Hello to all and thank you for the welcome from Jim in admin. I only discovered this forum a few days ago after looking at one or two others which seemed a lot less active.
Depending on a few hurdles to overcome, not all of them in my control, I hope to go travelling from Spring 2022. For the last two years there has been only one camper on my shortlist, the VW California. This confinement period has given me time to look at the benefits and drawbacks of the Cali. Benefits being VW build quality, compactness, car like equipment, ease of parking, under 2m high, refinement and performance, comfort of driving, clever modulable interior and a widespread dealer network with good after sales. Drawbacks being the high purchase price, lack of wet room and hot water and increasingly having to pay for unnecessary high tech equipment imposed by VW. In the end the main things which made me look at alternatives were the restricted living space and no hot water, toilet/shower. The Cali would be great for a long weekend away but not for a long term trip.
I am now looking at Fiat Ducato/PSA based offerings in 5.4m which I didn't even know existed in that size. I don't like the cheap looking black plasticky dashboard/facia but I can add a few options to make it look less horrible. You know that you are in a commercial van! At least the starting price is much below that of the VW California. Having more time during this Covid 19 confinement, I search for all the 5.4m offerings from the converters, browsed websites, viewed countless youtube videos and started to make a few dealer enquiries. So far here's what I've found.
Very few 5.4m campers at available in the UK compared to the continent.
5.4m is not much cheaper than the 6m long model. (5.4m is already big for my parking space)
A lot of vital equipment needs to be added as single options or option packs.
Every van has one or two annoying cabin layouts features which could be easily rectified. The perfect van would be a mashup of 2 or 3 converters.
The UK consumer is being taken for a mug. The same van, like for like, is around £10K more than in France or Germany.
Maybe it's because they're still working from home, but dealers cannot deal with in a simple request. If they don't first ignore your email, they just reply to you in a poorly spelled message. They usually inform you of a van they have in stock matching your product interest the closest when all you've asked for is a price and options list (rarely available online).
My conclusion so far is that it's going to be a long journey to campervan ownership!
Thanks for reading this and I welcome your thoughts if you've had similar experiences.
Depending on a few hurdles to overcome, not all of them in my control, I hope to go travelling from Spring 2022. For the last two years there has been only one camper on my shortlist, the VW California. This confinement period has given me time to look at the benefits and drawbacks of the Cali. Benefits being VW build quality, compactness, car like equipment, ease of parking, under 2m high, refinement and performance, comfort of driving, clever modulable interior and a widespread dealer network with good after sales. Drawbacks being the high purchase price, lack of wet room and hot water and increasingly having to pay for unnecessary high tech equipment imposed by VW. In the end the main things which made me look at alternatives were the restricted living space and no hot water, toilet/shower. The Cali would be great for a long weekend away but not for a long term trip.
I am now looking at Fiat Ducato/PSA based offerings in 5.4m which I didn't even know existed in that size. I don't like the cheap looking black plasticky dashboard/facia but I can add a few options to make it look less horrible. You know that you are in a commercial van! At least the starting price is much below that of the VW California. Having more time during this Covid 19 confinement, I search for all the 5.4m offerings from the converters, browsed websites, viewed countless youtube videos and started to make a few dealer enquiries. So far here's what I've found.
Very few 5.4m campers at available in the UK compared to the continent.
5.4m is not much cheaper than the 6m long model. (5.4m is already big for my parking space)
A lot of vital equipment needs to be added as single options or option packs.
Every van has one or two annoying cabin layouts features which could be easily rectified. The perfect van would be a mashup of 2 or 3 converters.
The UK consumer is being taken for a mug. The same van, like for like, is around £10K more than in France or Germany.
Maybe it's because they're still working from home, but dealers cannot deal with in a simple request. If they don't first ignore your email, they just reply to you in a poorly spelled message. They usually inform you of a van they have in stock matching your product interest the closest when all you've asked for is a price and options list (rarely available online).
My conclusion so far is that it's going to be a long journey to campervan ownership!
Thanks for reading this and I welcome your thoughts if you've had similar experiences.