Americans have looked on with envy as VW has continued to evolve it's camper in Europe: The “California”. A naming choice I found ironic and slightly insulting.
Being a US-Spec Eurovan (T4) camper owner and former Vanagon Westfalia (T3) camper owner; I've had a love and history with these vans most of my adult life. So when the opportunity came for me to rent a modern California camper in Scandinavia for a couple of weeks I had to do it.
The Van:
The van itself (a T6.1 chassis) was a clear winner. 4-cylinder 2.0L turbo diesel engine, 7 speed auto trans, and many modern features: digital dash, Apple Car-Play, dynamic cruise control, soft-close features for both the rear lift-gate and the sliding door (bravo: VW finally solved their sliding door problems). Missing were lane departure warnings and blind-spot monitoring but this van was approx 4 years old – likely the newer vans have these features too. Generally I'd say Americans can rest easy: the VW van has evolved very well over the last 20 years.
The Camper:
Things get tricky comparing VW's campers here in the US since our Eurovans were camperized by Winnebago – whereas all other vans in all other markets got their official treatment either by VW directly or through a partnership with Westfalia. The Winnebago conversion, sold exclusively in the north-American market from 1995 to 2003, is an anomaly on the world-stage.
There is a lot to a camper conversion and little things really matter. It's also important to consider what the actual intended use of the camper is/was understanding that certain differences speak to regional or market differences. Specifically the Winnebago conversion was performed by a US company creating a camper for the US market – a very targeted effort.
The 2020 California that I rented was a VW (in-house) camper-conversion of the T6.1 chassis; here's what I found ...
The pop top
Probably the most significant part of these camper conversions is the pop top. The California's top is a winner: power operated / built in roof-rack rails / self-folding tent canvas / and an upper mattress with 'Froli'-like mattress springs. The top seals well and the bed's sleep quality improvement is amazing. Unfortunately the top lift controls are not very intuitive: the central camper control system is a blight on this camper.
The roof's upright supports go to the outer ends of the top – a big deal for roof integrity if you're loading anything on your roof (a controversial problem with the Winnebago). The top does not have a vent or vent-fan but instead has permanent vent holes with bug screens in the upper sides of the tent canopy – this must create a stronger/less leaky roof but at the expense of a large thermal loss in the top. The bad: when the upper bunk is lifted you have no overhead storage; a compromise most knowledgeable pop-top camper owners would struggle to accept. There is also no front luggage rack on the top of the van above the passenger and driver's seats but, in my experience, this won't really be missed. Finally this top, like most camper-van tops, contains no insulation whereas the Winnebago's has a nice Styrofoam insulation layer. BUT this lack of insulation has an advantage: a lower profile roof making the van's overall height more compatible with small garages.
THE GALLEY
The galley is very nicely done; gone is the plywood cabinetry replaced by aluminum sandwiched plastic of some sort. This material works well, I'm sure it is lighter weight, and is much quieter driving down the road (the old wood cabinets of the Winnebago and Westfalia conversions creak and rattle considerably). The lower cabinet doors slide open allowing access even with the lower bed unfolded (a common complaint with the Winnebago). The silverware drawer (much larger than Winnebago's) is contained inside the cabinet with a nice soft-close latch. The galley has an accent light on the outside and an in-cabinet light – very welcomed improvements. Upper surfaces are of some glass material with three access panels: fridge / stove top (or 'hob' as they say in the UK) / sink. The cabinet and door latches are of nice quality and do their job very well. It's a handsome and functional galley. I'm a nut about weight-savings in camper vans and I'm certain this setup represents significant weight-savings; especially the removal of the large and heavy galley lids in the US Vanagon and Eurovan campers.
Using the California's kitchen gained me a greater appreciation for the value of the extra floor space in the Winnebago from the longer wheel-base van. For example the Eurovan's tables (Winnebago supplied 2 vs. the 1 of the California) can be placed on either side of the chef allowing him/her a lot of room for meal prep and cleanup. Perhaps with practice this difference would fade but in my experience, even after 2 weeks of use, it did not.
The Rear and Overhead cabinets:
Like the galley the materials here are nice and the doors, etc are well thought out. The whole things feels like cabinetry in a commercial aircraft. The overhead cabinet is a nice addition that the Winnebago conversion lost from the Westfalia designs. The California's rear/overbed cabinet is a lot smaller in volume than the Vanagon's. Unfortunately the Vanagon campers lost this space if the van came with air conditioning.
The Winnebago-Eurovan's storage-space, due to the longer wheel-base van, wins against the California. That said the California's cabinets are well-thought out and offer a respectable amount of storage that is a close second. Ultimately what actually matters is how well the space lends itself to the camping experience … Having personally camped in all 3 vans I speak from experience when I say the Winnebago wins. Honestly I think this advantage is the reason the Winnebago converted Eurovan still has a strong following.
Tables:
The inside table is permanently attached to the galley and folds/slides nicely out of the way. My only complaint is you can hit your head on it when sleeping in the lower bed but this hazard is greatly reduced if you sleep with your head towards the rear of the van – probably as intended. The van has a neat outside table stored in the sliding door but I didn't use it.
Seating:
The front seats have built in swivels – swiveling is a little annoying as the seat won't turn in most positions. I expect continued use of the van would effectively remove this annoyance. The seats are otherwise comfortable and the armrests are strong enough to stand on when climbing into the upper bunk (a Eurovan historical point of shame). Like all previous vans the armrests are a mixed blessing: nice for comfort while on the road but their narrowing of the walking-space between the front seats is frustrating. Additionally there are two folding camp chairs mounted on the inside of the lift-gate / neat feature but not something I used.
Lower Bed / Rear Seat:
The rear bench seat (often called a rock-and-roll bed) had one nice improvement over the Winnebago: the compartment below it slides open. Otherwise this bench is a painful reminder that auto companies don't always do the field testing they should. Folding the seat into a bed is horribly difficult and would be impossible for anyone with any reduced mobility or strength. I tried to shrug this off as a lack of experience but subsequent uses of the lower bed didn't improve matters. Perhaps enhanced crash safety standards necessitated this design but it's not a worthwhile compromise. I found the lower bed to be near unusable and horribly uncomfortable when sleeping. We elected to use the upper which was shockingly more comfortable than both this van's lower bed and any/all upper bunks in any VW camper I've ever used. This choice removed the need to perform the arduous folding and unfolding of the lower bed. Also, with no overhead storage, moving luggage around to setup the bed was much harder in the California so the decision to leave luggage in place and simply use the upper bed made even more sense. Sleeping in the upper bunk, on any VW camper, means your interior space has seriously compromised thermal insulation and, since you're effectively sleeping in a tent, your safety from outside intruders is compromised.
Heater:
Our California's 'Ocean' trim level came equipped with a nice auxiliary heater for the camper. It's a diesel heater that uses the engine's fuel source. When active the heater seems quieter than the Winnebago's. It did make me wonder if the heater was more expensive to run due to its fuel-source but that seemed like a silly thing to quibble about.
The heater operation is bewildering: the overhead panel contains various menu controls for it but they are very difficult to understand. There is a somewhat laughable video online that we found from an owner basically begging users not to condemn the heater based on its controls. His guide is useful and he also provides a sense of temperatures since the camper's built in controls do not (!). Instead you are presented with a choice of heat 'levels' thankfully the default of '5' worked well enough for us. To make matters worse the heater will shut down if the the camper batteries and/or fuel level is not to its liking. The shut-down will occur without warning and the fancy overhead control screen offers no suggestions as to why your heater shut down and/or why it won't fire up. It's a terrible system that will have users begging for an old-fashioned thermostat like the Winnebago's. Try shivering in your underwear trying to get the stupid thing back on in the middle of the night... Actually: don't / you won't be getting it back on. Honestly I think the heater could boarder on dangerous if the camper was used in real American winter conditions.
Auxiliary Battery:
The California has one battery dedicated to the camper equipment – a VW-installed AGM battery under the driver's seat – rated at a measly75 Ah. I found the battery would not supply enough power for more than one overnight camp. You are very dependent on shore-power hookup. In VW's defense European campgrounds all offered shore-power hookups and off-grid camping seems less common than the savage camping we pursue in the wilds of North America. The battery has a status 'monitor' on the camper overhead panel but it isn't very understandable. The entire use of the panel really seems more like a flex ('look what we can do') than a usable feature. The Winnebago's camper battery wasn't much better but VW had 20 years to improve this – they did not.
Lighting:
I didn't spend a lot of time with the lighting; it also is controlled by the central command system and is equally difficult to understand. But it's unfair to not mention that there was lighting everywhere and it worked very well. The Eurovan only has 3 camper lights / they are adequate but the California's is much, much better.
Fridge:
Following the pattern of the later Westfalia campers the fridge is a top-loading unit on the left side of the galley. Since cold air settles the top-loading design is a great choice for reducing loss of cooling when opening the fridge.
Like the heater the fridge has a 'power-level' (not temperature-level) selection in the central control panel and is an electric-only compressor fridge (not the accursed 3-way ammonia fridge technology used in the US-spec Vanagon and Eurovan campers). It has a nice hanging basket inside that works well. There is no temperature reading anywhere to tell you if your food is cold enough while still above freezing (the unspoken goal of the fridge). This is a disappointing missed opportunity for the fancy overhead panel. Additionally there are no external vent panels on the side of the van providing airflow to the condenser or compressor leaving me skeptical of its ability to keep food safe in hot-hot weather. The earlier campers didn't do this much better (except they HAVE to have vents for when the fridge is burning propane) but I find this lack of improvements difficult to forgive (admittedly I'm a bit of a nut about food safety). Two other gripes: 1 – when used for a longer period the fridge develops a lot of moisture in the bottom that, in my case, left the fridge's contents sitting in a small pool of water; 2 – the top loading design means that, while cooking, the counter space that is the top of the fridge has to be continually cleared of items when the chef needs fridge access. Neither of these issues exist with the front-door designed fridges of the Vanagon or Eurovan US-spec campers.
Stove / Range-Top:
The stove works well. It disassembles nicely for cleaning and has a built-in sparker to ignite the gas (a very overdue feature – good job VW!). The gas is provided by a small (I think 3 Kg) bottle that is mounted inside the van in the bottom of the closet area) – it's a nice setup. There is a second shut-off valve for the gas inside the galley cabinet. All-in-all the stove is well done; additionally I think the upper vent panels in the roof-tent provide enough ventilation to run the stove without need for other venting. (Assuming the pop top is open.) Carbon Monoxide poisoning is a real danger in a camper and I expect VW made these vents this way to not give campers any choice but to have ventilation when the top is up.
Sink / Water:
The van is equipped with fresh and gray water tanks and there is a shower nozzle available inside the rear door like the Winnebago's but, unlike the Winnebago's, the California's is detached.
The sink is equipped with a plastic tub that I loved – this greatly reduced my gray-water tank use as I typically threw out old dish-water by removing the tub. It has an unfortunate weakness: to remove the tub you have to swivel the facet vertically (with the spray nozzle threatening the interior contents of the van); lifting the tub can result in also turning on the facet as the facet's 'on' position is also vertical: you've now sprayed water all over the van's interior. Finally my sink had no drain stopper and didn't appeared to be designed to use one – odd...
Screens / Windows:
All the California had to do was have screens to win over the terrible ones in the Winnebago. The new van's screens are a built-in pull-down design that worked well and put the Winnebago's to shame. The sliding door's screen is attached to the van (not the door) and thus has to be opened and closed independently of the door. This is actually a better design since opening and closing the sliding door on the Winnebago was very damaging to its blind. The windshield screens weren't so great – a two part screen that latched poorly in the center and liked to spring open with great force if disturbed / typically launching anything on the dashboard to the floor. Keeping expensive and fragile things off the seats or floor in a camper is a great idea; don't use the dashboard for this with the California.
The front door windows screens were magnetically attached cloth screens (boring). Really if you own/buy one of these vans you're probably best to forgo VW's 'solution' for the front windows and simply buy an external screen that covers the windshield and front door windows – you can thank me later.
The Vanagon Westfalia answer, in my opinion, is still the best. Although maybe low-tech / curtains that you pull open and closed seem smartest. This is before we consider the insulation value; if you need insulation the aftermarket magnet-on curtain 'pads' are likely the best choice.
The middle two side windows had nice sliding opening panels with the mild annoyance that they required two-hands to open but a camper needs ventilation and these perform this function well.
Also, shocking to me, the van has an insane lack of bug screens. In fact the only bug screens in the van were the ones built into the canvas tent. I did not understand this; maybe the rental company just doesn't hand these along to renters – let's hope.
Conclusions
(This is where I demonstrate my commitment to objectivity): It's a great camper. I don't give it an A+ due to the lower bed design; the overhead control system; and the camper-battery power (easily fixed by an upgrade to lithium). If VW sorted these it would get an A. For the primitive / harsher camping environment in North America please also give us bug screens, less thermal loss from the top, and put the heater on its own easily-understood control system. Finally you had it right with the Vanagon: use curtains. And, if I haven't asked for too much already, take away the Eurovan's one big advantage: use a longer wheelbase van. But no level of bias can overlook that the galley/cabinets, the ability to use a roofrack (gasp), and the van itself (especially the engine), are vastly superior.