Welcome to The Campervan Channel the YouTube Channel for all things VW Camper. For over seventy
years, every type of Volkswagen Transporter van has been converted into great campervans.
Today I’m focussing on the model that made the Transporter more car like,
came with a mind-boggling range of options, body types and configurations and was to produce
Volkswagen’s first ever factory built campervan, the VW California. So enjoy a bit of a profile
of the mighty VW T5. By the time the T5 went into production in April 2003, VW had already sold 8 ½
million Transporters. These included the T1 splitties that became an unexpected motoring
icon in the 1950s and 60s. The T2s or Bay Windows that turned Transporters and VW campers into a
truly global phenomen in the 1970s. The Angular T3 that had sharpened things up for the 1980s.
And the T4s or Eurovans that finally broke Transporter Tradition ditching the rear,
air-cooled engines and rear wheel drive of the classics - in favour of water cooled, up-front
power units and front wheel drive. Basically setting the template for the modern generations.
So where was the T5 going to take the story. After 53 years of Transporter production,
it was less about revolution and more about evolution. Sophistication even. Definitely
about new technology. Inside, it had become a bit more car like. Definitely more comfort for
the driver. The steering wheel was now adjustable and with the gearstick moved up to the dashboard,
there was more room and an unobstructed floor. But what really set the new model apart was
the staggering range of options. At launch, VW calculated that if you did a kind of pick and
mix of the different options available, you could come up with 375 different variants.
Your first pick might be a long or short wheelbase. Long gave you an extra 40cm section
slotted in the middle. Doesn’t sound much, but translates into a lot more volume inside.
Next, roof height. In addition to the familiar standard and high options, there was a new
in-betweeny for a while. Wasn’t that popular so it was soon dropped. A high roof and long
wheelbase combination gave you 9.3 cubic metres of cargo space. What a camper that would make.
Then you could have a choice of four gross vehicle weights – that is the total weight of your van and
how much it could safely carry. Higher rated vans have beefier components, like suspension,
to handle the extra weight. A T26 as a gross vehicle weight of 2.6 tonnes.
A T28, 2.8 tonnes. See the pattern. Door dilemmas included which side do you have
a sliding door on. Left, right or both. And at the back, barn doors or a tailgate.
At launch, you could choose one of six power outputs from a range of two diesel and two
petrol engines with the most powerful diesels having the option of 4-motion 4 wheel drive.Then
of course, all those different body types.Panel vans, Kombis, Shuttles, Caravelles, Multivans. And
if you were hard-core commercial - pickups and perhaps even a fire trucks or an ambulance.
But the big news for campervanners was this. In 2003 Volkswagen built a campervan –
in house for the first time.Every VW camper that had appeared on the roads
before then – and this is going back to the 50s – had been converted by independent coachbuilders.
One German coachbuilder, Westfalia, started building camping boxes for splitty vans
almost as soon as they rolled off the assembly lines. They became VW’s official partner. VW
built the vans. Westfalia converted them and the finished campers were sold in VW showrooms.
Until In 2002, not long before the launch of the T5, Westfalia was taken over by one
of VW’s rivals… Daimler Chrysler…. And Volkswagen finall finally… decided to make its own campervans
based on the T5. T5s left the main production line in Hannover and went to a separate VW factory to
be transformed into Californias. The name had been used on Westfalia converted T3s and T4s but it was
to become the in-house brand for all VWs factory built campers a very successful one at that.
We have got separate videos on all members of what has become the California family – do not
forget to check those out. But it was the T5 Californias that established the in-house brand
and its reputation for build quality, high spec equipment like electrically operated
pop top rooves and really clever use of space. Like camping chairs stowed in the rear tailgate
and their matching table stashed away in the sliding side door.
In 2009, it looked as though VW had launched a new model. A quite radical facelift created
what’s often referred to as the T5.1. Ok spotter moment coming up… Here is how to tell them apart.
The original T5 has the front grill and lights separated by a couple of spacers and a short
of dip in the front edge of the bonnet. In the T5.1, the spacers have gone – the
bonnet has a straight edge. So the front looked sleeker.
But it was more than a facelift. Underneath, there were a raft of technical improvements.
New engines, a petrol and and 2 litre common rail diesels claimed to be 20 per cent more
efficient than those in the original T5. Plus, there was a world-first for a commercial
vehicle – a dual-clutch direct shift gearbox, DSG, much smoother. The upgrade only added to
the T5s success and when the last T5 rolled off the assembly line in Hannover in 2015,
Volkswagen had built 1.65 million of them. So there it is. The T5. We are planning more
videos on buying them, what they are like to live with and importantly how they convert
into campers. So please subsribe to the channel, click on that bell icon – and you’ll
be the first to know when those new videos are published. For now, thanks for watching.