For A Few Grand More: movie-spotting in VW's Grand California camper

How did we get here? Well, here isn’t technically cowboy country, but we’ll get to that. Photographer Jonny and I began this adventure 200 miles further west after picking up the Crafter-based Grand Cali in Jerez and overnighting among the impossibly scenic limestone peaks of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. Hola, partner.

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood

An early morning motorway slog has already proved that the high-sided camper makes a wonderful roadtrip companion. Sure, it might be buffeted by crosswinds and the bulging forehead of this 600 version has a penchant for murdering insects (that’d be our only reason for avoiding the two-tone paint with its white upper half), but with the Travel Assist cruise control from a Golf, a respectable motorway average of 28mpg and a much improved infotainment screen with well-placed shortcuts to turn off the lane assist and speed limit bongs, it really is all the van you’d ever need. 

Plus, as alluded to, the Grand California has an onboard en suite, so you need never pay for a Euro-spec service station toilet ever again.

And yes, we do have a very valid reason for raiding Jeff Bezos’ oversized dressing up box and heading to southern Spain. You see, thanks to its low budget and major box office success, not only did Sergio Leone’s seminal 1964 film A Fistful of Dollars fire Clint Eastwood to international fame, it also kickstarted a copycat craze for Western movies that were produced and directed by Italians.

The Spaghetti Western was born. Leone – whose father had actually directed a strange, silent vampiric-Western mashup called La Vampira Indiana way back in 1913 with Sergio’s mother Bice Waleran as lead – would go on to make two further films with Eastwood to form the brilliant Dollars Trilogy, and like many of his contemporaries (three of the most famous Spaghetti Western directors were all called Sergio), he would use the Tabernas Desert here in Almeria as a budget stand-in for the vast arid landscapes of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.

So, now that we’ve got the big VW bus for an on-set trailer, we’re all set to create TG’s very own salute to the Sergios. I certainly need somewhere to change in and out of the bargain basement cowboy costume. My character might be a brave sharpshooter with the fastest hands in the west, but I’m far too self-conscious to wear the hat all day.

Having arrived in the town of Tabernas, we stock up on snacks at the local supermarket, fill the Grand Cali’s onboard fridge with energy drinks and make tracks towards the desert. Better than being on horseback, that’s for sure. We’re on the hunt for locations used in the most popular Spaghetti Westerns, so we kick off with an easy win. Just 15 minutes or so out of town is Western Leone – a wonderfully rustic living museum that was first built as a set for Leone’s 1968 epic Once Upon a Time in the West.

I park the Grand California between a dentist’s and a post office that looks like it has seen better days. Thankfully, this van has a rearview camera so I’m able to avoid taking out a small piece of European film history. Bit cheap of VW to charge £306 for it as an optional extra though, particularly on a 6m long motorhome with a tiny plastic rear window above its double bed. Costs the same on the even longer Grand California 680 too, which is – yep – 6.8m long but does without the swollen roof.

They still put stunt shows on here for tourists in high season, but today we’re the only two renegades in town. Looking at the dire Tripadvisor reviews, I’m not sure we’re missing all that much. In fact, with the place completely deserted it gives off a rather haunting vibe. All we’re missing is the tumbleweed for that authentic Wild West experience.

Many of the buildings are just façades, but some – while not exactly bursting with props or any set dressings – are open to explore. What is now the ‘saloon’ was once the site of the particularly harrowing McBain family massacre in Once Upon a Time in the West. Cheery.

I decide to get into the outlaw spirit by having a lie down behind bars in the Marshal’s Office, and after saying buenas tardes to the lonely horse in the stable we head back up the rough track to the main road.

Worth noting that there is an all-wheel drive Grand California available for properly adventurous types, but that’s rated for over 3.8 tonnes so requires a Category C1 licence for us Brits. The front-wheel drive, auto-only 600 is rated for 3.5 tonnes so can be driven on a regular Category B licence, but with a decent amount of ground clearance it’s still more than capable of traversing a bit of terrain and dealing with desert scrub.

The interest in Americana (or the money that it brings in through tourism) doesn’t stop with the Spaghetti Westerns out here. We eat at a roadside diner called Route 66 Tabernas, which leans into the Americana tropes with gas and oil signage, Coca-Cola branding and multiple life-sized statues of Marilyn Monroe.

It also features a giant Cadillac suspended above its roof and – rather inexplicably – a shabby Vauxhall Calibra painted in full stars and stripes livery. I order the pasta, obviously.

Our campsite for the night also gets in on the act, calling itself Little Texas despite being owned by a very friendly Dutch chap. Getting the largest California along the narrow lanes that these sites tend to hide down isn’t always straightforward, but once you’ve arrived, levelled the van using the on-screen inclinometer and have activated the camping mode to stop the auto headlights from blinding your neighbour, it’s easy to turn the GC into a home from home.

And yes, for those used to sleeping under canvas when camping, having a fully sprung double bed with a mattress and adjoining shower room feels like proper luxury.

The shower itself is a clever bit of kit, with the basin folding away, the tap moving up to a hook near the ceiling and the whole compartment becoming a small wet room. I’m the correct side of 6ft and have plenty of room. With a heater and 100 litres of fresh water on board you could easily manage toasty showers for all the family. Well, you could if you’d also specced the optional loft bed in the roof of the 600.

That’ll set you back an extra £2,754, and without it you’re looking at a massive motorhome that only sleeps two, despite the fact it can seat four. Strangely, with no secondary sleeping arrangements available, the larger 680 is also strictly for two. Sounds like someone will be sleeping under the stars.

Still, in both variants the front seats swivel and a table can be erected to create a living/dining area, although with this facelift, VW has added a rail to the reverse of the kitchen unit so that the dining table can be set up outside.

Nice touch. There’s outdoor furniture hidden in the rear doors and new bamboo trim for the table, floors and countertops.

There’s also a new touchscreen in the back for controlling the camping functions (though it could certainly be more responsive), while the many cupboards above the bed get new netting to make them slightly more practical. Hardly revolutionary stuff, but it proves that Volkswagen got this XXL camper right the first time around. If it ain’t broke...

Other practicalities include a double ring gas hob for cooking your best cowboy beans, a foldable tap above the kitchen sink and a giant bootspace under the bed that VW refers to as the ‘garage’.

While you might need to pack light for a trip in a standard California, you’re certainly not short of storage in the Grand.

The next morning, we wake early to witness a majestic golden sunrise over Europe’s only desert. Tabernas sees as little as 150mm of rainfall per year (the UK’s average is pretty consistently above 1,000mm), but when it does come down it’s apparently torrential.

The marl and sandstone ground can’t retain that water, so erosion gives the area its Badlands-style ravines and gullies. Perfect for an ambush.

We twist through some mountain roads where the Grand Cali remains remarkably flat despite its soft, comfortable suspension setup. It even steers well. Could do with a little more grunt, though. You still get 302lb ft of torque as before, but power has dropped from 175bhp to just 161bhp with this update due to stricter emissions regs.

Not ideal given this thing is bigger than most London studio flats. Thankfully the 8spd gearbox is smooth and responsive, while wheel-mounted paddles allow you to drop it down a couple of cogs for steep hills or ambitious overtakes. Yee-haw!

We pass by the two major Western theme parks in the area, both of which were originally movie sets but now provide entertainment for visiting coach tours.

MiniHollywood Oasys was thrown up in 1965 for the second film in Leone’s Dollars Trilogy (and inspo for this feature’s majestic lead image up above), For a Few Dollars More, but it now features restaurants, swimming pools and even a zoo. We give it a miss.

Instead, we subject the Grand California to more off roading. Again, it copes admirably, although the bathroom shelves manage to shake themselves free and briefly make a racket in the en suite.

It’s no match for the din that these hills were subjected to back in the late 1980s, though, because eventually we arrive at the exact spot where Indy rescues his father – played by Sean Connery – from a Nazi tank before sending a scale model flying over the edge of a cliff in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Apparently, the full size tank used for filming was a fully functional replica of a 1917 International Mark VII powered by two Range Rover V8s.

It really is all the van you’d ever need

Yep, it’s not just Spaghetti Westerns that have made the most of the unique Tabernas scenery. There’s a huge amount of cinema history everywhere you look. Much of Lawrence of Arabia was shot here in the early 1960s when production moved from Jordan, and the palm trees that were planted for the film still stand in their faux oasis today. They also played a brief cameo behind Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More.

More recently, the desert has provided a background for Game of Thrones and for the video to Little Mix’s 2016 hit ‘Shout Out To My Ex’. Nobody tell Jonny, but the latter is the real reason for us being here.

Later in the day we stumble upon what looks like a ruined entrance to a mine, but on closer inspection it turns out the walls have been constructed from a mix of polystyrene and papier-mâché. We’ve no idea what production it was first built for, but given the set sharing that seems to have gone on in the Spaghetti Western era, I can almost guarantee this place didn’t just get fifteen minutes of fame.

OK, so the area might not play host to as many film crews now as it did in the ’60s and ’70s, but it’s still a fascinating landscape with a brilliantly dramatic backstory. Unfortunately, it’s also rather unforgiving, and lots of small desert stones have found their way into the Grand California’s electric sliding step, meaning it’ll no longer stow itself away as we drive off. 

Then the toilet lets us know that it’s full, and yeah, a seasoned campervanist would have seen this showdown coming from a mile off. An old piece of cowboy logic says, “never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction”. Right now, I think I might be the fool. Thankfully, the Grand Cali’s LED headlights (another optional extra at £1,248) just deliver a piercing scowl. No shots fired.

Ironically, the GC and I have actually got on like a mobile home on fire. I’m a huge fan of the smaller standard California with its easy manoeuvrability and space to sleep four. Plus, it’s even better now that the latest generation is based on the Multivan, with more car-like driving dynamics and sliding doors on either side.

But there is something hugely satisfying about this massive Crafter-based version that carries every possible amenity on board. The sense of freedom it provides makes you feel like those laconic, anti-hero drifters from classic Spaghetti Westerns. Want to go exploring in a Spanish desert on a random Wednesday? Fire up the Grand California and make up a plan as you go along.

It’s a wonderfully freeing way to travel, but it certainly isn’t cheap. The entry-level 600 now starts at £85k in the UK, and I’d consider quite a few of those costly optional extras to be non-negotiables. It’s not just the reversing camera and second bed that you’ll pay for. A diesel heater, a larger central touchscreen, heated front seats and that extendable awning all require a box to be ticked on the configurator and yet more cash. Ouch.

Although hang on, did anyone see what the security was like at that bank back at Western Leone? I’ve just had a great idea for the script of TG’s very own rootin’ tootin’ Spaghetti Western. Giddy-up, Cali!

VW GRAND California 600

Price: £84,550
Powertrain: 2.0-litre turbodiesel 4cyl, 161bhp, 302lb ft
Transmission: 8spd auto, FWD
Performance: 0–62mph in don’t try it, 98mph vmax
Economy: circa 28mpg, 298g/km CO₂
Weight: 3,098kg