So I've hired a 05 diesel Berlingo van this morning. Its an absolute hoot.

Does it have to be diesel? (like hens teeth)….or can it be a 1.4 or 1.6 and are they reliable engines?

Lovely to place etc on the road 🙂

Remember I've got dibs on the legacy 🙂

Have a 58 newer model…in stealth black 🙂

Great van. Good economy. French quirky things. Cheap as chips. What's not to like.

Doblo even bigger and cheaper to buy.

much leg room in the driving position? for 6ft + person?

Im 6'4 and have plenty room

My question tho is are the newer ones any more powerful or economical?
Mines an 03 and gets around 35 to the gallon, top speed 80 downhill with a following wind (ok maybe 85) and with the canoe on the roof and a 10ft caravan on the back had trouble on the hills. If i get a newer one will it be better?

only 35 to the gallon? my nissan note does 49.8 with a towbarbike rack and two bikes on it, was expecting the diesel to be better?

Mines the newer shaped 1.6 75bhp jobbie. (I think there's a 90 too). Most of my driving's town, bit of bypass, very little motorway. Computer is telling me it's averaging 46 mpg (around 14000 miles on the clock). I think the 90 bhp one is more economical on the motorway. While mine has no problem getting to 85 and more if I wanted, it's being thrashed to get there and computer is giving instantaneous mpg readings in the mid to high 30's.

thats probably my problem, most of my driving is on the A9 so my accelerator might as well be an on/off switch, really have to wring its neck to get anywhere.

Much prefer the Vauxhall Combo to be honest,and I think they are classed as car derived vans so normal speed limits apply.

got a 06 1.6hdi ‘desire’, my kids call it the nerd mobile, wife calls me ‘pat’ and my brother, who still needs to feel cool in a car, calls it the window licker (the bastid, as i work in disabilities field). i care not what they think as bikes go in nicely and its been nothing but useful. same as darcy in terms of economy.

Get a 335d touring and then never shut up about it…

Get a 335d touring and then never shut up about it…

they are classed as car derived vans so normal speed limits apply.

We’ve been through this once before. Car speed limits apply to Berlingos as well.

Not mine, it says light goods vehicle on the reg doc so its a van.
I think theyd be pretty unsporting to do me for it tho.

got a 06 1.6hdi ‘desire’, my kids call it the nerd mobile, wife calls me ‘pat’ and my brother, who still needs to feel cool in a car, calls it the window licker (the bastid, as i work in disabilities field). i care not what they think as bikes go in nicely and its been nothing but useful. same as darcy in terms of economy.

😆

sweepy go look at the dvla and your gross weight

berlingos and partners are car derived vans and can only carry 600kg payload and thus can do car speed limits

peugeot partner owner – cheap as chips to buy and run – 300 quid for a full service , new brake pads and disks and timing belt …. in for its mot this week after 12k of my driving – live 2 miles up a dirt track so expecting CV joints or boots to be beat. Handy for moving house as well as bikes !

Trail rat, I hope your right, but my understanding is that it needs to be under weight, and have car derived van stated on the log book, and this varies car to car.
Plus technically it’s a van derived car not the other way round cos it was a van first.

TBH i drive it to car limits anyway and rely on the grey area. Like I say I think it’d be damn unsporting of them to nick me 🙂

Depends on which model of Berlingo (or Partner or Combi) you buy – if it has seats and windows in the rear then it will be car-derived so car speeds apply but if it doesn’t have those then it is a van (and in the Berlingo’s case (and probably the Partner), if you have the van version you need reinforced tyres or it’s an instant fail on it’s MOT test thing).

interesting ….. my “van” has the floor pan of a car … hence why there are two areas behind the drivers seat under the load bed i store water in …..

thats the rear passengers footwells in the car version …..

as i said go look at dvla – i CBA as my connection is via satelite and it will take me for ever to paste relevent links

Well I can say with authority that my van passed its last mot with normal tyres, as long as they meet the load rating they dont need to be specific van tyres. I got the cheapest I could find on the internet £140 for 4.
I have got the space behind the front seats too, Im not going to worry, I never got nicked speeding in the Audi, id be well unlucky to get done in this 🙂

It’s all to do with the maximum weight the vehicle could be (potential, not actual), that’s what determines what speeds are permissable. That’s why one Berlingo, with seats and windows, can do car speed limits, and another one, in a van style, and built to carry a higher weight, (maybe) can’t. 2 tonnes max laden weight is the cut off.

Cut and pasted from here…

…What is a “car derived van”?
Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, a “car derived van” is defined as:- “A goods vehicle which is constructed or adapted as a derivative of a passenger vehicle and which has a maximum laden weight not exceeding 2 tonnes.”
The important word in this definition is “and” as there are goods vehicles that look as if they are based on a passenger vehicle, but when the manufacturer puts a gross laden weight on the goods vehicle, which is the design weight of the vehicle plus the maximum load that it is designed to carry, and this exceeds 2 tonnes, that vehicle is no longer a car derived van. The van becomes an ordinary goods vehicle under 7.5 tonnes gross weight, and is therefore subject to the speed limits as shown in the Highway Code.
As a “rule of thumb” any van larger than a Vauxhall Astravan will have a gross weight in excess of 2 tonnes and is therefore subject to the reduced “class of vehicle” speed limits. Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter, Mercedes Vito, Peugeot Expert and Ford Connect, for example, are restricted vans.
It is immaterial that a goods vehicle may be unladen at the time it is detected exceeding the speed limit. The construction of the vehicle that enables it to be used up to the 7.5 tonnes maximum weight is the relevant criteria.

Well, I’m in a right dilemma. When I bought the Legacy (fantastic doesn’t begin to describe)… I hadn’t seen the house that I’d just purchased. The road is very narrow and access to the drive is hard for a very long car like the Legacy estate (I’m not into losing the front garden for some sort of carparking).

The Berlingo van went in with some careful reversing. So I imagine the Berlingo with windows will be even easier to place.

🙁

berlingo 600(load rating) is 1925 max laden weight so under 2 tonnes so we are safe enough they do an 800 too though so youd need to be sure which yours is … mines a 600

Now I’m being very dull, but I’ve just had a look at the brochure for the Berlingo vans. There are 15 different models available, combinations of engine and layout. 7 have a maximum gross vehicle weight of over 2000kg, so can only do van speeds, while 8 are under 2000kg, so can do car speeds. So it’s VERY straightforward 🙂

bearing in mind that the newest shape – 09/10 are bigger and heavier than older ones … of which an 05 is – mines 06

mines even older than that, result (hopefully)

anyone know if the doblo has independent folding seats or are they a bench? do they fold totally flat into the floor?

I’ll say it again…..

Multipla

do they fit that criteria druidh?

3 multi-position, independent seats which can either fold up or can be removed as necessary.

3 proper seats in the front too.

from the back of the front seat to the tail gate – how much space in feet?

Depends how tall you are (how far back is your front seat)?

The front middle seat is further back than the other two too

druidh – Member
I’ll say it again…..

Multipla
That’s what I have now, and very useful it is. Even better is what I had before – a Renault Espace. When I get rid of the Multipla, I’ll go back to the Espace because it’s got more room.

5’6″ / 5’7″ Rob. Depends exactly where you measure it.

berlingos/partners/doblos- cheap as chips, pretty reliable, fits bikes and stuff, tend to dent quite easily but you don’t give a hoot anyway.

From memory of my brother’s Doplo there is one single seat and one double seat in the back. I think they can be removed separately but seem to recall that the seat belt mount for one depends on the other being there but I didn’t look closely and that was a while ago so I may well be wrong on that. Doplo is longer by about 6″ than the earlier Berlingo Multispace (which is effectively longer inside than the van version as it does not have the load guard behind the seats).

my partner is long enough in the back to sleep in it comfortably at 6 foot 2 on the passenger side , my bulkhead behind driver takes up some of the space

– i lived in mine for 6 weeks in aberdeen during a period between houses. the missus lived in arbroath with her parents i lived in the van – had access to washing facilitys at work and at the gym though – it was just a tin tent really

to sleep in the berlingo i fold the back of the passenger seat down, line up boxes of the same height behind it and put a fat airic on top. Well comfy and the bike goes down the other side.