• This topic has 53 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 15 years ago by hora.
Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 54 total)
  • Change in tac – From van to combi size “cars”
  • racing_ralph
    Free Member

    Kangoo/Berlingo/Doblo

    Who has got one? rate em or hate em? What engines are shit?

    Thinking rather than van, family sized “MPV” type thing with seats down all the time unless reqd for transporting friends/relatives etc

    twohats
    Free Member

    Ha ha ha, etc…

    db
    Full Member

    I like. Have driven a Berlingo and Kangoo. Remember they are vans not cars but if you were getting a van anyway…?

    Not sure how easy it is to remove the seats totally on either of them so check that out and since the seats don’t do fancy folding you will need some place to store them. Think it was 1.6 diesel in Citroen and perhaps a 1.5 in the Renault. Both went ‘ok’ – you are not buying them to throw round corners!?

    If it was me I’d choose the Citroen/Peugeot one. A bit bigger and depending on the version a few extra comforts.

    nickhart
    Free Member

    vw touran. i know some peeps have had bad experiences on here but i love ours. it’s brill for chucking bikes in and does 55mpg on a run and 45 ish around town (sheffield so hilly).
    one of the comfiest cars i’ve ever driven. get second hand ones reasonably cheap now.

    twohats
    Free Member

    So what’s wrong with the VW Transporter you’ve just bought???

    aP
    Free Member

    Had a berlingo multispace for 5 years. pretty reliable (obviously the citroen dealers are awful), loads of space, suspension is good on poor road surfaces, used to be easy to find in supermarket car parks (not now though), could fit a tandem in it, a bit hairy at speed in cross winds 😯
    The new one appears to be bigger and is based on the C4 rather than the ZX which the previous one was.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    transporter went back – dodgy as a dodgy thing

    MrNutt
    Free Member

    dodgy in what way?

    Drac
    Full Member

    He bought it and then found it there was no MOT.

    MrNutt
    Free Member

    oh yes, I remember, sorry its the age/drugs/pain/background noise 😛

    geoffj
    Full Member

    We had a berlingo as a hire car in Mallorca a couple of weeks ago. 1.5 diesel IIRC. It was great. 5 of us in it with all the luggage, sliding rear doors, loads and loads of room in the boot. Mrs J wants to swap the Passat Estate for one!

    Obviously they are not as sound proofed or as nicely finished as some cars, but they do what they do very well. If we got rid of our Ducato camper, I’d have one as a second vehicle like a shot.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    service light was flashing, brake warning light on, side door refused to lock – all in all did not add up

    druidh
    Free Member

    Multipla?

    Drac
    Full Member

    service light was flashing, brake warning light on, side door refused to lock – all in all did not add up

    What?

    Did you honestly not notice any of this when you were looking at it?

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    no as they came on this morning!! Side door was shut and opened fine, just did not lock correctly.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Ah well it went back so not too bad of an ending.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    druidh – group 10 insurance!! and ugly as ****

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    drac – spot on! Only problem is the lack of vehicle now!!

    Pieface
    Full Member

    Stick with the focus and buyy a decent liner?

    The Kangoo ain’t gonna be big enough to use as a workshop – even a van would be a struggle.

    I thought there was a bit of outsdie space you could convert into storage?

    Bigger house?

    AlasdairMc
    Full Member

    Someone I know had a Multipla, and his wife sold it while he was away on holiday.

    Spacious though, fits three bikes upright and three people without even trying to squash things in.

    0303062650
    Free Member

    http://www.buy a bloody transporter and stop being a homo.com

    take out the spaces 😉

    they’re cool, look cool, drive cool and they’re big white (or other colour) van’s, and you can sleep in the back too.

    I know dodgy man was, well, err… dodgy, but i think you should see a ‘nice’ T4/T5 – even if its just for a butchers (no intention of buying)

    IMO, shitroens and fiat’s are just a poor compromise on your intended purpose (putting the bikes in and putting the toolbox in/dirtworker (sounds like George Michael ought to have one? “Georgy M found with dirtworker in public bog”)

    anyway

    jt

    DickBarton
    Full Member

    I owned a Berlingo for a while but sadly wrote it off after cartwheeling it down a slope – saying that, all passengers and contents were fine, but the outer shell was rather rough afterwards!

    I really liked it, as much as it was a van-based vehicle, it was fine to drive – would happily take me around the country over pretty much every road and hardened surface without too much hassle – only problem I’ve had with it was trying to drive in foot thick snow…didn’t make it.

    Space-wise – it carried 3 bikes and 3 bodies plus gear without any problems – only 1 bike had a wheel off but everything else rolled in and rolled out the rear. The rear seat is easy enough to remove, you need a torx head to remove the seat but best thing is to leave the single seat in and you can still carry 3 bodies. If you do remove the double seat you also get another 6″ of space in the back as the seat doesn’t take up any room.

    I had the 1.9 diesel – it took an age to go anywhere but would happily sit at 70mph once there…I was getting about 600 out the tank. We drove a turbo’d version in Spain and it was superb compared to the standard diesel – same economy, just with a bit more power.

    I did look at the Kangoo at the time but decided against it as it was slightly narrower and shorter in the storage space, the Berlingo was bigger. The Peugeot Partner is the same as the Berlingo but with a more ‘premium’ name to it and has a few standard things that the Citreon doesn’t (like a passenger air bag) – saying that, since the introduction of the new model, that has changed…my next car is probably going to be a new style Berlingo as it was ugly as sin so no-one would be interested in it, but it was supremely practical.

    The only thing I didn’t try in the car was a full-on DH bike, but it did take some 6″ bouncers without any probs…I ride a large sized frame and my Trance fitted in nicely.

    Got pictures on my Flickr account of the car in Spain with 2 bikes in the boot – can’t link to them from here as my work account doesn’t give me access to Flickr, but if you go to http://www.richardbarton.co.uk, I think one of the Collections on that main page is Bikes in a Berlingo…only a couple of snaps but it shows the storage is simple.

    I’d recommend a Berlingo…immensely practical, very good economy and perhaps the last car you will ever need.

    hora
    Free Member

    transporter went back – dodgy as a dodgy thing

    🙄

    It doesnt mean be put off by the transporter idea though. Just keep shopping around, beware of near-as average mileage for the year etc. Just needs patience. Berlingo etc are tiny compared to a Transporter. You couldnt sleep in one overnight for a start.


    cough Toyota HiAce cough.

    steelfan
    Free Member

    Citroen C3 Picasso

    Why not look at the new citroen C3 Picasso.

    Dont think its out yet but it looks pretty good.

    nigelj
    Free Member

    hora
    can you enlighten me a bit more on your HiAce

    alfabus
    Free Member

    R_R, where are you? do you want to come see my van?

    It will be for sale when I get back from snowboarding (going on friday for the week). I could be persuaded to do a special stw deal :o) I’ll probably even throw in the twinny quattro bike rack, if you want it.

    As a measure of how dodgy mine isn’t (eh?), I am about to drive to the alps and back in it – which I do regularly with no worries. High mileage, but that doesn’t matter – cost me £200 to get through the MOT 2 weeks ago, and that was because one of the rear springs needed replacing (common fault).

    Picasa album of my T4 LWB

    Dave

    DickBarton
    Full Member

    Eh? How tall are you Hora? I’m 6’1″ and have slept in the Berlingo a few times…admittedely it isn’t comfy, but I slept the whole night no probs…guess it depends on how you sleep – if you sleep totally straight then it isn’t ideal, but diagonally would fit you…or curly up and plenty of room.

    Olly
    Free Member

    i hear the Diesel berlingos are a bit wet if you dont have a turbo, and they are certainly a bit rattly compared to a car, but its a van with seats, so cant complain there.
    considered a VW caddy?

    Golf derived, availible as a tall back…..

    mieszko
    Free Member

    I used to drive a Kangoo 1.4 75bhp, not the fastest engine, but if You drive it normally you can get good MPG, looks ugly, doesn’t drive that well, but loads of space inside and close to a normal cars driving. Only problem is that the electrics on it constantly were going wrong, and it cost a lot to repair it. It was a passenger version. Could get a bike upright with a wheel off. My mate had a Berlingo but a van 1.4 as well. Basically really similar space wise to Kangoo, same engine but as it had no seats out the back a bike could easily fit and being 5’10 could sleep in the back.

    My girlfriends dad has a 07 reg Kangoo 1.5dci 82bhp and this is a really good engine, shame about the car, it’s a loaded example, aircon, electrics, most of the options on it, but still has something with the sliding doors seals as it lets water in when it’s raining and as it’s french it will break at some point.

    Don’t go for the 1.9D in Berlingo as it’s a slow and not economic engine. dci/hdi engines only if diesel. 1.5dci according to the computer, he can get about 50-55mpg around town, driving sensibly of course.

    Still running costs should be lower than with a bigger sized van.
    I prefered to drive the Kangoo than my uncles Nissan Serena but my mums Passat 1.8 turbo was still my weapon of choice (she forgot to bring the keys to the roof racks and we managed to fit 2 bikes in the trunk of a sedan, estates are really spacious as well) 🙂

    I would check a Nissan Vanette. Same as a Serena, can get a nice example with aircon and even 5 seats (my aunt has one) 2.3D is a bit thirsty and not the fastest but it will just keep running, 1.6 16v petrol is not that bad as well (You can get a 2.0 petrol, that should be quick :-)). In 10 years of having a Serena 1.6 16v my uncle only changed brake pads, front shocks and oil couple times and it has almost 100.000 miles on the clock.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    Alfabus – how much are you after? Mileage, service history, and more importantly – where in the country are you?

    alfabus
    Free Member

    racing_ralph – email winging its way to you now

    Dave :o)

    hora
    Free Member

    DickBarton thats more slumming it compared to a longer-van option! Crickey you could sleep in an estate as well…. actually straight 🙂

    I don’t have a HiAce, matey owns one for work purposes which regularly drives across the UK daily… and on its many trips it was used to move me up north from London (in one load) a few years back..

    -m-
    Free Member

    We drove around 1200 miles in a VW Caddy Maxi Life (that’s a LWB VW Caddy with windows/seats in the back) in 5 days last summer. I was pretty impressed. It was comfy, drove well and was pretty painless even for long distances on the motorway (we drove from Milton Keynes up to Scotland and back). We had 2 bikes and a load of kit in the boot, but there was still space to have the second row of seats in it (we removed the third row).

    However, it was virtually brand new and had a 2.0 diesel engine. Not sure that there are many on the 2nd hand market, or what sort of price they go for – they’re pricey new.

    Although the refinement of a car-van is less than that of a car, it’s generally better than a van – there are few things worse than driving an empty, echoing van on the motorway for long distances…

    avdave2
    Full Member

    I’ve got the 1.9 Doblo which I think has the largest interior space of all of them. It’s been reliable and does 50 mpg despite being used mainly for short journeys. They are very basic but I like that and as they are all ugly you might as well go for the ugliest of the lot. When I was looking around the Doblos seemed to report fewer problems than the Berlingos and Kangoos. Have a look athonestjohnhe’s a pretty good source of information. The only thing I’ve found is that the rear leaf suspension can be noisy when the bushes dry out. It’s only apparent over speed bumps and isn’t a handling or safety issue.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    anyone know the cam/timing belt change interval on a 1.4 PETROL pug partner?

    mrcamel
    Free Member

    Roomster 1.9tdi 3 bikes and 3 blokes inside for a weekend in wales no probs. Ok to drive, 50+mpg easy, doesnt sound like a van inside either.

    hora
    Free Member

    Sigh. If we are going the Roomster etc route just get a Skoda Octavia 1.8T estate.. sigh

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    roomsters are the shittest of the spaz mobiles i am considering

    Jimbo
    Free Member

    “considered a VW caddy?

    Golf derived, availible as a tall back…”

    Unfortunately, much like the Transporter, Caddys incurr a hefty scene tax.

    For better VFM seek out a Doblo, Berlingo, Kubistar, Kangoo or (Vauxhall) Combo.

    Simon
    Full Member

    I’m on my second Berlingo Multispace.
    1st one was a 2001 1.6 16v petrol, which I had for 3 years until it was written off in the snow last December.
    Now got a 2004 2.0 HDi diesel, which has better trim, roof storage lockers and roof bars.
    As a mountain biker and father of two small kids for me they’re the perfect car.

    Not much in it between the 2 engines performance wise, the petrol is probably slightly quicker. As for ecconomy the petrol did about 35mpg and I get just over 40mpg from the diesel which I’m bit dissappointed with really.

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