Citroen Berlingo 2.0 HDi

.../> RELIABILITY. We've owned a Citroen in the past and found it very reliable, so we didn't hesitate to consider buying another. The car has a 3-year full manufacturers warranty and 12-year anti-corrosion warranty, which gives us a lot of peace of mind, as our previous car (a Landrover Discovery) was showing signs of rust after only 7 years. On the minus side, we've had one or two 'teething' problems, but nothing major - the fuel indicator doesn't ...
...because we had to shout! Citroen offer air-conditioning and electric sunroof as options, but I can’t comment on these, as we don’t have them on our car.

HANDLING. I think the Berlingo handles like a dream; it accelerates really well for a diesel and the power steering makes it a joy to drive. My husband says the Hdi has wider wheels, which give better handling (I wouldn’t have known about that!). The only trouble is that, because it’s ... more

We bought our Berlingo 2.0Hdi in October last year - our first ever brand new car! We've had one or two 'teething' problems with it, but we're very pleased with it overall.

RELIABILITY. We've owned a Citroen in the past and found it very reliable, so we didn't hesitate to consider buying another. The car has a 3-year full manufacturers warranty and 12-year anti-corrosion warranty, which gives us a lot of peace of mind, as our previous car (a Landrover Discovery) was showing signs of rust after only 7 years. On the minus side, we've had one or two 'teething' problems, but nothing major - the fuel indicator doesn't reach the FULL line even when we've filled up to the maximum, the electric windows have stuck once or twice and the heater fan packed up - but the dealer put the first two things right under the warranty and should be fixing the heater fan soon (see Customer Service, below).

SAFETY AND SECURITY. The Berlingo comes with driver's airbag as standard and has side impact protection, height-adjustable front seat belts and 3-point seat belts on ALL rear seats. Our old car had only a lap belt on the middle rear seat, and I've never been too happy about these. On the security side, the car has remote control central locking and an immobiliser, for which we got extra discount on our insurance.

SPACIOUSNESS. The Berlingo has a very spacious feel to it, and it's not an illusion. It's a comfortable ride - my brother, who's nearly 6 feet tall, can sit in the back comfortably. He says it makes a nice change not to have to sit with his knees under his chin! The rear seats fold down fully, giving you an enormous load space - 1.35 x 1.19 x 1.13 metres. We recently went on a 'booze cruise' to France and were amazed at how much wine and beer we got in the back without even reaching window level! As well as the usual glove box, seat pockets and door pockets, the Berlingo has storage nets above the side doors and two storage compartments under the rear floor - very handy for storing valuables out of sight. There’s also an option called a Modutop, which gives extra roof lockers, 5 tinted roof lights and aircraft-style ventilation outlets. We decided against this, as it’s usually just us two in the car, but it would prove very useful for a family.

COMFORT. This car provides a very comfortable ride. I no longer get backache on long journeys, so I reckon the seats are more comfortable, for a start. It has electric windows and mirrors, and also a height-adjustable steering wheel, which I didn’t think would make that much difference, but it does, and it’s really easy to adjust. The engine noise is low and you can have a normal conversation even at motorway speeds; we had a VW camper once and gave up trying to speak to each other at speeds above 60 mph because we had to shout! Citroen offer air-conditioning and electric sunroof as options, but I can’t comment on these, as we don’t have them on our car.

HANDLING. I think the Berlingo handles like a dream; it accelerates really well for a diesel and the power steering makes it a joy to drive. My husband says the Hdi has wider wheels, which give better handling (I wouldn’t have known about that!). The only trouble is that, because it’s so quiet, I find myself speeding if I’m not careful! I’m sure I’ll get used to it, though - hopefully before I get a fine.

CUSTOMER SERVICE. And now the bad news… We’re not very happy with the after sales service that we’ve received from the dealer, Bristol Street. The car has had a few ‘teething problems’ and we’ve had to wait quite a while for some of these to be sorted out. We once left the car for over 24 hours, supposedly for a repair, and it hadn’t been touched when we went to pick it up! To be fair, the problems we’ve had have been relatively minor, although the latest one has caused us inconvenience and discomfort. The heater fan packed up - not much fun in winter - and we reported the fault on 14th February. We were told that the earliest they could examine the car was on 27th, but they wouldn’t have a courtesy car available that day - we’d have to wait until some time in March if we wanted one. My husband took the car back and waited while they examined it (over an hour and a half) and then was informed that they couldn’t do the repair, as they had to order parts. They were supposed to get back in touch, but we ended up phoning THEM today (5th March) to ask when we were likely to get the car repaired. They told us that the part had just come in and we’ve arranged to have it repaired on Friday, but still no courtesy car. Can’t say I find this very satisfactory, but we’re fed up being cold and being unable to demist the windows. My husband has written to Citroen UK about it and I’ll re-post when we hear from them.

LOOKS. I’ll be the first to admit that the Berlingo is a bit querky looking, but I love it! Some people say that it looks a bit too much like a van, but you do get all that extra space! There’s a choice of 8 colours (that was the hardest part - which colour shall I choose???), of which I’d only really rule out white (too much like a van!) and Passion Red (too much like Postman Pat and, anyway, I didn’t want to get my husband’s hopes up..)

FUEL CONSUMPTION AND ECONOMY. It's VERY economical to run - we reckon we're getting 55-60 mpg and a tank of diesel seems to last for ages. Because of it's 'cleaner' engine, it qualifies for the reduced Road Fund Licence, too (£110 at present). The fully comp. insurance is costing us just under £220 a year with Tesco, although we do have maximum no-claims discount.

ON THE DOWN SIDE.. Apart from our problems with Bristol Street after sales service, other niggles are that the dashboard heater vents can’t be moved very much, only from side-to-side (I hear this has been changed in the new version) and that we have a surface scratch on the side of the car caused when someone left something in the sliding rear-door pocket, which scratched the paintwork when we opened the door.

Having said all that, we're delighted with the car overall and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you have a look if you’re considering buying a new car. Citroen are currently offering £1000 cashback on the new 2.0Hdi; you can get lots of other information on www.citroen.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!
 

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