RSS_Auto_Poster
Well-known member
Written by Ollie Marriage
If this was a straight review of the Volkswagen California Beach, I don"t think many of you would hang around to read it, so I thought I"d tell you what we got up to with it and use that as a method to pass on some information.We"ve done this before, in a Bentley Mulsanne and an Audi S8, but they were more ironic in tone because we did things with them that you normally wouldn"t. This time, we"ve taken a camper van and done with it exactly what you would expect headed to Scotland and used it to sleep in. Well, it was either that or a hot lap of the Nurburgring, but I"ve already done that (four-up in a Range Rover full of holiday kit but that"s another story).Anyway, the California is based on the new T6 van that launched last year. Visually there"s not much to tell it"s new, just cleaner, more integrated lights, and a bit of smoothing. It"s fitted only with a 2.0-litre diesel, with three power outputs: 102, 150 and 204bhp. The upper two can be had with four-wheel drive and 7spd DSG gearboxes, the base one makes do with a five speed manual.Prices start at 38,214 for a base Beach and climb to 55,790 for a fully kitted Ocean. Now, ignoring the daft names, the difference between Beach and Ocean is crucial. The Ocean is the fully kitted camper with sink, fridge, stove, cupboards, flip-up table, electric roof, the works. The Beach is the lightweight RS version you"ll need to supply your own cooking, storage, washing and chilling facilities. Without all of that you get a much wider bed when the seats are laid flat. Still gets the pop up roof, but here it"s manual. Model for model you save a whisker over 8,000 doing without.
Date written: 11 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3797
If this was a straight review of the Volkswagen California Beach, I don"t think many of you would hang around to read it, so I thought I"d tell you what we got up to with it and use that as a method to pass on some information.We"ve done this before, in a Bentley Mulsanne and an Audi S8, but they were more ironic in tone because we did things with them that you normally wouldn"t. This time, we"ve taken a camper van and done with it exactly what you would expect headed to Scotland and used it to sleep in. Well, it was either that or a hot lap of the Nurburgring, but I"ve already done that (four-up in a Range Rover full of holiday kit but that"s another story).Anyway, the California is based on the new T6 van that launched last year. Visually there"s not much to tell it"s new, just cleaner, more integrated lights, and a bit of smoothing. It"s fitted only with a 2.0-litre diesel, with three power outputs: 102, 150 and 204bhp. The upper two can be had with four-wheel drive and 7spd DSG gearboxes, the base one makes do with a five speed manual.Prices start at 38,214 for a base Beach and climb to 55,790 for a fully kitted Ocean. Now, ignoring the daft names, the difference between Beach and Ocean is crucial. The Ocean is the fully kitted camper with sink, fridge, stove, cupboards, flip-up table, electric roof, the works. The Beach is the lightweight RS version you"ll need to supply your own cooking, storage, washing and chilling facilities. Without all of that you get a much wider bed when the seats are laid flat. Still gets the pop up roof, but here it"s manual. Model for model you save a whisker over 8,000 doing without.
Date written: 11 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3797
