Quiet here, innit?

Am I the only one here? Doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic...

Hello Shane,

Two ex-AS owners, and the only active people here it seems!

Just off to see what you had to say about bike racks...

We are weighing up whether to buy a california or a cetex.
I would really appreciate some comments from experienced users.
2 issues with the Cali.
1. The roof has the potential to leak. Bilbos tell me their roof is waterproof. Is this your experience?

2. The lack of warming oven/grill. I assume this works fine in the celex.

Re. Celex.
It does appear to be more expensive than the Cali. Vw dealers are keen to offer large discounts, esp at this time of year.

Anyone else gone through the same experience? And are there any "must haves" to spec. With the celex?

Thanks in advance.

I must admit your post surprises me - I had always assumed that a Cali would be more expensive than a Celex! If you are prepared to go for base spec then you can get a Celex for around £35k, and I don't think you can get a Cali that cheap?

I didn't pay much attention to the Cali when I was looking late last year, because I personally don't like the "feel" of the VW/Reimo style roof - they feel too "cave-like" for me. I don't think there is any doubt either that the material that Bilbos use is more durable than a fabric type roof, and you don't have to worry about mildew if you have to put it down in the rain and leave it for a few days - though Bilbos say that they should not be left down wet for too long, of course.

The warming oven is something I don't have - so I can't comment on that. I have a microwave instead, which suits me better than an oven.

There are some options that I have that I could do without - for example the 140PS engine (which I had to have to get the DSG box) is more powerful than I need (my last van was a 84PS Transit!), and I would been happy with the next one down - though a high top and/or LWB might make that more important.

Options I would choose again: cruise control and rear parking sensors. One option I would not: headlamp protectors - on the pre-facelift T5 they were apparently good, but they are rubbish on the T5.1! For me the diesel heating is also an essential, though at £1k, not cheap.

I don't know the Cali particularly well, but the thing that struck me about them is that they look so well integrated, with all the trim panels matching the original cab equipment - as you would expect from VW.

If you're thinking of striking a deal with Bilbo's I'd suggest that you leave it for a few weeks - they are fresh back from the show at the NEC with a resulting large order book, so I'd be inclined to let that settle for a while, to make them a bit more eager.

Thanks for your helpful reply.
We have yet to view a Bilbos as they are located well south of here. We have looked at other conversions and also the Cali. The quality of the fitments in the Cali blows the others away, but by al accounts the bilbos innards are equal to the Cali.

The Cali's in central stockholding are well specced and with the year end approaching dealers are keen to sell. I have just specced up a comparable Cali and bilbos, they are not far apart, but the heavy Cali discount means it is 3k cheaper. Of course bilbos may offer discounts too, but we will have to wait until we visit.

Cumbria kid wrote:The quality of the fitments in the Cali blows the others away, but by al accounts the bilbos innards are equal to the Cali.

I don't think it's fair to view any conversion in comparison with a California and expect equality! All of the conversions I've looked at appear just that - add-ons to a base van, and the Bilbos conversions are no different in that respect. The VW original on the other hand looks to be a single integrated product, and very nice it is too - but with its own limitations.

One of those is the fact that it's a LHD conversion in a RHD van. I don't have a problem with the sliding door being on the "wrong" side - you can after all just park it the other way round if you want to step out onto the pavement. However, the annoying thing is the wardrobe being on the "wrong" side, which creates a blind spot on the rear nearside. Having owned a van like this before, I know that there are a small number of occasions where this can be frustrating (some obliquely angle junctions, for example).

But there are a huge number of pros and cons to each... Not sure if you noticed, but Bilbos actually appear to be selling brand new Calis themselves, so if the one currently on their website is still in stock, it might be possible to view the two side by side.

Well a visit to Godstone is on the cards in the next few weeks.
Looking at the specs. The Lezan may suit us better as we will use it frequently as a day van.
Anyone know how high it is with the roof down?
They look lower than the Cali.

I suspect that the Lezan won't suit you, as it's the only one in their range that is ~not~ available with pop-up roof (it's LWB only as well), so it's just over 2.5m tall, and just under 5.3m long.

Every other model is available in pop-top and high top (and I think, other than the Lezan, you can get everyting in SWB or LWB). The height of the pop-up models is given as 2.030m but fortunately production models all seem to have factory lowered suspension, and come in slightly lower (luckily for me, as my garage opening would have been a very tight fit at that height).

Thank you.
It's not the Lezan but the Nexa we are interested in. (My mistake).
One other thing to consider is that Surrey is a long way from cumbria.
Are warranty issued addressed OK?

Can't say for sure, as I have yet to need to claim. However, they supply all over the UK plus quite a few vehicles going overseas - including Australia! I'm sure that they wouldn't have such an ongoing business if they were not professional in the extreme.

I would suggest a call to Bilbo's to discuss this before coming all the way down. I suspect that you will be satisfied with the answer, but it might be helpful if you could publish the result of your call and any further info, as this could be helpful to other potential owners.

We look forward to hearing more. Shane

Thanks Shane.
I was looking more for experience of users with actual issues and whether or not these were satisfactorily resolved.
I did ask bilbo and they said that for van issues it is covered under a Vw 2 year (I think) warranty so take it to your nearest Vw van dealer.
For minor fitments issues contact them and they will arrange for it to be repaired at a motorhome dealer/service centre near to your home.

For major issues it will need to be returned to them!!
(Which in my case is a long way).

I've had experience of both VW and Bilbos warranty during the 7 months I've owned my Celex.

The base van problem (a minor issue) was resolved on my driveway by the RAC less than 2 hours after I reported it to VW.

The conversion problem was a rare one - a Waeco fridge that was faulty from new. Bilbos dealt with it quickly, but Waeco then took a month to confirm what we knew anyway - that it was faulty! It was something that could have been replaced at any motorhome service company - four bolts and an electrical connector to get it in/out. I'm not sure, though, how the logistics of getting a replacement fridge to your part of the country would have worked.

Well we visited a Bilbos owner who kindly showed us his van and talked about his user experience.
Upon reflection we feel we are located too far away and the potential for denial of responsibility between bilbos and VW is too high.

Hi there - I can completely understand your concerns about physical distance.

I'm not sure I would agree about denial of responsibility, though. For me, one of the key things about Bilbos is the fact that they are a fully VW-approved converter, so they work in a way that should not compromise the integrity of the base van in any way. Hence nothing that they do to it should have any impact on vehicle warranty.

I'm sure it must be possible to think of unusual circumstances where there is uncertainty about who is to blame for a problem but... I can't think of any offhand!

The two problems that I referred to above were completely clear-cut - warning light on the dash? Call VW. Faulty fridge? Bilbos.

Bilbos were not even made aware of the former - it simply wasn't their responsibility.