Everyday Use?

[Smiffy4bikes]

Me too

Only vehicle, gets used for everything. Commute to work, school runs, shopping, tip runs, furniture lugging, general ‘chuck it all in’ vehicle, and of course, holidays, weekends away, cheeky overnighters and fantastic days out! Brilliantly practical, great fun to drive, absolutely perfect as a daily drive.

All I would say is it doesn’t like short journeys, the engine need to warm up properly and get a good run out to be as efficient as possible. Luckily for me my daily commute is a 15 mile each way trip on mostly dual carriageway, so that sorts that out.

I've started using the pushbike for local errands now, good me for, the environment and the van, win-win!!

 

[Skewif]

Short journeys really hits fuel economy too. Doing lots of shorts I use twice as much fuel compared to a long run.

 

[Jay586]

I particularly like how easy it is to drive in town, you can see and it's happy doing very slow speeds, unlike the last couple of cars I've had. We also try to avoid short journeys now.

 

[Borris]

A Cali shades no more of the roadway than the average car, doesn't use much more fuel than the average car, doesn't cost any more to run than the average car, is arguably easier to drive than the average car and will go anywhere that you could go in an average car BUT is so so much more than the average car.

It's a van, a beach hut, a sports pavillion, a bird watching hide, a school bus, a brilliant tow vehicle, a soup kitchen, a pied-a'-terre, an ice cream van, an observatory, a passion wagen, mobile kennel, as well as a great place to socialise and meet people. You can live in it, sleep in it, work in it, read in it, do jigsaws in it, play tiddly winks in it, cook a meal in it, some even go to the toilet in it!!! (mind you, given the state of some peoples ordinary cars, that practice isn't kept exclusively for the Cali). You can go on an extended holiday in it, tour in it, use it as a removal van, an office, a retreat and if you have a seven seater Cali Beach you can use it as a people carrier for weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs etc etc. If diesels are ever banned you could then keep chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs etc etc in it and at the end of the day you could even be buried in it. Oh.......and you can use it as an everyday vehicle as well.

So as the sole family hack, it does virtually everything extremely well and if I could only have one car it would have to be a California.

 

[Chinmusic]

I much prefer it over a car now. Love the high driving position.
I contacted Brighton Marina and over hight can park in the coach bays behind McDonalds. They are normally all empty and despite what the signs say I double checked at the security office and they confirmed ok for a few hours to watch a movie etc.

That's really useful to know, thanks very much!
Been chancing it in ASDA.

 

[rod_vw]

We've used a LWB T4, T5 & now T6 since 1995 for our main vehicle, I'm now retired but the camper goes wherever we need without any problem. Up to now we have only had the most minor parking scratch during this time and well over 200K miles. My avatar is the previous T5 which is now for sale see http://www.1946vw.co.uk/sales.

 

[Roger Boeken]

Honestly, this car is just begging to be used everyday. You have the most luxury limousine below 5m length, with stand heater, kitchen, fridge etc.. Plenty of room even for other use than camper .. Only disadvantage , the ocean is a 4 seater , most cars are 5 seater(though not comfortable). It is a real workhorse for everyday use.

 

[Gazellio]

Honestly, this car is just begging to be used everyday. You have the most luxury limousine below 5m length, with stand heater, kitchen, fridge etc.. Plenty of room even for other use than camper .. Only disadvantage , the ocean is a 4 seater , most cars are 5 seater(though not comfortable). It is a real workhorse for everyday use.

Agree entirely AND some of us Beach owners have 5 seats (or even 7)......

 

[jts46]

It is a van use it or lose it

 

[s2bear]

Welcome! LHD 204dsg 4m Beach Edition bought in Oct and used daily, School runs, occasional commutes and mobile office days plus 2 trips to The Alps so far. Absolutely loving it. Same length as previous Touareg and Disco 5 (Disco fell apart) but so much more than a car. Can’t wait to do the mobile beach hut thing. Always wanted one but was apprehensive about it as a daily proposition. Never looked back.


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[Eber123]

The California is my only car (my wife has a Poll).

I read all the posts and agree and confirm with everything that was said.

There was one thing I have not seen coming is insurance. in Ireland insurance don't like campers, and even more they don't like campers as the only car driven on a daily basis .

Because of this I had some problems and insurance increased about 200% compare to my previous VW Tiguan.

Because I didn't see this coming maybe you want to look into this.

Eberhard

 

[Velma's Dad]

I don't use Cali every day but would be completely happy to, it's a very practical vehicle.

One 'issue' that sometimes gets mentioned in the Calis vs. Conversions debate (okay, it's no debate to us on this forum, but out there in the Real World...) is that it's sometimes said that on a Cali, unlike most T4/5/6 van conversions, the sliding door is on the 'wrong side' for UK use. And it's a fair point, in that if you park on the left of the road your rear passengers (kids?) must exit into the roadway.

In practice though, I don't think the problem is a real one for most people - unless you park on the street at home or at school drop-off etc and it bothers you.

For me, having the slider on the driver's side is actually more practical - because you can easily pop shopping/dogs/work bag into the back then hop straight into the driver's seat without having to walk round the van.

I'm only mentioning this in case it comes up in your research. Then you'll have heard Both Sides (ho ho).

 

[thehorse]

I'm using mine as a company car. Its fine but I am looking to get a cheaper second car because I've done 10K in 6 months and I think putting 100K on it in the next 5 years will knock the value, but mainly I don't like the constant worry about where I leave/park it. Driving an older car that you're not worried about and you can dump anywhere is quite liberating.

 

[EddieEagle]

 

[pjm-84]

Nope. We have 4 vehicles.

 

[kaf2546]

I use as Daily for work and play for all the reasons given. Think it’s better for the vehicle to keep it running. Due however to putting on 22k in first year we now have a Suzuki Alto runaround to do about 5k on and keep some miles off the Cali. Thought wee electric car but at two grand and 60mpg it seemed a no brainer. No danger I’d use the Suzi for a long run though


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[Sallyf]

Evening all.. I am looking to purchase a VW Cali, I have 2 girls and usually commute to work on the train and I was curious to hear how viable a VW is as an everyday vehicle. If I go by train to work which is c.3 days a week its 20 mins there and 20 mins back. And dropping/picking up the kids is 20 mins which is also twice a week.

I'd prefer not to have 2 cars.. anyone else use it as an everyday vehicle?

We only have one vehicle and two electric bikes. We take out all surplus weight during the winter (bedding, mattress et cetera ) to reduce fuel consumption . I try to shop when I know the carparks will not be too busy and I can choose my parking space as some are a bit tight. I love driving our five-year-old automatic California and the views it gives me.

 

[Phil Hall]

My Wife and I are retired so different situation but I use the van as my car as we do a lot of things seperatly. Comfort was mentioned, for me it’s the most comfortable driving position out of all the vehicles I have ever driven. I have scoliosis and the upright position is perfect. So much so that my Chiropracter tells me off if I drive my Wife’s car.
Golf equipment just gets put in so easily no bending and struggling.
Obviously small runs are not very good on the mpg but for me that’s well outweighed. Then there’s a good excuse to take Bessie out on a long run and visit somewhere together and have a brew up - cannot do that in a car.

 

[Zebedee]

4 years as a daily drive very short runs no problems at all then arthritis has prompted purchase of smart car I can turn on a sixpence to go under barrier in very low car parks but miss having Zebedee as my daily drive. Warmer weather will see more use as my hands won’t be so bad. Have used Zeb as everything imaginable.

 

[Ezio]

I sold my mansard caravan, expensive storage and insurance costs and then be able to use it a few times in a year. Only the fact of not having it at home available, but having to carry it in storage every time and load it and download it made me take the important decision to sell it and buy a California, I will sell my wife's car and I will pass it my. From my account to go to the office I will use my new Piaggio MP3 Yourban, equipped with high windshield, handguards and thermoscud Tucano-Urbano not to be afraid of cold and rain.
But I will always have ready at home under my roof (2.30 meters high) my Cali ready to leave at any time, load emtb, fishing rods, and kayaks over his roof ... from my house in 2 hours are in Croatia, and in 2 hours in Cortina d'Ampezzo, what more could I want?
I only hope that it is delivered to me this month ... and then it starts.
I do not think there really exists such a clever and total means !!

 

[BagmanJim]

Our Cali' SE is our "daily driver". It is a bit of a double edged sword as I always try to find a nice big space when parking it which we all know isn't always possible! But at least it is being used regularly, there's nothing worse for a vehicle than not being used.

 

[WelshGas]

I use mine daily for everything. But when Parking in a car park I choose a space next to an expensive car and park as close as possible to the passenger side of said car and hence far away from the car on the other side. I have found with the expensive cars the drivers take care it’s the numptie passengers that cause the dings. Parking this way means the passenger cannot open their door wide enough to get in. The car has to pull out for them to get in.
I just use the sliding door to get out/in.
On the other side of the California there is generally enough room to open doors to get in and out of the car/California.

 

[DavidofHook]

We had a T4 California for 9 years, as our only car. We then upgraded in 2012 to out current T5 and also acquired an old Smart which we hardly used! So the California has been our only vehicle for 6 years now, only low mileage as we are retired. However, it is lovely to drive, you are up high and parking is probably no harder than a big Merc. I would have no problem in recommending it as an only vehicle.

 

[Jubilado Tim]

Evening all.. I am looking to purchase a VW Cali, I have 2 girls and usually commute to work on the train and I was curious to hear how viable a VW is as an everyday vehicle. If I go by train to work which is c.3 days a week its 20 mins there and 20 mins back. And dropping/picking up the kids is 20 mins which is also twice a week.

I'd prefer not to have 2 cars.. anyone else use it as an everyday vehicle?

I sold my car when I bought my Cali in January 2016 and use my Cali everyday. It is an absolute pleasure to use as an everyday vehicle and as easy to park as a car - everyday seems like a holiday when I get in the Cali!!

 

[BikerGran]

Another daily driver here, also retired, also love the excuse of needing to take the Cali for a run to 'blow her through'.

4 years as a daily drive very short runs no problems at all then arthritis has prompted purchase of smart car I can turn on a sixpence to go under barrier in very low car parks but miss having Zebedee as my daily drive. Warmer weather will see more use as my hands won’t be so bad. Have used Zeb as everything imaginable.

I have arthritis too, and buying the Cali was my solution to the problem of no longer being able to ride my trike in all weathers and put up/take down a larger tent as I could no longer crawl in and out of a small one. But my Cali is automatic and I find it extremely comfortable to drive!