2009 VW California van
The California actually goes pretty quick, thanks to a heroic intercooled and turbocharged five-cylinder diesel engine, good for 174 horsepower at 3,500 rpm and a Freightliner-worthy 295 pound feet of torque at 2,000 rpm. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
The VW California is, maddeningly enough, not offered in California or anywhere else in the U.S. This particular model was equipped with a gleaming, beautifully made custom bike rack. That makes the vehicle a California Biker. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
Why not sell the California is the U.S.? Why do we only get the rough-trade Routan? One rather large word: homologation. It would cost far too much to make the diesel California legal in the States, considering the small number of vehicles the company could actually sell at a price exceeding $50,000. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
This is the Westy of your dreams: A state-of-the-art camper van with a gas stove, running water, an electrically deployed pop top, a fold-down double bed, rotating front captain’s chairs and a staggering number of reading lights, climate outlets, cabinets, storage bins and convenience features, and all of it executed with the kind of aerospace precision one might associate with Piaggio corporate jets. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
It would take too long to describe the thousand clever details of the California, such as the way the front seats rotate to face the cabin or the way the table hides away in a sliver of space beside the couch. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
And the signature move for the Westy -- the pop top -- is here a push-button electro-hydraulic affair, as opposed to the toiling, hand-crank job of decades past. The button to open and close the top is located on a central overhead control panel that also monitors camper systems such as battery levels, 230-volt connection status, “cool box” status and fresh- and gray-water levels. (Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times)
