black Forest]

"Inflatable Kitchens"

It would be a real let-down and I guess you would feel quite deflated if they didn't work...

IGMC....

 

[Gliderbee California 6.1]

You guys mean this one: Inflatable kitchen ?

Not for me to cook my egg in the morning

 

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Not available in Europe but a little over £33,000 buys you this in China.

Not a particularly practical interior colour for a camper but the tech is impressive.

 

[WelshGas]

Not available in Europe but a little over £33,000 buys you this in China.

Not a particularly practical interior colour for a camper but the tech is impressive.

Needs a sliding door rather than an opening door.

 

[chockswahay]

Not available in Europe but a little over £33,000 buys you this in China.

Not a particularly practical interior colour for a camper but the tech is impressive.

Haha, well THAT kept me entertained for a while!

Only one question ............ WHY?

Its a nice demo of high tech that you didn't know you need and will only make your life hell when the electrics fail. I'm for for tech but sometimes I do wish things could just be simpler and more basic ........

Now then, where can I get hold of a half decent T2 .....................

 

[RedWhiteMonkey]

It does look like a potential electrical nightmare if things go wrong, will it have VW reliabilty?

There were a couple of things on it that struck me as good ideas, including aircon/heating vents specifically in the poptop. Pressing a button to automatically turn the front seats would be nice but probably a right pain if they broke.

 

[chockswahay]

will it have VW reliabilty?

 

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Yep, I did write that with ambiguity on purpose.

 

[stoobthealien]

Haha, well THAT kept me entertained for a while!

Only one question ............ WHY?

Its a nice demo of high tech that you didn't know you need and will only make your life hell when the electrics fail. I'm for for tech but sometimes I do wish things could just be simpler and more basic ........

Now then, where can I get hold of a half decent T2 .....................

To your "why" question - see the number of roof tents being driven about all the time at the moment!

 

[acer]

I’m reminded of the phrase that it is much better to have a graceful degradation of systems than a catastrophic failure.
(I’m glad to be gracefully degrading myself )

 

[chockswahay]

To your "why" question - see the number of roof tents being driven about all the time at the moment!

Well...... it is still only a car, has no facilities, standing room is a very small footprint and as far as i can tell would only fit small children on the bed up top. But my real point was it appears to be a case of making anything and everything electric 'just because we can!'

 

[chockswahay]

see the number of roof tents being driven about all the time at the moment!

That's true....poor misguided fools