Anyone got my old T6 California here?

[Bluestone]

Hi, not sure if this is allowed but would love to talk to the person who bought or have my old VW California, the registration is BM69 MVC.

Understand that you may not want to posy publicly so please send me a DM, I kind of regret selling it to be honest and would love to hear about it and who know's if whoever has it wants to sell it?

Thank you

 

[dspuk]

A quick DVLA check says that reg does not exist anymore - likely it has a private plate on now.

 

[Bluestone]

A quick DVLA check says that reg does not exist anymore - likely it has a private plate on now.

Oh okay, oh well, loved that California last of the T6's and had almost everything on it, bought a new T6.1 and ended up being so disappointed (of course don't want to offend and my own personal opinion)

Thanks for the info

 

[Perfectos]

Worth posting some picture ? Maybe someone will recognise

 

[Resfeber]

Oh okay, oh well, loved that California last of the T6's and had almost everything on it, bought a new T6.1 and ended up being so disappointed (of course don't want to offend and my own personal opinion)

Thanks for the info

Understand. I too miss my T6 and see it regularly as it was sold local to me.
Occasionally say sorry to it and give it a “once over” to make sure it is being looked after
However, I am gradually settling into the niggles and compromises made on the T6.1
Plus side was 0% finance, 5years warranty, servicing and last of the transporter design

 

[Stu72]

Having not owned a t6 only a 6.1 California what niggles and compromises have been made ?

 

[Kayleigh]

Having not owned a t6 only a 6.1 California what niggles and compromises have been made ?

I’ll add the first compromise… Lack of left foot rest!

 

[Stu72]

Yeah , I get that !

 

[Resfeber]

Having not owned a t6 only a 6.1 California what niggles and compromises have been made ?

T6 has dashboard with centre glove box with lid, passenger side has 2 gloveboxes both with lids, t6.1 has only one with lid and other is open so contents slip out and less space.
Centre console on T6 had cooled cupboard for water/wine or fire extinguisher.
DSG had sport mode to hold gears to higher revs.
T6 had left foot rest beside brake pedal.
Won’t mention the 3s to 4s pop top issue for T6.1 that didn’t happen on T6
Sure others will add their own.

 

[Stu72]

I understand a few cab area compromises, but a far as I see the camper area is basically the same in both vans , I owned a t5 conversion for 8 years (AJC conversions) and consider that van to be of far better quality than the California , not once in that time did the fridge latch stop latching , blinds spring up without warning , cupboard latches break etc , what I’m saying is in my opinion they both (6/6.1) seem to have compromises

 

[Bluestone]

For me it was the mainly the cab, it's odd really, where do we spend most of the time? But for me, I liked the T6 cab, it set it apart from, say a conversion, or theTransporter, it was more like driving a car.

I'm very disappointed VW made this change and for me it was an unnecessary, change for cost saving (IMO).

I didn't initially want to mention it on here in case the new owner was on here (although I'm sure a lot of the issues have been sorted now), one of the main reason for selling it (I bought it brand new), it has so many problems, the final straw I think - apart from the constant engine warning lamps, catalytic converter needing replacing, 2nd leisure battery needing replacing amongst many other little niggles which were covered under warranty, was the alarm constantly going off, I can't remember how many times I took this to the dealer. Eventually they found a fault in part of the wiring loom and replaced it (the wiring loom), but the damage was done for me and I just wanted to see the back of it. Haha of course I now regret that decision and wish I had stuck with it as I know all issues can be resolved and better to get them all done under warranty.

As a balance, here is what I thought was better in the T6.1 over the T6 (some maybe my vehicle specific) My 150 BHP T6 used to often lurch off from a start and even wheel spin (many others haven't had this issue?, the T6.1 was much smoother, oddly, the side door on the 6.1 was much smoother! The bed setups and also the rear 'parcel shelf' on the 6.1 was better, however, all of these could be retro-fitted into the 6.

But, as @Resfeber said above, having one new and ) % finance and warranty is good and of course with all vehicles - age + wear ant things needing replacing.

 

[Bluestone]

I understand a few cab area compromises, but a far as I see the camper area is basically the same in both vans , I owned a t5 conversion for 8 years (AJC conversions) and consider that van to be of far better quality than the California , not once in that time did the fridge latch stop latching , blinds spring up without warning , cupboard latches break etc , what I’m saying is in my opinion they both (6/6.1) seem to have compromises

Interesting you say this, often conversions now are almost as much as the California, plus here in the UK we do suffer with the sliding door being on the wrong side, you don't with a conversion.

But you have.a California now and I get it, I think we all love our Californias, maybe it's like Land Rovers (older not new), really they were terrible vehicles, I mean pretty bad build quality and always breaking down - well mine was anyway, but Landy owners love them and won't have anything bad said about them. Personally, I love Californias,, I love the concept, I love that it comes all the way from the original VW Camper vans, ironically, back in the day, they were all conversions!!

I think the big won over conversions (?) is all if it is covered by VW warranty, I didn't have any of my warranty or servicing work done at a Lifestyle centre, just my local van centre (who are excellent), if they needed a special part for the California, they would order it in and thankfully they had techs trained on the California.

 

[Resfeber]

For me it was the mainly the cab, it's odd really, where do we spend most of the time? But for me, I liked the T6 cab, it set it apart from, say a conversion, or theTransporter, it was more like driving a car.

I'm very disappointed VW made this change and for me it was an unnecessary, change for cost saving (IMO).

I didn't initially want to mention it on here in case the new owner was on here (although I'm sure a lot of the issues have been sorted now), one of the main reason for selling it (I bought it brand new), it has so many problems, the final straw I think - apart from the constant engine warning lamps, catalytic converter needing replacing, 2nd leisure battery needing replacing amongst many other little niggles which were covered under warranty, was the alarm constantly going off, I can't remember how many times I took this to the dealer. Eventually they found a fault in part of the wiring loom and replaced it (the wiring loom), but the damage was done for me and I just wanted to see the back of it. Haha of course I now regret that decision and wish I had stuck with it as I know all issues can be resolved and better to get them all done under warranty.

As a balance, here is what I thought was better in the T6.1 over the T6 (some maybe my vehicle specific) My 150 BHP T6 used to often lurch off from a start and even wheel spin (many others haven't had this issue?, the T6.1 was much smoother, oddly, the side door on the 6.1 was much smoother! The bed setups and also the rear 'parcel shelf' on the 6.1 was better, however, all of these could be retro-fitted into the 6.

But, as @Resfeber said above, having one new and ) % finance and warranty is good and of course with all vehicles - age + wear ant things needing replacing.

Fortunately, I had none of the persistent problems that you had and apart from a front crankshaft oil seal which I replaced as part of the sale (inc Cambelt and waterpump total £1200) all other defects were done under warranty (leaking dsg after the VW technical service bulletin epoxy bolt fix for 2018 dsg faults didn’t work), egr cooler and EGR rear pipe and new discovery media pro after screen failed we’re all done under warranty or All in plan.
As they say you often don’t forget your first love but you move on over time!
Like the 6.1 seats and darker material and the sliding seat and side door are much easier and no awning rattles compared to my T6
The rear shelf is a bit of a bug bear. Fine in theory, terrible to unmount and refit and has reduced boot room compared to 2 position T6 and the intrusion at the sides of the T6.1 recline mechanism.

 

[wildslammer22]

Quicks pros and cons for me as a T6 owner who rented T6.1 for several weekends before buying.

T6 cabin, bottle cooler, door cards/bins, DSG sport mode and paddle shift, I also prefer hydraulic power steering over electric but accept I might be in the minority on that! Front end design less fussy.

T6.1 Froli bed springs in pop top, wardrobe door not tambor design, parcel/bed shelf, digital dash & more modern info panel with the caveat that they over complicated the heater controls on the T6.1

Both great vans.

 

[Stu72]

I get everything you say and I do have a love hate relations with my California I just think attention to detail on catches etc could have been better , you seem lucky with your local dealer as when I took mine to my local mid Cornwall vw dealer they told me to go to a caravan repair shop for the fridge catch to be fixed as they didn’t know about the California ! I pointed out it’s six months old but was told to take it to Exeter for as looking at ( 150 mile round trip ) , the following week I test drove a grand California 600 , parked it on my driveway to make sure it would fit ok and the hand brake stuck on ! A master tech had to come out and fix it on my drive , so hopefully everyone can see why I have a bit of a problem with vw quality at the moment , hope
I Don’t upset anyone on the forum but I would certainly be carefull about what I buy in the future

 

[wildslammer22]

I get everything you say and I do have a love hate relations with my California I just think attention to detail on catches etc could have been better , you seem lucky with your local dealer as when I took mine to my local mid Cornwall vw dealer they told me to go to a caravan repair shop for the fridge catch to be fixed as they didn’t know about the California ! I pointed out it’s six months old but was told to take it to Exeter for as looking at ( 150 mile round trip ) , the following week I test drove a grand California 600 , parked it on my driveway to make sure it would fit ok and the hand brake stuck on ! A master tech had to come out and fix it on my drive , so hopefully everyone can see why I have a bit of a problem with vw quality at the moment , hope
I Don’t upset anyone on the forum but I would certainly be carefull about what I buy in the future

I think the accepted wisdom is the California build quality peaked with the T4 and has gradually declined with every iteration with the inevitable production cost cutting. The diesel engines have also become much more complex in that period to meet emission standards which adds potential for additional failure/problems (ERG, DPF, Adblue, stop start etc)

Bellowsgate possibly the low point, it will be interesting to see if the trend continues with the multivan versions. I’m already reading problems with battery management. Complexity almost inevitably creates more stuff to go wrong so the hybrid/4motion versions will likely be the most risky purchase. A fully electric version when battery technology makes a camper properly viable might reverse the trend, far less stuff to go wrong on an EV!

 

[Bluestone]

Yes, I agree with the above, I actually just bought a new car, well it's not new at all, it's 5 years old, I think 2020 was the last of the simpler vehicles with less technology and less things to go wrong, I really didn't want a new car (I've just come back from living in Denmark so didn't have a car at all), maybe this is the case with the T6 and T6.1, not sure I like the T7 at all, but horses for courses I guess!

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

I liked the T6.1 and the Multivan so much I bought a Ducato!