What's the news?
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is celebrating 30 years of its California, the camper based on the Transporter van. To mark the occasion, it's launching a special, limited edition California "30 Years", which will feature custom interior and exterior features. Only 999 will be produced. This follows on from previous California special editions over the last couple of decades such as the Freestyle, No Limit and Generation. Indeed, the California itself stretches all the way back to 1988 when Volkswagen's Transporter was still rear-engined and air-cooled.
Exterior
Being a camper, there's a pop-up roof and you can have that in silver or grey with matching wing-mirrors. The B-pillars are in gloss black and the 17-inch alloys - in silver or anthracite - should set the whole thing off nicely. A pair of badges bearing each van's individual production serial number will adorn the outside too. One of the things we love about the California is the fact that you get a spacious four-berth camper whose exterior footprint is scarcely any bigger than that of a large family car.
Interior
The kitchen units get an update in bright wood, but aside from that, the rest of the equipment is up to the California's usual high standard. The interior is well lit with LED lights throughout, including inside the pop-up roof. There's a connection in the rear for an outdoor shower, too. Camping in the colder months is made more pleasurable by auxiliary heating and double glazing in the back.
There are a couple of optional packs to choose if you want even more from your 30 Years. The highlight of the Tour pack is an extra 'comfort mattress', which, as you might expect, makes the bed softer.
Meanwhile, the Drive Assist pack adds plenty of useful features like LED lights front and rear, cruise control and parking cameras. A continental camping holiday in this thing could be very enjoyable indeed.
Anything else?
The engine is the standard California's 2.0-litre TDI diesel. If you really want one of these, you're going to have to be fast - it's available to order from August 2nd and the 999 examples are expected to sell out quickly around the world.