The charm of the VW bus will never grow old. The pantones, the massive logo. The free-loving, salty-blond youths we imagine hanging out the side, flipping someone’s camera the bird.
But the car’s golden era has definitively passed, and what remains is a miserable MPG and a few back-row stains that refuse to go away.
Thankfully, Volkswagen had decided it’s time for a reboot, and their newly released California Camper Van retains everything we love about the original, while adding a slew of bona fide adventuring amenities, the headliner being an elevated roof tent.
The tent (which opens electro-hydraulically) allows the California to sleep four without issue. Down below, there’s a kitchen area (fridge, sink, stove kitchen), big-time storage space and an outdoor shower, not to mention dashboard delights that firmly bring the car into the 21st century. It all leads to pretty darn impressive integration, as Jalopnik notes, and could signal a trend of carmakers building fully capable backcountry vans themselves, as opposed to letting after-market shops throw tents on their vehicles after the fact.
Find more information on the van (which won’t yet be sold in the US, despite the name) and its various trims (California Beach, California Ocean) here.
Images: Volkswagen
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