I can’t afford to fix my Berlingo. Sad times. So I need to sell it to an enthusiastic mechanic (stealth ad) and replace it, ideally with something bigger and petrol driven. But also bike journo spec price. And with at least 4 seats so I can fit the kids in.

I could just about stretch to a Honda Stepwagon but it’s not actually very big. Petrol Ford Transit Connects don’t seem to exist. Hybrids are too new to be in my price range.

Am I missing something? Is a Stepwagon the biggest 2nd hand petrol option there is? I do very low miles at mostly low speeds, not great for a diesel – but should I give up my petrol hopes in the name of more choice?

I hate cars, and I hate losing sleep over decision making on this. Help me out oh wise ones!

Jap Import? Toyota Alphard? Toyota Previa? (more like a mahoosive people carrier) Mazda Bongo.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106183971587?include-delivery-option=on&model=ALPHARD&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&sort=relevance&radius=1501&advertising-location=at_cars&make=TOYOTA&postcode=ca48lu&page=1

Are the Stepwagon/Alphard/Bongo not all the same size internally? I don’t care about engine size, just bike/mattress space!

The Alphard has some really good seat space in the back. you can fold the rears away to the side, so essentially you are left with a space enough for bikes or mattress.
No experience with the Bongo, but the stepwagon in similar. there are a couple of you tube vids which will give you an idea about the space

Previa – https://youtu.be/Fi1xr6LsKBE

We have a Tourneo Connect which Abigale uses for bike duties and races weekends. Its a 1.6 petrol Ecoboost

All the rear seats fold or can be removed easily

What’s your budget?

Ford Galaxy?

man, those Alphard things are Gopping. colleague of mine has one, its like being in a palatial lounge, leisure and curtains and weird trim nobody asked for. 3L v6 too, so while its got a good burble. If you put your foot down, it just burbles a bit more and uses more fuel. Dont think it goes any faster. Hes had an LPG conversion on his, because its TOO thirsty on petrol.

It is surprising that you dont get many petrol vans in the uk though, i guess they are all just built for the torque, to be full of stuff and not wipe out the fuel economy or power.

You should be ok on mini vans; I cant imagine this is quick, and its the same size as a berlingo, but other than that its a winner:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107275502274

If youre up at transit/transporter size,i suspect youll have to stick with a diesel.
The newer ones are very petrol like to drive, and if you get a euro VI one, with stop start and adblue and all that rubbish you dont have to feel quite so bad about the soot (though they do need pushing up a motorway once a month to regen the DPFs)?

FWIW, The new Transporter is available as a petrol, but its new new

https://www.parkers.co.uk/vans-pickups/advice/2018/vw-transporter-tsi-turbo-petrol-long-term-test-review/

There is a petrol/LPG full size Transit out there.
Proper rocking unicorn poo but keep an eye out

Hmm, hadn’t seen the Tourneo! (Goes off to search all the sites…).

£8.5k maximum budget. £6.5k would be a lot more manageable.

Also there was a T4 VR6 if you want a bit of poke and terrible econony

Get another Berlingo with a petrol engine? Plenty around.

the 1.6 ecoboost tourneo makes a v6 alphard look economic – Fords published figures are way off against real world across the board on ecoboosts. Theres folk returning their vehicles under not as described because of it .

something to bare in mind.

with the brief above its hard to look beyond the import vehicles. Japans way ahead of us when it comes to petrol mini vans.

looking for unicorns in the form of old petrol transits and t4s is just going to lead to buying rusty buckets when you get a choice of 4 nationally .

As mentioned above previa, we looked at them to replace our combo van (in the end bought a roomster but we can get away with a smaller car / van and no seats in the back)

Petrol Doblo – rare, but you can find them.

something like this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313614920554?hash=item4904e7eb6a:g:tCQAAOSwEhhg~mQu

edit – forgot about the 4 seats!

vauxhall combo life just scrapes into budget if you get a previously-fixed one – eg https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107265475136?make=VAUXHALL&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&include-delivery-option=on&model=COMBO%20LIFE&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=bn68ff&radius=1500&page=1

otherwise big mpvs are your best bed. chrysler grand voyager

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107155055803?fuel-type=Petrol&minimum-seats=7&sort=price-asc&price-from=1000&radius=1500&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&make=CHRYSLER&include-delivery-option=on&postcode=bn68ff&page=1

galaxy

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107145011505?make=FORD&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&minimum-seats=7&sort=price-asc&fuel-type=Petrol&price-from=1000&postcode=bn68ff&body-type=MPV&include-delivery-option=on&radius=1500&page=1

sharan/alhambra also available

if its for entry to low-emission zones, more modern diesels (those with adblue) are fine

I’d ditch the petrol idea to give you more choice.
slightly bigger than what you’ve got would be vw caddy.

bigger again and cheapish…Citroen dispatch/fiat scudo in mpv/crew cab format.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/van-details/202107124929095?model=SCUDO&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&sort=relevance&radius=1501&include-delivery-option=on&make=FIAT&postcode=ls209dy&advertising-location=at_vans&page=1

vivaros/traffic are not bad, we ran one for 4yr before moving on to a transporter

Bit leftfield but everyone loves a SAAB. Plenty of room in the back, petrol, driven carefully. Aircon etc etc. In budget.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144128901328?hash=item218ec080d0:g:eyQAAOSwfblhAB~9

VW did a petrol t6 in van, Kombi and caravelle/shuttle variants. They’re entirely unloved (and hence cheap) because of the crippling fuel usage. 12mpg and less is not unheard of. Good engine, just not when it’s hauling 2442kg of velle around.

I take it you want petrol for a shortish school run?

If going down the mpv route and on a budget a pre-2011 one of these could be an option https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/kia/carens-2006/

Challenging looks and handling but you had a berlingo so shouldn’t take any getting used to 🙂

They are big inside and boot is low.

Petrol because I almost never go near a motorway or anywhere over 40mph. I suspect this is behind my Berlingo’s demise.
No school runs, just an average of two journeys a week of 20km or less. Most of those have at least one bike with them, sometimes 4 bikes, hence the van desire.
I like to be able to sleep in my vehicle because it cuts the cost of being away anywhere and is a useful back up to a tent for family camping trips that turn wet. I guess I could get a stop gap option that didn’t offer that but I’d still need to be able to carry 4 people and 4 bikes.
Longer journeys are invariably loaded up with camping stuff.
I really don’t want to get stranded (again) with the kids so I’m nervous about the cheapest options!
I think I’m off French cars. Thinking it was low mileage and would last forever (or at least 2/3 more years) I’ve spent a fortune on my Berlingo (cam belt, battery, filters/service, EGR valve) in the last 10 months only for it to still not run properly.

Might have to put all the suggestions in a spreadsheet and use a random number generator to pick one at this rate!

cam belt, battery, filters/service, EGR valve

to be fair, all of those except the valve are service items that any car may need and are very unlikely to fix anything. What’s actually wrong with it?

cam belt, battery, filters/service, EGR valve

to be fair, all of those except the valve are service items that any car may need and are very unlikely to fix anything. What’s actually wrong with it?

@5lab I don’t know! It loses acceleration while driving, then you pump the accelerator and it comes back to life. Had the ECU tested, no fault found. Garage can’t figure out what is causing the issue, ERG valve was supposed to be the cure but wasn’t. I’m at the cut my losses/give up stage 🙁

You can get Jaoanese import Mercedes Viano’s in petrol. 3.5l though so won’t be economic on fuel!

If it’s only short jorneys why not go electric?

Garage can’t figure out what is causing the issue

I recommend if you change cars you also change garage. It’s as rational.

Without knowing what the garage has tried I’m not going to play parts darts but it sounds like they went nuclear.

@trail_rat ECU 0606 fault code was displayed when computer connected to car. ECU tested OK, so it seems to be something else tricking ECU into thinking it’s got a fault (or something like that). Wiring checked for broken wires and all looks in good condition. Took it to a different garage, they did the EGR, drove it and and told me it was fine (it very clearly isn’t, I won’t be going there ever again…). Only remaining option is a local electronics specialist (who is booked until end Aug) or maybe Citroen dealer. I just don’t have the means or energy to keep pouring time and money into it.

@ads678 I don’t think electric is in my price range, unless perhaps it’s an old milkfloat?!

An Smax or Galaxy petrol sounds ideal – space for all 4 and some kit & bikes, often underpriced compared to overpriced vans….

Chevrolet Astro? Everyone loves a V8.
Most seem to be LPG which helps turn the economy from terrible to just bad

V6 Delica?

Another vote for an SMAX. Like a tardis and not the worst thing in the world to drive either.

Other than that, how ugly are some of the suggestions above?

An older pre DPF diesel Caddy Maxi may fit the bill and budget. The 1.9 tdi engine is pretty reliable.

P0606 is generally an ECU/PCM failure code. Alot of the time its cause by poor earth connections, broken wires or corroded/dirty multiplugs. It shouldn’t take a decent auto sparky long at all to determine the cause of failure. Worst case scenario is that the ECU has failed internally and would require replacing. I would get it checked before writing it off completely though.

If you are in or near Birmingham/Worcester i could take a look for you

I’ve nothing to add; other than I’m pretty sure Petrol Van Moon was a touring guitarist for the Doobie brothers.

@danmac thanks, but I’m too far away from you! I sent the ECU off to a testing place and they said it had no faults. Chipps recommended the electrical guy but he was stymied. If I manage to get anything for it at this point it’s a bonus. Right now I need to find something before the family holiday lap of Scotland!

@Nick all levity welcome.

@hooli I would drive a pink and purple striped orange thing for the right price and space! The only vehicle that really hurts my eyes is the Skoda Roomster.

Speed and grunt are not an issue. I pootle everywhere!

Sounds like someone is about to get a bargain Berlingo to fix cheaply.

Thing is the diagnostic boxes don’t replace a mechanic with experience of the model. I’m not one of those but I’d check the pipes leading to the electrovanne on the turbo and the electrovane itself. I don’t know what it is in English but looks like this:

https://www.piecesauto24.com/electrovanne-de-turbo/citroen/berlingo-mf?gadw=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwgISIBhBfEiwALE19STBfcHgFAH59KscL7KGnK-QgIUDUZb_zR9kweYZ5VSa6FA_ZfDOafRoCinYQAvD_BwE

Cheaper than an EGR and more likely to produce the lack of go you describe.

Edit: try starting a “fix my Berlingo thread”, someone on here must have spannered one.