Volkswagen California Ocean Year : 2025 Fuel : Diesel Verdict : Some compromises made, but this is still the king of the campers
You don’t have to be a surfer dude, with flowing blond locks and a bronzed six-pack, to appreciate the charms of a Volkswagen camper van. Which is just as well, as my salt-and-pepper close crop and bulging waistline would, in that case, count me out. Also, the grassy campsite of a nerdy history festival in the UK is about as far as you can get from the Pacific coast, both figuratively and geographically, so this is a test of the latest VW California well and truly out of its supposed comfort zone.
It’s also a genuinely new California. Previously, the California was based on the Transporter van, which hadn’t actually changed all that much over the years, and so was only able to offer incremental improvements or updates. This time around, the California has been basically designed on a clean sheet, as it’s now based on the car-like platform of the VW Multivan, a roomy seven-seat MPV
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