Looking at getting a new car as have been without one a few months. Ride to work so just for weekends and shopping etc.

Needs to be big enough for 2 kids in the back and i like the idea of something the bike will fit in easily.

These are ugly, cheap to buy, tax and insure… oh and did i mention ugly?

Anyone got one?

Pretty much settled on getting one just looking for some opinions on which one to go for?

IS there much difference between the makes? any particular engine to look out for?

Not going to be doing huge miles so diesel not neccesary but I’m not fussed either way.

cheers

I have a 2005 2.0 HDi. It has a wee niggle that I’m struggling to get to the bottom of, but apparently the engine is much more robust than the later 1.6 HDi. A mechanic I trust tells me the 1.6 HDi can be a bombproof engine if the EGR is blanked from new. He services one with 226,000 miles on the clock. My 2005 is only on 117,000.

Got a 2002 Kangoo. Brill for kids, holidays and bike. BUT.. Its a Renault. Most electrical stuff seems to have broken. The engine, a 1.9 diesel, should be reasonably economical, but the mpg has dropped way down over the years we have had it. Been in the garage and they can’t figure it out what’s wrong. The egr is blanked, but this just makes the car run ok, the economy still ain’t great. My Peugeot 106 from 1996 runs like a Swiss watch compared to the Kangoo…

Had a kangoo and now have a berlingo both slow with crap handling but brilliant family cars. Sliding doors ace. You can fit a bike on the parcel shelf when the boot is full when you go on holiday, what’s not to like.

58 plate Doblo 1.3 D.
I love it.

It’s had an injector, welded exhaust, pads and disks and a front arm in 50000 hard miles.

More space than a Berlingo, cheaper, surprisingly good to drive.
Uglier too.

thanks for the opinions
1 shed – Is there anything noticable better/worse with the berlingo over the kangoo? or are they all much of a muchness?

If you’re going for one with a 1.6 HDi engine, just make yourself aware of the turbo issue. There are a few threads on here, including this one I started.

Think the general consensus is it’s not a big problem, as long as the oil change is carried out regularly. And I bought it in the end, the 1.6 engine is great, even in a bigish vehicle.

The kangoo was petrol and the cylinder head gasket was on its way out when we moved it on the berlingo diesel, bog standard engine seems strong but we’ve scraped along more things it just adds charecter. Their not cars to get precious about. Drop the seats use it as a van sweep it out after job done.

Blanking the EGR on the 1.6 helps keep the oil pick up for the turbo cleaner, preventing the blockages that lead to the turbo failure that is widely reported.

mate had a berlingo 1.6 petrol.
it was cheap to buy, did 40 odd mpg, took him and missus and 3 kids all over for a year with no major problems apart from the rear wheel bearings, which is apparently a known weakness on these cars, but at least cheap to fix iirc.
ive been in it a few times, and tbh, i liked it, loads of stowage space inside, enough power, took bike inside easily.
i would consider one.

If you get a berlingo factor in the cost of a new rear axle. mine went at 65k and cost nearly five hundred notes just for the part, and fitting wasn’t cheap. Very common problem apparently, and unless you get a more expensive replacement can go again after another 60k. heey come from citroen with no lubrication, and no way of putting any in. Dont know if it applies to the new type info here

Yes get a Kangoo! Cracking little van in my case, was a 1.9 diesel now a 1.2 lpg/petrol….shes not fast but very very cheap 😉

Has a camper conversion too!

2012 partner 1.6hdi 112hp here 🙂

Takes family / bikes / big dog – all at the same time!
Gets the p taken out of it, but fits five blokes, 5 x weekend kit and a bike inside, with four bikes in a trailer no problem 🙂

Struggles a bit towing my caravan, with a marquee, family, dog, bikes and cider but it works! Best thing is bikes go in upright fully built! 3 bikes, 3 blokes no issue 🙂

Mpg = 45 round town, towing the van and laiden like an elephant in Bombay, 30mpg…

I bought a berlingo after getting jealous of my mum’s kangoo. There’s not much between them, both ugly, both swallow bikes, neither feels quite as van like as I originally feared. I’ve got a camper conversion which is fab and love the thing despite its looks.

Berlingo is NOT ugly.. let’s just get that said…
The Kangoo is slightly narrower iirc, and the Doblo? Now that really is ugly… 🙂

I’ve taken the double seat out the back of my Blingo and use it pretty much like a van. 1.6 petrol and brilliant. Took myself and two mates biking for 3 weeks in several European countries last year.

Sliding doors are fantastic. You can sleep in it if you’re not too long. The axle thing maybe rings true. Mine has always made this funny boing noise over bumps which I think is related to that.
Still, love the car…

With false floor and pull out kitchen for biking roadtrip.

Camping van(yes, I know my rims are fabulous…)

Anyway, I’d have another in a heartbeat…

Xsara Picasso? Cheaper and even uglier

I’m trying to convince myself to be all practical and get shot of my Civic and get a Partner.

They ain’t pretty though are they!

We’ve had a Doblo for 6 years and I’d replace it with the same again. The only thing I’ve had to do that isn’t routine is replace the CAT which was relatively cheap.

This class of car is the car no one wants and everybody needs.

They ain’t pretty though are they!

The interior is like something out of Greenwoods? the mens retailer.

Buy a Doblo and it NEEDS to be never washed and covered in dents IMO. Then its cool.

Same with a Panda (offer excludes 100hp model).

Just bought a 2nd Hand Kangoo Van essentially the same as the car but without the back seats and side windows(which can be retro fitted if so inclined).
Compared to my works van (2013 VW Caddy with all the bells & whistles)its cack but has a certain charm to it,amazingly all the electrics still work(just tempted fate there).
Its a 1.5dci with 100k on it but still seems to go alright.

I recently bought a 1.6 petrol Multispace and love it.

Okay, granted, its got nothing in terms of power or handling over my old 1.8T A4 estate, but it can easily take a few bikes (the forks fit nicely over the seats when folded) – I can take me plus 1 bike to sleep, or 2 to sleep and no bikes, as a “multi”space, its really living up to its name!

The roll top roof makes for a fun place to be!

Buy a Doblo and it NEEDS to be never washed

I’ll have you know I wash mine once a year whether it needs it or not!

This class of car doblo is the car no one wants

berlingos/partners/kangoo multispaces are holding their values now that people realise how useful they are – more so in the diesel guises as the petrols were undertorqued for being loaded mostly.soon as i pull up and throw the bike in at the end of a group ride folks instantly start talking about how good they are….. and how ugly….but then im sitting with a brew while they are fighting to get strip their bikes to go in the back and getting changed in the cold.

only thing ill change mine for is a bigger van.

As an alternative Rav4 older models. These you can remove the rear seats and its like a van. We had one (2000 vintage ?) when the kids where little and it’s fabulous, small enough to park easily, kids like it as they are high and can see out, I liked it as I used it like a van when I needed to. 4wd for poor road conditions. Toyota reliability.

Downside – they hold their value very well so not cheap. We had an auto petrol which was very slow, manual best.

57plate Doblo 1.9 multijet here, we’ve done nothing to it apart from MOT’s and an A/C regas,
It gets a wash as its MOT treat…

As an alternative Rav4 older models. These you can remove the rear seats and its like a van

only smaller – it has a high boot floor. a riding buddy has one of these on a V plate – bike doesnt fit in unless its on its side or the wheels are off.

and you missed toyota costs when it goes wrong.

the partner i have has been unbelivably cheap for parts its needed – alternator (£50) and a spring (£30)

timing belt kit was 60 and 60 for fitting – and 80 for the waterpump.

Are these van with windows classed as cars then insurance wise ?

I’ve had silly quotes for vans and really fancy something to just chuck the bikes in.

the multispace is much cheaper than the van to insure with the same engine- thats my one regret buying the van. how ever i got it for a steal and covers the insurance difference for 10 years compared to buying a multispace……

hora – Member

Xsara Picasso? Cheaper and even uglier

I think this is a valid point – if you think that the space is enough and you want something a little more ‘car-like’. I love my Berlingo but they are, relatively speaking, quite expensive because they’re a bit of a niche vehicle (certainly for good examples they’re bloody dear) – OAPs love them, families love them, bikers/dog owners/campers love them but hardly anyone is prepared to pay the new prices so the second-hand market is ‘buoyant’ to say the least.

We ended up taking a gamble on one that was quite cheap and just getting shedloads of work done on it after purchase. I’m not too fussed, all cars are gambles and cost a fortune in one way or another, but if money is tight then it may take a while to find one that’s good without paying a premium.

Our Dobby cost a peanut to insure even though it’s the 120bhp version,
I suppose its so fugly even an insurance company struggles to think of reasons why it’s desirable or stealable,
But it’ll sit at 80/90 all day long while filled to the gunnels with bikes, dogs, canoes and kit so we love it.. 😀

Oh, as a sidenote – the STW forum is to blame for our purchase. After spending three months touring around europe, me and the wife constantly admiring all these practical ‘car-vans’ driven by retired Dutch/French/German/British campers, we forgot about them. Then I showed the wife a STW thread about the same time as I found employment again and we moved away from the city (therefore wanting a car) – she wouldn’t countenance anything other than the top spec belingo/partner with a/c and the modutop thing.

Purely on the ugly front you should get a Fiat Multipla it would swallow the bikes and really is butt ugly.

Rav4

Four exhaust sensors to go wrong.

Multipla- sooo ugly its actually quite nice.

As of yesterday morning, I’m in the market for a “new” car.

To the guys and girls with Berlingo campy conversions – how does that work? It doesn’t look long enough. Is it the roof height making it it look shorter than it is? Pics would be grand if you’ve got any within a couple of clicks.

Cheers.

“Mine has always made this funny boing noise over bumps which I think is related to that.”

boing noise is the brake bias adjuster being stuck/sticky – they cost 300 quid to replace but get some hi pen spray and a pair of molegrips you can free em off.

the axel colapsing is pretty common though – you can tell when viewing if its gone or not as the rear axel looks like one of those stylish beetles you see that look broken…. masses of camber angle

I use the amdro bootjump conversion. Folded up it sits in the boot with the rear seats up (and usually with 2 wheels off bikes and other assorted bits and pieces on them). To convert you take everything off the back seat (we have a drive away awning to dump it all in, if you don’t have too much stuff there are places inside the car it could be stashed), push/tilt the front seats forward, drop the back seats and unfold it. There is enough room to sleep as long as the front seats are far enough forward. You can either have it in “seating area” or “bed” mode, and the stove pulls out from underneath.

I used to drive a Fiat 500 which was seriously impractical for biking. I knew I needed something bigger but hesitated for ages because the Berlingos were just so van like and uncool, but within about three days of owning it you’d have to prise it out of my cold dead hands. The multispace is officially a car and insured as a car.

A this year’s petrol Bling here. It’s roomy and practical as everyone’s said. The bike goes in upright and intact, no more cold hands struggling with a cold and muddy bike.

And it’s economical enough as I’m not in any hurry, except motorway hills are a pain. But it overtakes well. Though I’ve never filled it up.

trail_rat – Member

“Mine has always made this funny boing noise over bumps which I think is related to that.”

boing noise is the brake bias adjuster being stuck/sticky – they cost 300 quid to replace but get some hi pen spray and a pair of molegrips you can free em off.

Thanks Trailrat. I’ll try that!

“have to prise it out of my cold dead hands”

Just after you’ve delivered the bread? 😉

dont worry hora – you wont get off the roller rink in your car 😉