Store blimey! Family fave Berlingo boxes clever

Citroen’s tops when it comes to practicality

BINS, boxes, trays and cubby holes. Loads of them. That’s what you get in the new Citroen Berlingo.

It’s always been an incredibly practical family car. Unpretentious and of interest to those who want something that does a proper job – not a car that looks flash or impresses the neighbours.

The original Berlingo MPV was based on the Citroen Berlingo van. And the firm’s designers have gone to work on this latest model to not so much disguise the parentage but make it less obvious.

Outside you get Citroen’s Airbumps as used on the original Cactus, and splashings of brightly coloured trim around the fog lamps.

Sadly, our M Flair test car is in a rather boring platinum grey. The seats inside have a bit of colour striping, but a squint at the brochure reveals our car has the least interesting combination. More attractive options are available.

Citroen has also added some softer surfaces, but there are still acres of hard plastic. And that’s a relief. The Berlingo is a car for carrying the dogs, the kids, and generally for doing jobs. You don’t want expensive leather or thick carpet when there’s sticky sweet residue or dog hair to be removed.

Back to where we came in: storage spaces. The new Berlingo has an enormous amount. For the first six months you’ll probably be finding new ones. You could hide all your material possessions in this car. Ours has the optional

‘Modutop’ roof which, as well as having a full length glass sunroof panel, also has a long storage tray that looks like it’s from an airliner.

The passenger airbag now deploys from the roof which has made space for a gigantic glove box. There’s a big lidded container in front of the steering wheel and another smaller one behind the infotainment screen.

This 8.0in touchscreen is another addition to make the Berlingo less van-like. It isn’t the best system out there, but at least you can control the heating via conventional knobs.

Our car is fitted with the 1.5-litre diesel engine with 100bhp which is the middle of three power outputs. The 74bhp unit will make a fully loaded-up Berlingo feel very sluggish, but the 128bhp is the version for big families.

There’s only one petrol engine and that’s a 102bhp 1.2-litre unit. Our car has a five-speed manual gearbox. There’s not a whole lot to say about the way the Berlingo drives. The engine is refined, the gearbox smooth and the steering light. The handling is sure-footed and the ride comfortable.

The main point is it doesn’t feel like you’re driving an old van.

The Berlingo’s great strength is the space inside. Three basketball players will be more than happy in the back. There’s tons of headroom and the front seat runners are widely spaced so your feet can go under the seats.

The rear is so wide you can fit three child seats in. The luggage space is vast with 775 litres with the rear seats in place and 3,500 litres with them folded.

The seats fold almost flat to make loading easier.

A seven-seat version is due next year, apparently with even more luggage space.

Our car’s basic price is £21,850 but goodies like metallic paint, dual zone climate control and park assist add hundreds, as does that Modutop roof which costs £750. I’d have that and forego metallic paint at £545.

The Berlingo is the sort of car that you’ll buy and wonder how you did without it.

Basketball players will be more than happy in the back