Aspiring T6 Owner

[Camper Champ]

Hi all,
I'm new on this forum and new to the campervan world. I'm about to buy a T6 van and I'm interested in any opinions from seasoned VW owners on what model to buy, any must have specs and accessories to go for, and any do's and don'ts you can recommend. I'm about to put down a good 20k into this so I wanna get it right first time round.
We'll be using the van for weekends away, but maybe for a week at most.
Thanks for reading,
Gary

 

[$immo]

Hi Gary,

Welcome to the forum. If you can find a van with factory LED headlights that is a big bonus as practically impossible to change later, or at least without chucking a few thousand £ at it.
Other than that go for things you think you need. 150hp and above have 6 speed manual gearboxes, lower powered only have 5 speed. DSG gearboxes are very smooth and not at all like a typical van auto gearbox.
There are some good reports on here about Liverpool VW selling good second hand vans, so worth a search. Most will deliver to you anywhere in UK.

Good luck Simmo.

 

[Skyliner33]

I've just gone through a similar process. First thing I did was to go and look at a few vans at the local dealer.
Then at home, compiled a list of 'wants'. Then I put this list in order from most desirable/must have to the lesser important.
For me t0 of the list was DSG so I started by narrowing down my searches then went down the list.
Eventually I found one that had a most of the wanted list, I decided I could live without the others.
One thing I had high on my list was SAT NAV, however if I was starting again this could be lower because there are units that can be retro fitted comparatively easily.
Have a look on this forun as to what can be retrofitted and the ease of installation, then you can put less priority on these things.

 

[joe_j_barnes]

Hi Gary,

I’ve recently bought mine, my advice would be to researched / researched and research some more.

I ended up with a wish list compiling of black or grey in colour, sat nav , camera, DSG SWB etc. Pritt-stick much everything they offer.

Ended up getting what I want but cost me more than I wanted to pay.

If like me you intend to convert then get the best you can afford as it will repay you back over the time and will be more desirable if you want or circumstance means you need to offload, spending 20k or 2k you want the best it will bring, I would say if there is a newer T6.1 or T7 due out soon you may want to aim for as new as you can as within a year of owning one you could be driving around wanting the next model up and felling left behind.

I originally wanted or was happy to look at T5 all concerted knowing that I couldn’t spend to convert but of the same thought I wanted as new as I could and ended up with my wish list very local too - Liverpool VW, consider if you can convert ASAP if not then try to aim for a van you would be happy driving around until it’s done that’s what I’ve done and happy that I done it that way, I may have to convert in stages due to costs but am ok with this.

Good luck
Joe.

 

[Camper Champ]

Thankyou for your advice Jo. I'll be checking out liverpool vw for sure, along with your advice about research. Just wanna get it right whether we buy a van already converted, or do it ourselves.
Thanks,
Gary.

 

[Camper Champ]

Hi Gary,

Welcome to the forum. If you can find a van with factory LED headlights that is a big bonus as practically impossible to change later, or at least without chucking a few thousand £ at it.
Other than that go for things you think you need. 150hp and above have 6 speed manual gearboxes, lower powered only have 5 speed. DSG gearboxes are very smooth and not at all like a typical van auto gearbox.
There are some good reports on here about Liverpool VW selling good second hand vans, so worth a search. Most will deliver to you anywhere in UK.

Good luck Simmo.

Thankyou for your advice Simmo.
I'll definitely be researching LED headlights now, along with Liverpool VW. We do actually want a DSG box so to know they're really smooth has made my mind up.
Thanks a lot.
Gary