The young pretender
Berlingo ‘activity’ trip not so e-asy
Press conference launches of new cars usually involve a glossy video of the motor, often featuring a glamorous couple driving along a gorgeous oceanside road (probably Spain, not Skegness) in bright sunshine.
If the car is an SUV or crossover it will have a surfboard on its roof and maybe a couple of mountain bikes on a carrier on the back.
In the automobile business this is known as a ‘young, adventurous, lifestyle’ – completely ignoring the fact that, on average, new cars are mainly bought by people in their mid 50s – and that most people use their cars for mundane tasks like shopping or taking children to school rather than travelling to their local round of the world surfing championships.
But this week, just for once, I decided to follow the video lifestyle the manufacturer believes is perfect for its new baby – and have used our test model of the Citroen e-berlingo people carrier as intended.
So into the back of what the firm calls a ‘Leisure Activity Vehicle’ went a blow-up kayak and paddles for a day of adventure with Mrs Goodwin but, er, without the ‘young’ bit.
You’ll have guessed from the ‘e-’ in front of the Berlingo’s name that this is fully electric.
Earlier this year the Citroen owner Stellantis announced that its MPVS would no longer be petrol or diesel engines. The powertrain consists of a 50kwh battery driving a 140PS motor. The e-berlingo model we’re testing is the standard ‘M’ length version with five seats as opposed to the ‘XL’ longer seven-seat model.
It might be pitched at the young and adventurous – but it would be a pretence to believe this could involve an adventurously long trip.
It has a maximum WLTP range of 182 miles – but forget about it managing that even in warm weather. When we set off a range of 140 miles was predicted from an almost fully charged battery.
We wisely decided to do our windswept and interesting activity close to home – just 35 miles away at Godalming in Surrey – rather than chancing the misery of driving several hundred miles and having to find a public charger deep in the countryside. Wise choice, because as it turned out the e-berlingo was likely to conk out having travelled only 110 miles. And I hadn’t got near its
84mph maximum speed or used its admirable 9.0sec 0-62mph sprinting ability. The Citroen e-berlingo is at its best and most practical as an urban family car.
The ride is comfortable, handling more than good enough for a people carrier and even with five seats it is extremely spacious.
Plenty of room for the kayak and its paddles, too, without having to fold down the rear seats. The longer XL
would make the Berlingo harder to park in town and more hassle to manoeuver.
Our test car is in top spec XTR trim for which you will pay £31,995. Not unreasonable for this size of car. Unfortunately, it’s simply not as useful as it was when it had a diesel engine under its bonnet and could travel 500 miles on a tank.
That would be enough for us to get to the surfing beaches of Cornwall for a proper Leisure Activity.