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Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

Given the price of comparable Sprinter-based campers, you might even be a little under. But it’s all moot. It’s a concept vehicle, and even if VW builds it, it won’t be coming to the U. S. The pop-top California never did, and the last time VW sold campers in the U. S. was fourteen years ago.

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This is disappointing. If this RV can relieve the need for house purchasing in Bay Area, 100k price tag doesn't seem to be a problem.

It's a shame that this vehicle is named California and we can't buy it in California. America is such a great place for RV camping (vast area, low population density, plenty parking spaces and so many beautiful places to go), and VW somehow decided not to sell any of these for 14 years!

I mean, just checking the craigslist prices for those second hand vw campers from the 60s, their marketing people should be able to tell there is a strong demand for this in the US.

The issue is where to park them. In southern california, there's some amazing rv parks in the desert that you can stay in for under $500 month, you get electricity and plumbing.

Are there many places like that in the bay area?

Depends on what you’re willing to call the Bay Area. Head east and you get to spots like that within thirty minutes, as long as it’s not commute time. If you decided to BART from Pittsburgh/Bay Point or Dublin/Pleasanton you could probably have a twenty minute commute from a cheap RV community and then take the train into the city easily enough. It’s much harder if you want to work on the peninsula, although maybe there are easy public transit options from down near Gilroy that I’m unaware of.

Honestly better would be to get a boat. Cheap slips exist all over the place.

I've considered live aboard boating, definitely would like to try it at some point

RVs are not houses. Look at the target market, look at who actually drives these things. They are mobile bathrooms. "See the stars while never being more than ten feet from your own private bathroom."

Presumably the US RV market mostly wants more space.

Sort of the same thing with housing. I guess that permitting would get in the way of building really tiny efficiency apartments, but if people really wanted to live in ~10 square meters at a vaguely inconvenient location, housing would already be less of an issue.

The current "California" tops out at ~$60,000.

Just looking at a picture of that little space gives me a tight feeling in my chest.

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