Volkswagen Grand California | California dreaming but not for winter days

Volkswagen's new mothership is finally here and I've had a test of the biggest camper van to come out of the VW group. Is it better than the standard Californa? No, find out why in this video.

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Bob Flavin
PM445577
Unit C1, North City Business Park
North Road, Dublin 11
D11 RW30
Ireland

[MarekDrives]

You're a happy Bob today, aren't you? :-)

[crewetr]

I bought one of these 2 months ago. I’m new to vans so I don’t have anything to compare it to but I really love it. Actually very easy to park in cities. Zero stress driving it due to the all the parking sensors and cameras. It uses very little gas for warming and cooking (I think vw must have insulated it reasonable well). Yes you have to be smart with packing but you get into a routine after a couple of days. Two adults and our one year old with baby seat and pram fit just fine. A small sofa cussion fixed the uncomfortable back seat! Thanks bob for the review! 👍

[Zhequirinal]

Don't really agree with this review. What you are saying can be applied to any van (malibu, aria, pössl, etc).

You can in this one stand in the van, while in a california you can't. And the price of the california is actually kind of the same as this grand california.

[HiruS]

Think you’re getting a bit confused with some of your facts, eg there is no water heater of any type on a T6/6.1 California and no option to have one. As for not being able to walk very well under the kids bed when it’s down, how well can you walk in a Transporter when the roof bed’s down?
Probably best sticking to car reviews, looks like you just don’t “get” campervans.

[ericrochford]

Too many compromises after parting with nearly €80k!

[lyndakenny]

I agree there are compromises in any van. This one I have and for just my husband and me it's perfect. It doesn't feel like dentists. If it did, I wouldn't go in as I hate dentists lol. It's not perfect but we wanted a shower and toilet and so we changed our minds about the California Ocean. We don't have the upstairs bed in ours which has created a ton of storage instead.

[energyfreak]

You should not review this type of campers in the future. Well its obvious that there is a lot of compromise in these type of campers

[Charles_Mulberry_]

Looks like the interior was designed by IKEA!

[tauntonhealth]

The review I was looking for. Thank you for the honest review.

[mck]

Hi Bob, interesting review, any chance you can do a review of the Golf Mk 8 in R-Line trim in Ireland 🇮🇪 sometime soon cheers

[MarekDrives]

I tried one of those Crafter-based camper vans (custom job before the Grand California came out), and it was disappointing as well. Having tried the regular California and Marco Polo I expected the larger van with a shower/toilet to be a game changer, but it turned out to be a disappointment. A lot of wasted space, insufficiently large water tank, frequent grey water dumps, etc.

[nordnung]

Bob you are a big joker.
GC is good van, and better than some custom made ones. In the meantime, you can buy diesel heating...

[bdeithrick]

€13000 and mostly a better functional sprinter Built to own spec. And no toilet 🚽. I’d take it over €80k. But you Point is buy and drive . I would be building my own or professionally kit a panel van and insulate it better.

[byeck]

If it were not for the glowing review you made previously for the California Ocean, I might think you were being over-critical. But I don’t think you were - these are proper concerns you raise. Apart from that, this vehicle would do a great job of being a police speed detection vehicle in the UK from the rear. All it needs is a camera warning sign. Good and fair review Bob, thanks.

[ianmay]

My guess at why water is dumping when you run the tap is that the water heater protection valve has opened as it got to less than 3 deg. A standard feature to stop the expensive heater freezing up. It needs resetting.

[dackel]

Good afternoon. I love the California (I own one) and was interested (to some low extend) into the Grand California (watching several videos and I had a look in the showroom too). Your review is interesting - it even hurts with the things you point out, but you are right with those things. All camper vans ask the users for compromises, but for so much money they might have been better solutions. But the strange part is that a good spec California Ocean T6.1 might be even more expensive! Do you plan to review the Grand California 680 too? It might would be a good idea to compare the two different versions (have I said that, I would be more interested in the GC 680 anyway). Also do you plan a review of the California T6.1? I am also interested in this vehicle, maybe to upgrade from mine T6.0 to the T6.1?

[michalsobanski]

Bob, have you seen any Californias apart from the VW press one in Ireland? I haven't, but that said I've only seen one California ever in Europe.

[byrnedes]

Great job Bob. You can really see in this review that you have a great depth of knowledge of the practicalities of family camping.

[davidpiper]

It's not a pure couples van, nor a pure family van, somewhere in between and it is a muddle and get nowhere. Great shame it could have been so nice. I often wonder if the designers of these vehicles ever go camping in them to test them out. Good review as always, thanks.

[carlyndolphin]

Looks like a dentist room. What were they thinking