O coach

Out with the Old – and In with the New

Posted on 10 Aug, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • General

R. I. P. has been said for the blue van as it went away on the back of a very fancy truck.

After looking around at various people carriers (mainly too short or the folding of the seats did not leave a flat area to sleep on) and also the updated Transporter we decided to test drive the new Transporter and a Volkswagen ‘Caddy Maxi Life’. I think I was keener on the latter as it might mean that I could load sea kayaks myself; it also was more like a car and so might be a better vehicle for general use as we also intended trading in the Corsa.

The Caddy won over the Transporter as the drive was better. It has a flat load bed, the rear row of seats is easy to remove and loads of little places to stow things. Then it was onto ordering one and the problems began. “Only four vehicles in the country at the moment and then next lot due in December which really means January”. We would have liked some factory fitted options (cruise control being one), the larger engine and six speed gear box and a steely blue colour but the only colour options were silver, black or green. As we wanted quite dark privacy glass in the rear the silver was out as it would look weird, black was out as we did not want to be a hearse or a taxi so we took the green. It has the smaller engine but this seems to be powerful enough. I do miss the six gears though.
The car was to have a few things done to it, like the windows being made three shades darker, an iPod jack fitted, mud flaps for those orienteering car parks. We booked to collect it on Friday 30th July 2010 which would give us a week to play with it before heading off for various things. I had to do the retention of the personalised number plate as the Volkswagen system that talked to the DVLA was being replaced.

On Friday 30th July we caught a midday ferry and just before it left Hunter’s Quay we had a call from the garage to say that they had been unable to register & tax the vehicle. AAHH! So we went to the pictures at Braehead and called them when we came out. No joy. Every day the following week we called at least twice a day but still nothing happening with the registration. Paul called Volkswagen UK and by Thursday they were starting to be a bit apologetic after being very casual on the Tuesday.

The garage said they would make sure we had a vehicle to collect on Friday 6th August as we needed one we could sleep in – and even I would not be able to sleep in the Corsa. We really wanted our own but felt completely powerless.

At 3:30pm we walked into the garage and they had been able to register & tax our very own vehicle 40 minutes before! Wow, were we happy!

The following day was spent fitting things into it (as we had had two vehicles there is now a pile of ‘doubles’ in the garage) and then trying it out for sleeping. We took the rear seats out straight away and they are resting in the garage. Paul is able to sleep in it on three crates with thick cushions (acquired on a temporary basis from his Dad’s settee); I can then nestle down on the floor in the other half and there is plenty of space. Any bags etc. have to go onto the front seats.

So far we have spent a couple of nights in it – must sort out some ventilation with midge net on it!

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