The Berlingo is an impressive load-lugger
Our Berlingo’s brief three-month stint on our long term fleet has drawn to its close.
While What Van? puts most of its long-termers through their paces for a six-month period it is perhaps appropriate that the 1.6-litre van is with us for a shorter time because, come September, due to incoming emissions legislation Citroen will replace the powertrain entirely with the newer and superior 1.5-litre engine that is currently marketed alongside it.
The 1.5 is currently available with 130hp only but the transition will see it take over the 75hp and 100hp outputs of the 1.6.
A 1.2-litre Puretech petrol engine with 110hp and 130hp outputs will also join the line-up.
While the new engine line-up will undoubtedly represent a step up, the 1.6 itself is none too shabby. It has served me well in covering a variety of routes, including busy London streets, A and B roads, and longer treks along motorways. I’ve never felt shortchanged by the 100hp on tap and my only gripe would be the lack of a sixth gear, which the engine seems to strain for, when cruising at higher speeds.
Manual derivatives of the 1.5-litre engine, it’s good to see, come with a six-speed gearbox.
Over the past couple of weekends I’ve put the Berlingo hard to work carrying bags of heavy planting compost and potted flowers back from a garden centre. Asymmetric twin barn rear doors plus a sliding door on the passenger side help with loading, as does ground clearance of 145mm in the Enterprise model.
The weight of hauling the loads undoubtedly proved far more troublesome for my back than for the van’s class-leading payload of 1,050kg, and nor was the load volume of 3.3m3 in the standard M-wheelbase van challenged. The load box is well protected throughout by ply-lining.
If you do require more space, however, then a handy hatch can be opened in the bulkhead to allow access to the cab. The outside passenger seat can then be folded flat to increase the load volume to 3.8m3 while also adding half a metre to the load length for long items such as pipes.
My Berlingo was equipped with a comprehensive set of sensors all around the vehicle’s exterior as part of the Surround Rear Vision package, but if you do need to squeeze into tight spaces then body-coloured side rubbing strips provide added protection.
The van’s cabin is spacious enough and finished in a businesslike if somewhat sober fashion.
The middle seat is not ideal for a passenger due to the intrusion of the gear stick housing, but a push button parking brake that releases automatically when a gear is engaged does make it easier to clamber from one side of the cab to the other without having to hop over a handbrake. Lift up the middle seat base and you find a discreet storage compartment.
There is also an overhead shelf, bins in the doors and two cupholders but no glovebox. There is, however, a useful covered tray on the dash in front of the driver and another storage box in the centre of the dash. This is tricky to reach though, as it sits behind the otherwise well-positioned satnav/infotainment screen. Pairing a smartphone is a simple process and, once done, the Bluetooth service works efficiently.
End-of-term Report
Engine = 3/5
The 1.6 100hp diesel unit is decent enough but the new 1.5-litre engine will be a step up.
Driver assistance =4/5
Surround Rear Vision is an excellent visual and parking aid, but it doesn’t come cheap .
Load bay = 5/5
A generous payload allowance, plenty of space and easy access make the Berlingo a competent load-lugger.
Overall score 80%
Citroen Berlingo BlueHDI 100 S&S manual Enterprise
Mileage 2,665
Official combined consumption 67.3mpg
Our average consumption 48.43mpg
Price Range (ex VAT) £15,825-22,970
Price (ex VAT) £18,955
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 16,000mls
Load length 1,817mm
Load width (min/max) 1,236/1,550mm
Load bay height 1,250mm
Load volume 3.3m3
Gross payload 1,050kg
Engine size/power 1,560cc/99hp
Gearbox 5-spd auto
CO2 109g/km
Click below to see previous report
2nd Report
It’s always good to know there’s a full, steel bulkhead protecting the back of your head from any dangerous items that may come loose in the van’s load area to the rear, but one of the drawbacks to this is it leaves you reliant on the side mirrors to see what’s happening behind the vehicle.
But PSA has come up with a solution to overcome this restricted view on its Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Vauxhall Combo light vans.
Surround Rear Vision comes as a £500 option, excluding VAT, on our Berlingo, and although not cheap it’s a sophisticated and genuinely useful piece of kit.
Positioned as a 5in screen where the rear-view mirror would usually be found, the driver can activate it by pressing a button on its underside once the ignition is on. It essentially fulfils the same function as a rear-view mirror, with lines indicating distances of 4m and 30m from the rear bumper as well as providing nearside views, again with indications for 4m and 30m. If you prefer to drive without the rear view then you can turn the display off at any time.
Surround Rear Vision also provides a comprehensive reversing aid with dimension lines showing the width of the vehicle with mirrors unfolded, and additional lines indicating distances of 2m, 1m and 30cm from the rear bumper. Curved lines also appear when reversing to indicate the turning radius of the van based on the position of the steering wheel.
If that isn’t enough to ensure safe parking then you also get parking sensors and a schematic of the vehicle shown on an 8in colour touchscreen.
Report Card: Driver assistance = 4/5
Surround Rear Vision is an excellent visual and parking aid, but it doesn’t come cheap.
Citroen Berlingo BlueHDI 100 S&S manual Enterprise
Mileage 2,264
Official combined consumption 67.3mpg
Our average consumption 48.43mpg
Price Range (ex VAT) £15,825-22,970
Price (ex VAT) £18,955
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 16,000mls
Load length 1,817mm
Load width (min/max) 1,236/1,550mm
Load bay height 1,250mm
Load volume 3.3m3
Gross payload 1,050kg
Engine size/power 1,560cc/99hp
Gearbox 5-spd auto
CO2 109g/km
Click below to see previous report
1st Report
Citroen is continuing to market its Berlingo van with the 1.6-litre Blue HDi engine with outputs of 75hp and 100hp that steadfastly served the previous-generation model.
This powertrain will be sold alongside the new 130hp 1.5 diesel until September, when it will be withdrawn, leaving the 1.5-litre unit to pick up the 75hp and 100hp outputs.
So, can the older engine still hold its own before it bows out in the autumn?
We decided to find out by testing the 100hp version of the 1.6-litre while waiting for a Berlingo Crew Van to join our fleet.
The first thing to say is that it’s not as good as the 1.5 that will supersede it. But in terms of progression that’s as it should be.
The 1.6 is noisier, less refined and likely to be less eco-friendly and economical than the 1.5 with equivalent outputs. It also comes with five, rather than six, manual gears.
With only the most powerful derivative of the 1.5 currently on offer, however, a like-for-like comparison is not yet available.
The 100hp 1.6-litre engine has official C02 emissions of 109g/km and combined cycle economy of 67.3mpg, which stands up well compared to the 130hp 1.5, which turns in 116g/km C02 and 64.2mpg.
An efficient stop/start system no doubt helps to keep fuel consumption down.
The lack of a sixth gear is certainly irritating when cruising along motorways, as the engine strains and in-cab noise gets intrusive, but otherwise the five-speed ’box is impressively slick and complemented by decent ride and handling too.
The five-speed 1.6 is most at home on less high-speed mixed and urban routes, but with 100hp on tap there is no lack of performance and my light commercial has already coped comfortably with carting around a stack of four pallets in its load box for an extended period before their destination was cleared for them to be unloaded.
The cargo area is reached through asymmetric rear doors that can be swung through to 180°, but the stays holding them in place are a little flimsy and can allow the doors to slam shut in high winds.
My standard-wheelbase M model comes with a nearside sliding door, but opt for the long-wheelbase XL and you get sliding doors on both sides of the van.
Load volume of 3.3m3 on the M compares to 3.8m3 on the XL; however, fold down the passenger seat on the standard van and there’s an extra 0.6m3 of space.
Payload on my van goes up to a meaty and class-leading 1,050kg, which means I would almost certainly not require the services of the new overload indicator that alerts the driver when the load box has reached 80% of its weight limit. The weighing device is standard on the more rugged Worker trim but is a £240 option on my Enterprise version.
By way of comparison, the highest payload in the Volkswagen Caddy range is just below 770kg while the Ford Transit Connect tops out at 960kg. Only the Fiat Doblo Cargo gets close at just over 1.0t.
Report Card: Engine = 3/5
The 1.6 100hp diesel unit is decent enough but the new 1.5-litre engine will be a step up.
Citroen Berlingo BlueHDI 100 S&S manual Enterprise
Mileage 1,809
Official combined consumption 67.3mpg
Our average consumption 48.43mpg
Price Range (ex VAT) £15,825-22,970
Price (ex VAT) £18,955
Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls
Service intervals 16,000mls
Load length 1,817mm
Load width (min/max) 1,236/1,550mm
Load bay height 1,250mm
Load volume 3.3m3
Gross payload 1,050kg
Engine size/power 1,560cc/99hp
Gearbox 5-spd auto
CO2 109g/km
