Volkswagen California review

What you plan to do with your van will probably decide which California you need to buy. While in its native Germany, you can have the Cali in an entry-level, six-seat trim with just the pop-up roof to mark it out as camp-ready, UK vans start with five-seats, the attic bedroom and a miniature rear kitchen.

That's the California Beach Camper, which begins at a mite under £63,500 in diesel form, or £71,500 if you want the eHybrid 4Motion. Standard equipment includes twin sliding doors, a roll-out side awning, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors and the 10in central touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

You’ve then got the California Coast. Essentially a seven grand upgrade, it starts at £70,500 and switches the interior to four seats and the full kitchenette unit, complete with a fridge. It also adds the second leisure battery and plumbing to gift you running water for the sink and shower. The front seats swivel round, the climate control is three-zone and you get a reversing camera and park assist functions to help you slot more intimately into the scenery.

The California Ocean is the top spec and another seven grand premium over the Coast. It offers fancier interior trim, heated front seats, an auxiliary heater for cold camping, a roof-mounted storage box inside the boot and LED strip lighting in the kitchenette. There's internet within the media screen plus matrix LED headlights and clever Travel Assist semi-autonomy for the tech-savvy. Prices start at £77,500 for the diesel, rising to £85,500 for the eHybrid, with the petrol perched neatly between.

Whichever trim level you pursue, the spangly two-tone paint options are another three grand (or so). Speccing one to ninety grand is child's play, then, and there’s no doubt the California is expensive. But previous versions have always held their value remarkably well, so depreciation shouldn’t be too much of a worry. Helping galvanise its investment potential is 'The 5 Plus Promise', which brings five years of Volkswagen warranty cover, servicing and roadside assistance - plus your first three MOTs - at no extra cost. Leasing deals for a mid-spec Coast currently start at under £500 per month, too, even on official VW schemes. We're tempted.

Fuel economy peaks are rated at 42.2mpg for the diesel, 31.0mpg in the petrol or 95.6mpg in the eHybrid - but more sprawling adventures will see the latter tumble and the PHEV's financial style is undoubtedly cramped by the UK's pricey public charging network. If you want those sweet, silent e-miles, you might have to pay handsomely for them once you're away from home. But if you can make the sums work, hybrid power does elevate elements of the California camping experience.

Rivals include things like the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo and Ford Transit Custom Nugget (great name), while Citroen has its new SpaceTourer-based ‘Holidays’ camper. Plus, there’s still a huge campervan conversion industry based around the old T6.1 Transporter (and numerous other vans) if you want something more bespoke.