California Dreaming

So what's the sweetest VW camper on the road right now?  Well, if you ask me here it is, the T5 California model.  From what I can tell this is the first full camper that VW built ground up  at their own factory thereby skipping all the aftermarket camper editions from Westfalia, Reimo, Winnebago, Country Campers, etc, making it the slickest VW camper I've ever driven or camped in.

Specs: 2006 VW T5 TDI 6-spd California edition full camper.  As fate would have it a member of our extended family who resides in Kassel, Germany invited us to have a respite there on our way back to Frankfurt from our travels to Wolfsburg.  It didn't take too long to gladly agree and book the Deutshe Bahn tix.

Rear shot at our "campsite" in the driveway.

Pop-top up and bed folded into sleeping mode.

 This blew my mind, but the pop-top opens at the push of a button, power up and power down.  And the tent has built in tension in the fabric negating the issue of snagging the tent canvas on the pop-top supports so common to us Vanagon, and US Eurovan plebeians.

Side view with pop-top up.

Optional factory awning.  Factory awning tracks on both sides of the van.

Rear hatch up for pic of cabinetry and storage room under bed.

Side view with seat up and pop-top down.

Dash pic.

Center dash is completely renovated over our T4 models here in the US.  Gear shifter is in a handy location for all 6-gears.

Interior harkens back to the old school woodgrain laminate cabinetry found on early 80's T3 Westys.

TDI engine.  Not sure which one just yet, need to do some homework on that.

Intake manifold is at the front of the engine.

Boost pipes heading to guess what? A front mount intercooler FMIC.

Another eng pic.

Tires are rated for serious loads, 106/104.

Headlight contols, very similar to A4 and later Euro Jettas

And what the heck, why not have a Webasto diesel fired coolant heater on board too?