Grand California: VW’s house on wheels for hols
The bathroom is nice, but the way VW’s new camper drives is even better
It’s so comfortable, so well sorted, you would be happy piloting it for weeks on end
That Volkswagen’s new factory-built Grand California camper van is packed with clever kitchen, dining, bedding and bathroom solutions is easy to believe. After all, its well-established baby brother, the non-grand California, already demonstrates the firm’s remarkable flair for compact and functional interior design. Rather, the one that’s really going to bake your noodle is that this big bus is at least as good – probably better – than its smaller sibling to drive.
For something weighing over three tonnes and based on a large van it handles extremely well – very much like a giant Golf, in fact. It’s so easy to drive, you forget that it’s over six metres long. In three days spent fairly hurling it at Gran Canaria’s mountain roads, it never felt too big or too heavy. Steep inclines would occasionally induce breathlessness from the 175bhp 2.0-litre TDI, but the standard-fit eight-speed auto deftly dealt with all that.
Does this matter, when surely the major point of this exercise is to provide a home away from home on wheels? I’d wager yes. Because from where I’m sitting (in the passenger seat, swivelled round to face the living area, laptop in front of me, cold beverage from the fridge on the dining room table to my right…), the prospect of undertaking a multi-country bash in this beastie requires absolutely no further consideration. Let’s start right now. The Grand California is so comfortable, so well sorted, that you would be happy piloting this for weeks on end.
I’d be happy living in it for that amount of time, too. The premier advantage of this versus the regular California (based on the smaller Transporter) is that you won’t need to wonder when the next civilised bathroom break is going to come along – because you’re carrying your bathroom around with you. With a floor area of just 840 x 800mm the bathroom is a small space, but some smart solutions – including a fold-up sink with a tap that doubles as the showerhead – mean it’ll be roomy enough for most.
More people may struggle to feel fully at home in the main sleeping area, where six-footers will
find themselves looking upwards at the bottom of the aircraft-style lockers that surround the interior. Still, with an 80mm mattress and sprung steel base, it’s otherwise a comfy place to catch some zeds. (You get a bigger bed in the longer version of the Grand California, the 680, but that van is more than 6.8 metres nose to tail.)
The kitchen in the 600 features extendable work surfaces, twin gas hobs and a fridge freezer. A pair of gas bottles in the back take care of the cooking and the heating (although you’ll have to pay extra for air-con that can cool you while you’re parked in camping mode). A tank holding 110 litres of clean water should keep you going for a while.
Up front the dashboard is all Volkswagen Crafter – which is no bad thing, as that’s just about the finest large van you can buy, with plenty of car-spec infotainment and safety kit.
Options include a secondary sleeping area for the kids over the cab, solar panels, wi-fi and a satellite dish, while neatly integrated blinds and mosquito nets are standard on all the windows.