Getting a VW California for weekends with young kids

[JMGSinging]

We have two little boys DS4 and DS1. DH and I are thinking to buy a new VW California for weekend trips mostly in the UK whenever the weather forecast is good. We might use it for a couple of tours in France/Italy when the kids are older, but will continue to have holidays abroad if it’s over a week with flights/hotels. I heard that there is a long lead time for new van delivery. Just trying to gauge if weekend camping trips with two young kids is a good idea? How old do I have to wait for DS1 to become until we order the campervan? Thanks

All very lovely but there is so little space in a camper for two small, wriggly children who have no clue about being safe, not tripping over things and will always need a wee at the most inconvenient time. It is a hell of an expense just for weekends away. You just won't use it because it will be too hot, too cold, may rain, too faffy, one won't skeep, the other needs the loo eleventy billion times in the loo and you will both be sat outside with your coats on trying to keep warm at eight o'clock because the moppets have finally gone to sleep and you desperately want tea or wine but dare not go in the van in case they bloody wake upagain. Oh and the people parked in the pitch next to you have an eight year old with a voice like a fog horn who kicks their football around from seven in the morning until eleven at night while his parents ignore him. Save the money!

Oh dear this actually sounds very realistic and I can now totally visualise this 😂thanks for the alert

@JMGSinging Sorry to sound so doomy. Camping is great with kids but you need space and freedom. I wouldn't do it until the youngest is around 4. Your eldest will love it - the freedom is fab. The thing that is essential is enough space for when weather is bad and its not just space for people but for wet clobber, wellies (covered in wet grass), coats and soggy towels. We had a folding camper which was great. Took it to France. French campsites are brill - look at Castels et Camping ones. Do the camping thing in good weather first. We then moved on to a caravan a two berth at first and now a fab four berth. It is just us as adults with large hairy dog but can get a bit much in very wet weather even though we have a lovely bathroom and heating plus good cooker and sink. I think doing this in a very confined space with small kids would send me to the madhouse!
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We'd kind of love a campervan too but for anything more than a couple of nights it would be hard. When one of you wakes early - where do you go. I watched a couple from Switzerland who pitched opposite us with her wrapped up in blankets from seven in the morning, sat outside, while he was still asleep.

Campsites are fab when kids get old enough for freedom and you meet other people too so it is less lonely when pushing swings, etc.

Yup. Caravans are much better with kids. Campervans look cooler, but are better for a couple really.

Just on age of DC - ours have been doing trips and camping in ours since very small babies (8 weeks old), there's definitely no minimum age! They were actually far easier to take away in it as babies and toddlers

We had a VW California, our DC were 6 & 10. Best times were spent in France and Spain, they are fab in good weather. In the UK, we mostly took it to festivals and weekends away. We went for factory fit over conversion as factory fit height means you can go in most car parks, some of the conversions are higher because of the converted roof, so bear that in mind. We also had the Ocean which had the kitchen unit, hob & fridge, wardrobe and sink on board, the only really useful things were the hob and fridge, the sink is only really good enough for washing hands and cleaning teeth, great at a festival but you have these facilities at camp sites, we also took outside cooking facilities so didn’t really need the inside hob, also on the ocean is the hydraulic roof which goes up at the press of a button, more to go wrong, and the roof is very delicate and can twist if you don’t take care putting it down. The beach has a manual roof, which is no big deal to put up and down. Before you buy either rent and join VW California group for tips, do’s and don’ts, they also have vans for sale, we bought an ex demo from Breeze, helps if you live near a VW van centre as they are a specialised van in case you need expert advice. Ours was a year old when purchased and they hold their value very well as we sold for £500 more than we paid and owned for 5 years. We had some of the best times, but our DC grew up, no regrets other than buying the cheaper model.

And the rest for a new one
..add another £30k to that

Exactly how I envisage it!!! I often think would I like to spend the weekend with everyone in our bathroom which is the same size, I just think it sounds awful. For a couple I get it but not a family of 4.

We tried a California- but in the end converted a LWB T6 because of the extra space. We love it, we're past the kid stage through- our adult DC use the van for holidays too.

Campervan family here. We bought a Mazda Bongo (pop-up roof, no other facilities) when our kids were 4 and 1. Upgraded to a factory-fit Cali a few years later, and we still have it. Kids are 16 and 14 now.

We've used it for all sorts over the years. Some random nights away just for fun, some trips to the beach (fridge is handy), some weekends (but as a PP said, not as many as we thought as life gets busy), sometimes a parent has taken it alone (husband has used it for biking trips, I've used it to bunk over at a family wedding that I went to alone, plus we've done most of our summer family holidays in it.

Are you sure you are not having more kids? Factory fit Cali is only a four-seater. If you want a third, you'll need sth different.

It's not that easy to be spontaneous. As a family, you generally need a campsite. It's surprising how booked up they can be at weekends and school holidays.

When my eldest hit teens, she didn't want to sleep up top with her sister any more, and she now has a pup tent. Which we can only use at campsites. We sometimes do "transit nights" on longer journeys where we don't set up full camp; then we all bunk in together.

It's taken us a long time to get right, but we've managed three week holidays with bikes and paddleboards.

Get a large awning for sun/rain protection. But then you could say you might as well just camp in a tent. But I like the comfort of the van.

Car seats are the biggest PITA when the kids are young. Take bin bags so you can put them outside, protected.

We've loved our family van holidays, and the kids still like holidaying with us.

We've said many times that if we didn't use the van for our main holidays, it wouldn't be worth owning. It's been our second vehicle.

HTH

Oh, other thing to add is that I had visions of being all packed up and ready to go all the time. This hasn't happened for me. Bedding and food gets damp too. It still takes a bit of time to get packed up for a weekend.

I had a really nice conversion and it was my daily drive. Having a van and not needing to fold up the pram for the baby and toddler years was great. It was an utter ball ache to fit car seats in.
There was no spontaneity, camp sites get booked up and are expensive. The money would have paid for a lot more variety of holidays. There was almost never a good night's sleep.
But, me and the dc absolutely loved that van, it was great for a day out and we miss it massively.

Ah, and the fridge was fab for Xmas overspill.

But do remember that the £30k I paid for mine 18 months ago is still worth £28k now (in fact there are older, higher miles vans from my manufacturer for sale at £35k and £36k a the moment...).

@JMGSinging Are you already campers?

I feel this hasn’t been asked yet?!!

Have you thought about getting a Tourette caravan? They're amazing and great for holidays with kids. Can pick up some really good ones second hand and reasonable too

A drive away awning makes such a difference to available space for sitting and eating in away from the midges, and also for storage of coats and wellies. And a porta potti if that's your thang.

A toilet of some kind, be it a porta potti or one of those bucket and a bag things is an absolute necessity! Plenty to choose from if you do a search for camping toilets.

I’m not yet but I’d like my boys to grow up to be more outdoorsy. DH did an European tour with friends in a van when he was younger and had amazing memory from the trip. I want to add some diversity to our weekends trips/holidays so thought that a campervan might be quite fun.

Have a motor home and just us and the dogs, but vans could be great for kids (ours are too old to want to come - we escape in our van and leave them in the house!).

I would imagine a vw camper would be too small for a family (though we have seen it done).

Definitely rent a couple of different types of vans before you commit - layout is king. And don't be put off caravans, our friends have one and it's great, and potentially better with kids as more space and facilities but the same sort of experience.

We love being able to go away even for a night or two - and disagree it takes a while to pack up... we have specific things which are only for the van, so once bedding, towels etc are washed and dried they go into a plastic box which stays in the van, ready to go, and then in winter we pack clothes each time but summer we leave specific clothes in the van so are ready to go, then it's just fresh food (keep staples in there) and we're gone. We have decided to go for the weekend on a Thursday night and been ready to go within an hour in the morning.

The freedom of waking up somewhere new - we wouldn't trade it...

Hope you find the right set up for you and the kids!

Thank you! This is the exact type of weekend trips that we want, just waking up somewhere different with lots of outdoor activities and fresh air. I’m a bit put off by the look of a caravan parked on the drive as it seems so big.

Personally I wouldn't get a tent. Campervans can be used all year round. We go on pub stopovers. You can usually park for free if you have drinks/meal.

We've only done it as the two of us. Transporters aren't very big for a family. Even though there is only two of us we are now converting a bigger van as we want more space.

We use ours more than six times a year. We finish work on a Friday go and come back Sunday.

A campervan is a brilliant everyday vehicle for young kids...everywhere you go there's a snack, cold drink and emergency toilet on hand! Plus space to get changed, wash hands etc. Depending on model can be other very practical features - mine has a wipe clean floor....sooooo much more practical than carpet with muddy football boots after sport or similar.

I'd definitely go for it and without delay, but do use it as one of your "cars". For that reason I would test drive. Take a look at the Mercedes Marco Polo. Starting price seems more than VW but when you start adding extras (assuming you want them) very similar and a much better drive as an everyday car.

As others have said converts are cheaper and more readily available...but they won't hold their value as well and not being factory built will have more "rattle". If you can afford it, invest in a new one, and keep it for 10+yrs. They really hold their value - if you needed to sell it you'll get almost what you paid for it, or even more.

My daughter and son in law had one for a few years. A long wheel base VW transporter T6. They had a drive away awning but some camp sites don’t allow them. Honest truth the novelty wore off quite quickly. The kids were 8 and 6 when they got it. The pop up roof bed was really chilly and quickly became unpleasantly damp with condensation overnight .

The lack of space was a real issue. They packed in plastic lidded crates and stored stuff outside it as there’s so little space to move. Think eg 4 pairs of wellies and how much room they’d take up.

I, on the other hand , loved to use it as I went away solo weekends! It had a fridge, 2 ring hob and sink. Lack of shower not a problem as camp sites are well equipped. But lack of a loo and having to trek to the toilet block with a torch was a pain.

I didn’t need the awning but it was a pain in rainy weather as it had to be packed away to move on then they had the hassle of unrolling it again at home and try to dry it in the garden before storing it.