C
cally215
Hello Everyone,
Just had our first weekend away in our new T7 "Vinny" and I thought I'd share some thoughts and perhaps get some useful feedback or tips.
Most things feel thoughtfully designed and just easy to use. Easy to drive and park (mostly, though we only have the rear view and I instantly miss the birds eye/360 that we had on our old car), cruise control is excellent. Audio isn't great but nor is it terrible. I had expected better though especially when it comes to bass, which is distinctly lacking.
Set up with the pop top up and the front seats swivelled into camping mode, we felt right at home - cosy but not cramped. The storage solutions are really well thought out, and the inclusion of so much kit as standard made everything a breeze.
Three of us in the van (wife & I, plus our son) all slept well. I went up in the poptop this time and with just a sleeping bag and a pillow slept way better than I expected, it is surprisingly comfortable. We noticed when trying things out that the downstairs bed was a bit firm so put a topper on (that we already have) and made it a lot better.
I find the camper control panel a bit awkwardly placed and don't really get why those controls are not also available on the main infotainment system (I know you can install the California app, but so far not been successful in doing so) - however the systems are pretty responsive.
The kitchen is...interesting. I don't think we'll actually end up using the burner much and not having any option to cook outside as standard is a bit of a shame. It's nice to have two doors, but given it seems quite typical in the UK that you reverse in and your awning is on the left, it means you're always going through the smaller gap and if the table is set up it's blocked entirely. Of course this will vary by pitch but in this case the next pitch had their car quite close to the edge of their area (nothing wrong with that!) so we didn't use that door. I'd probably have just preferred the kitchen on the other side I guess, but over time my view of that may change. We had a spare silicon mat which pretty much fits exactly over the glass top - I can see a 5 year old damaging that quite quickly otherwise.
Locking and unlocking, particularly at night, needs some finesse, probably on my part.
The video guides said to turn off the isolator switches when doing hookup - is this really necessary?
We noticed sometimes charging from the USB ports was inconsistent, that's something we'll look more into.
Overall, a great first weekend away and the first of many adventures. We'll complement the van with a drive away awning, a foldup table for cooking with an external gas burner and some form of bbq, and probably a bit more storage.
PS - Why Vinny? We tasked our 5 year old with the name. At first he said Vanny. Our mates already have Vanny...so in his creative mind, Vinny was the next logical option. Other names suggested were Connie and Broccoli (lol) but after the first trip, it's Vinny Ocean.
Just had our first weekend away in our new T7 "Vinny" and I thought I'd share some thoughts and perhaps get some useful feedback or tips.
Most things feel thoughtfully designed and just easy to use. Easy to drive and park (mostly, though we only have the rear view and I instantly miss the birds eye/360 that we had on our old car), cruise control is excellent. Audio isn't great but nor is it terrible. I had expected better though especially when it comes to bass, which is distinctly lacking.
Set up with the pop top up and the front seats swivelled into camping mode, we felt right at home - cosy but not cramped. The storage solutions are really well thought out, and the inclusion of so much kit as standard made everything a breeze.
Three of us in the van (wife & I, plus our son) all slept well. I went up in the poptop this time and with just a sleeping bag and a pillow slept way better than I expected, it is surprisingly comfortable. We noticed when trying things out that the downstairs bed was a bit firm so put a topper on (that we already have) and made it a lot better.
I find the camper control panel a bit awkwardly placed and don't really get why those controls are not also available on the main infotainment system (I know you can install the California app, but so far not been successful in doing so) - however the systems are pretty responsive.
The kitchen is...interesting. I don't think we'll actually end up using the burner much and not having any option to cook outside as standard is a bit of a shame. It's nice to have two doors, but given it seems quite typical in the UK that you reverse in and your awning is on the left, it means you're always going through the smaller gap and if the table is set up it's blocked entirely. Of course this will vary by pitch but in this case the next pitch had their car quite close to the edge of their area (nothing wrong with that!) so we didn't use that door. I'd probably have just preferred the kitchen on the other side I guess, but over time my view of that may change. We had a spare silicon mat which pretty much fits exactly over the glass top - I can see a 5 year old damaging that quite quickly otherwise.
Locking and unlocking, particularly at night, needs some finesse, probably on my part.
The video guides said to turn off the isolator switches when doing hookup - is this really necessary?
We noticed sometimes charging from the USB ports was inconsistent, that's something we'll look more into.
Overall, a great first weekend away and the first of many adventures. We'll complement the van with a drive away awning, a foldup table for cooking with an external gas burner and some form of bbq, and probably a bit more storage.
PS - Why Vinny? We tasked our 5 year old with the name. At first he said Vanny. Our mates already have Vanny...so in his creative mind, Vinny was the next logical option. Other names suggested were Connie and Broccoli (lol) but after the first trip, it's Vinny Ocean.
