It looks kind of... huge. And cramped at the same time. I'd rather either have a small van and deal with less convenience, or tow a mini-house-on-trailer. That way I have a transportation vehicle that isn't also as big and unwieldy as a boat.
Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
31–40 of 44 posts
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#32I'm a big fan of 'panoramic sunroofs' and look forward to seeing them included vehicles that don't have every other bell and whistle.
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is where to park them. In southern california, there's some amazing rv parks in the desert that you can stay in for under $500 month, you get electricity and plumbing. Are there many places like that in the bay area?
Depends on what you’re willing to call the Bay Area. Head east and you get to spots like that within thirty minutes, as long as it’s not commute time. If you decided to BART from Pittsburgh/Bay Point or Dublin/Pleasanton you could probably have a twenty minute commute from a cheap RV community and then take the train into the city easily enough. It’s much harder if you want to work on the peninsula, although maybe th…
I've considered live aboard boating, definitely would like to try it at some point
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#34This is my new least favorite sport: speaking about concept vehicles in the present tense. "has sophisticated features ... has space for a sink ... includes an LCD projector" Oh wait. "The California XXL is still in the concept stage." Now there's correct usage of the present tense. Concept cars come to market approximately 0% of the time. In the rare cases that they do actually make it to market (many many years lat…
“Despite its West Coast name, the van isn't yet sold in the United States”
Consider that, AFAIK, they haven’t build a single production vehicle, yeah, I’m not surprised that I can’t head to my local Seattle-area VW dealer and order one.
The “why” of this piece? With with Daimler/Dodge Sprinters seemingly taking the lion’s share of the camper van market (at least in he U. S.), I assume it’s a puff piece to promote VW’s Sprinter-like chassis. That and with Daimler’s purchase of Westfalia, maybe some kind of FUD (“don’t buy a Sprinter! We’ll have something better RSN.”)
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#35This seems pretty cool then I realize that it would probably cost 100,000$ or so and I realize looking at the stars from a blanket is free.
The reason they’re called California is merely because of the romantic image the name has in Europe though. The concept car looks nice but the iconic design is completely lost here.
Yup. Just like the Ferrari California.
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#36I like it although it might get pretty cramped if you plan on spending weeks on the road. Having to make up the bed every night could also prove to be an annoyance. One thing is for sure, however, based on that video. It seems to make you smile all the time.
What I tell people about our Vanagon Westfalia (which has even less space), if you're spending a lot of time in the van you're doing it wrong. If you want to live in it, get a Class C (built on a box truck chassis) or better. If you just want a windproof, waterproof container to sleep in that has the conveniences of running water, stove and a fridge, a camper van might be for you. We also have two 60-80 lb. dogs. Space considerations mean the dogs get the downstairs bed, we take the upper bunk. Winter camping (in Seattle == 40F and drizzling rain) gets a little claustrophobic between weather and very early sunset, so we usually spend but a night or two.
Making the bed is no more an annoyance than it is tent camping. Still, it takes me all of five minutes either way: open the valve on the mattress pad, unroll the sleeping bag. If you have a young back, you don't even need the sleeping pad, as it's got a (pretty poor) mattress already.
As for making us smile, yes, it does. My parents offered to chip in for us to buy a larger Class C (enough for us to buy a low-end new one with no money out of our pocket). We turned them down. We wouldn't have room to keep the Westy, and we realized we loved the Westy too much to get rid of him.
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#37This seems pretty cool then I realize that it would probably cost 100,000$ or so and I realize looking at the stars from a blanket is free.
The reason they’re called California is merely because of the romantic image the name has in Europe though. The concept car looks nice but the iconic design is completely lost here.
I'm in the deep south. I think California is a good name for this. It invokes an image of a different style of "camping".
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#38This is my new least favorite sport: speaking about concept vehicles in the present tense. "has sophisticated features ... has space for a sink ... includes an LCD projector" Oh wait. "The California XXL is still in the concept stage." Now there's correct usage of the present tense. Concept cars come to market approximately 0% of the time. In the rare cases that they do actually make it to market (many many years lat…
There’s a crazy amount of subliminal PR in this vaporware puff piece. VW PR are trying to get you to think of VW as a nature loving, fun outdoorsy company that’s connected to the environment. Instead of that company who cared so little about pollution in the environment that they literally programmed their cars to lie about how much pollution they were spewing. The car doesn’t need to ever exist, what exists is the m…
I think this hits the nail right on the head. Agreed 100%.
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#39This is my new least favorite sport: speaking about concept vehicles in the present tense. "has sophisticated features ... has space for a sink ... includes an LCD projector" Oh wait. "The California XXL is still in the concept stage." Now there's correct usage of the present tense. Concept cars come to market approximately 0% of the time. In the rare cases that they do actually make it to market (many many years lat…
There’s a crazy amount of subliminal PR in this vaporware puff piece. VW PR are trying to get you to think of VW as a nature loving, fun outdoorsy company that’s connected to the environment. Instead of that company who cared so little about pollution in the environment that they literally programmed their cars to lie about how much pollution they were spewing. The car doesn’t need to ever exist, what exists is the m…
Electro vehicles hysteria is much worse for the environment than some diesels spewing a bit more Nox than expected. Vw made a huge mistake because their engines are among the most fuel efficient on the market and now they got all the blame and punishment. Most cars have much worse emissions than the cheating Vw models
Re: Volkswagen's New Camper Has a Loft Where You Can Stargaze
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s a crazy amount of subliminal PR in this vaporware puff piece. VW PR are trying to get you to think of VW as a nature loving, fun outdoorsy company that’s connected to the environment. Instead of that company who cared so little about pollution in the environment that they literally programmed their cars to lie about how much pollution they were spewing. The car doesn’t need to ever exist, what exists is the m…
Electro vehicles hysteria is much worse for the environment than some diesels spewing a bit more Nox than expected. Vw made a huge mistake because their engines are among the most fuel efficient on the market and now they got all the blame and punishment. Most cars have much worse emissions than the cheating Vw models
While you're right in that the extra nox might not be that bad in the scheme of things, what irks me is that they systematically lied and they also actively marketed AGAINST hybrids and other clean technologies based upon falsified data.