Just went from an 09 berlingo to a 17 partner – identical in pretty much every way save the badge and a few new toys on the newer model. once we tried the berlingo there was no going back. The in laws also bought a berlingo once they saw ours.

[unless you are Axa insurance – I phoned to switch the policy to the new car to be told that partners are on the list of cars they don’t insure. The policy I was trying to amend was for a berlingo. Tried to explain it was the same car…]

There’s lots of votes for berlingos and berlingo-like things. It may have changed since I got mine, but I went for a berlingo over other similar offerings because it had three separate seats in the back instead of a double bench seat and one single. A minor difference but I like the slightly greater flexibility it gives.

Only the top spec berlingos and partners comes with the 3 separate qr removable seats.

The 60/40 is not easily removable

Agree well worth having

zaffira tourer elite here.
swallows 2 built up tourers and a very large driver and his small companion.

C4 Picasso has loads of room. Three individual rear seats that can all be split. Surprised how much more room it has over the Sportage I had before.

Like Trail Rat I ended up with the a low mileage outdoor spec’ for about £9000

Can’t believe he didn’t mention the 115 wild horses under the bonnet. Feels no worse than 130 horses on the old Scenic as its lighter

They even come up well on the car reliability index

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/16

Mines the older 90bhp spec 1.6 hdi. Doesn’t feel overly slow. The three split seats is awesome for getting a bike in as well as kids,
The interior roof bars are good for me as I do a bit of skimming on the side and they can carry my angle beads etc. Even got a removable torch in the boot that holds a charge.

C4 Picasso here for the last couple of years (same as a scenic underneath?) all 3 Rear seats move and fold independently which helps if you want to put people, bikes and luggage inside the car, a few issues have developed over the last few months though so it’s likely to be moving on this year…

TBH I wanted a berlingo rather than a picasso, but the boss didn’t like the look/size of it, she now refuses to drive the Picasso (even though it was her preferred choice) as it’s apparently “too big”… I’m not keen on going back to two cars, but I see a berlingo in my future and a Yaris in hers…

Anybody who thinks a car is ‘too big’, is probably a poor driver, TBH.
Unless they have a particularly small parking space.

Anybody who thinks a car is ‘too big’, is probably a poor driver, TBH.

Cobblers.

Cobblers – they like large boots, too 😉

Unless they have a particularly small parking space.

‘a’ small parking space? The world is full of multiple small parking spaces. Whilst one of our vehicles is a ducato van and is often a right nause to park the other is a clio. There are many times when I’m glad I don’t have a bigger car as I can squeeze into smaller spaces others can’t or not perform an elaborate limbo to get out.

Anybody who thinks a car is ‘too big’, is probably a poor driver, TBH.
Unless they have a particularly small parking space.

You seem like an expert so define for me what exactly a “poor driver” is?

To put it in context, my missus hasn’t been driving as long as me, and doesn’t need to drive as often, but on balance I would judge her to probably be a safer driver than me, precisely because she isn’t overconfident behind the wheel, is more cautious and has a healthy respect for the damage a car plus speed can do…

She, (like me) prefers driving smaller cars, we only have an MPV currently because of child, bike and luggage lugging needs, and choosing to be a one car family…

Big man Parking prowess aside how can car size preference really determine someone’s driving ability?

i just park else where if a space is tight – lifes to short to stick your car in a tiny space. it just gets smashed up and then you get pissed off if its anything nice.

i just park else where if a space is tight – lifes to short to stick your car in a tiny space. it

So you waste more time trying to find a bigger space.

rarely takes as long to find a new space as it does to repair damage caused by careless people.

A car can be too big for your garage, it can be too big for your requirements or it can be too big for your driving abilities.
Given that the C4 Picasso (which isn’t enormous, really) was chosen by your wife, then the latter is the most likely explanation.
As she doesn’t drive much, then she will, of course, find a larger vehicle trickier to handle, but her competence levels aren’t going to be improved by not driving the car, and getting the extra experience that comes from doing so.

I’ll hold my hand up, and admit that ‘poor driver’ was probably too strong a phrase – maybe ‘needs to practice more’ would be better.

The 110 wild horses . You got the bigger one.

Mines only a 92 bhp …. It’s enough. The turbos about the size of a walnut.

Just bought a Merc Vito Traveliner as a bike carrier. It’ll take five bikes and five people if you remove front wheels, or will stand two or three up in the back even without folding seats forward. It’s a 2005 so I really don’t care about scratches, dents or dings, and mud is simply swept out. It is only six inches longer than my last car, so is relatively easy to get used to.

Grand Tourneo Connect was going to be the car for me. 7 seats, 5 removable. Full length roof rails for a proper roofrack. Sliding doors. Massive tailgate to shelter under. Kind of like a stretch berlingo……

Test drove like much smaller car. Quite a few low mileage examples around still under warranty.

Had a nice 1.6 eco diesel engine, similar to the Berlingo, C4, SMAX, Partner, Octavia, Superb………

And I couldn’t buy it. I realised that someone had to stop buying diesels or even full blooded petrol (they do a very rare mini turbo petrol version in an auto).

I am a bit suprised that there is so little thought about what devastation nox emissions cause on a cycling forum – most of us are breathing this shit in everytime we jump on our bikes yet all I read is ” can I buy a diesel and not lose money” not “can I buy a diesel and not lose 6 months life expectancy”

Change your mindset and your habits. I did.

winston – Member
Grand Tourneo Connect was going to be the car for me. 7 seats, 5 removable. Full length roof rails for a proper roofrack. Sliding doors. Massive tailgate to shelter under. Kind of like a stretch berlingo……

Test drove like much smaller car. Quite a few low mileage examples around still under warranty.

Had a nice 1.6 eco diesel engine, similar to the Berlingo, C4, SMAX, Partner, Octavia, Superb………

And I couldn’t buy it. I realised that someone had to stop buying diesels or even full blooded petrol (they do a very rare mini turbo petrol version in an auto).

I am a bit suprised that there is so little thought about what devastation nox emissions cause on a cycling forum – most of us are breathing this shit in everytime we jump on our bikes yet all I read is ” can I buy a diesel and not lose money” not “can I buy a diesel and not lose 6 months life expectancy”

Change your mindset and your habits. I did.

Most of us will be limited by budgets and/or alternative options from the automotive industry. Good for you that your lifestyle allows you to make such a choice. Personally with 3 kids, school runs and work commutes my options are somewhat limited.

My partner is a 1.2 petrol – the nox emissions we breathe in while cycling to work are the main issue we said no when they asked if we’d consider diesel.

(For context we live in a city and do relatively low mileage – no business or commuting mileage and no family more than 90 minutes away. We’d love a smaller car but as the majority of our driving involves us having at least 2 bikes with us the berlingo/partner just works)

My beast of a berlingo is 1.4 petrol 😛

Tried to buy a little turbo.

1.2 puretech.

Needed a car now. 1.2 puretech was 16 week wait as well as being 18grand

Test drive was terrible with 3 adults in and was noisy at speed (and at idle as it idled horibly and vibrated badly thanks to the 3cyl)

I also had longevity concerns and couldn’t find any examples of high milers to learn from -just a number of acounts of engines being replaced at low milage….

Bought a used latest euro spec diesel and just decided to carry on with my policy of reducing car use and not takin it into town as much as possible rather than improving the car so I can use it with wreckless abandon.

Cargo bike /beater bikes/commuter bikes /bus (and we are not in a town/vilage )

In 10 years time(when this car is dead) when technology has caught up and we have a clear path to rightchousness I’ll move on.

90hp is fine for these vans. I drove that engine. If ours is 115hp then it was the luck of what came up used

It is hard at the moment fur used car buyers to opt for petrol in this type of vehicle. I still think that co2 is a big issue which is still in the diesels favour

The issue with the eco turbo petrol units is that they are under more stress than a larger capacity engine and suffer from a lack of longevity. You also have to rev the nuts off them to get moving which makes the whole eco tag unrealistically. In the real world the quoted economy figures and therefore emissions are such BS unless you drive like Miss Daisy.

the issue with the eco turbo petrol units is that they are under more stress than a larger capacity engine and suffer from a lack of longevity. You also have to rev the nuts off them to get

Are lots of them failing?

I’ll also bet my 1.4 petrol that’s 14 years old pumps out more crap than a new diesel

I wouldnt bet too much tho as I’ve no idea as to the rights and wrongs of what crap actually comes out.

Mine was bought purely on the recommendation of a mechanic friend who said the engine was fairly bulletproof, touch wood

I’ll also bet my 1.4 petrol that’s 14 years old pumps out more crap than a new diesel

In real world tests, not claimed performance, I’m not so sure..

Edit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/11187483/New-or-old-which-is-greener.html

https://amp.ft.com/content/e6e335a2-9ba1-11e7-8cd4-932067fbf946

Hmmmm

Thanks for all the suggestions