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The 2008 ratrod polo, dog wagon, paddleboard delivery system. Tiprunabout. 2x4lugger... Tina to her friends.
Has been unceremoniously scrapped. All 1.4 normally aspirated DSG joyousness of her.
So... New car time, things have changed we can afford and kinda require a reliable (both actually reliable and also perception of reliability) newer car that can do all of the above and do the odd holiday etc.
So 2019ish... Looks to be our pricerange. Really don't want a diesel but hybrids are AOK (fully electrics, as much as i want one, are just not feasible)
The Berlingo seem to tick the box and they don't even look that shit these days. What else fits the brief. Ford Connects looks okay? Joggers also seem alright.
It must be a car because kids might need accomodation in the nearish future.
Thankyou please.
Don’t forget the identical Peugoet Partner
Skoda Yeti? Only up to 2017 but they feel very modern and have great reliability. Rear seats are very adjustable and come out easily if required.
Yeti is way to small.
Ford Tourneo Connect
The boot is i mean. The dog doesn't fit .
One thing to consider is the Berlingo (and all its re-badged brethren from Toyota, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Fiat etc etc) and the Ford Connects and Couriers all share the same 1.5 stelantis engine and its got some pretty significant issues.
I've have a Mk1 Partner for 8 years (it's been in the family for 18 years) and I think its the only car better than a Renault 4* :-). I've driven the new Berlingo/Partners and think they're great in design / ergonomics / practicality terms but I couldn't confidently buy the 1.5 engine so unless one of the handful of early mk3s that still had the 1.6 engine came up in decent condition I wouldn't be able to persuade myself to buy one (the 1.6s were only in the vans too, all the car versions of the mk3 are the 1.5)
* except for the Renault 4 driven by Danny Devito in Romancing the Stone which of course is better than any other car.
But in terms of 'what else' like a Berlingo -given that pretty much all manufacturers off the same badged stellantis van the only things like a belingo but not a berlingo are the VW Caddy, the two ford vans - courier and connect (which are actually completely different vans (one on a golf platform shared with the caddy, one unique to ford) even though they are practically the same size and the Renault Kangoo (also badged as Mercedes and Nissan)
The Merc version of the Kangoo (the Citan) seems to be most commonly available as a car variant
The boot is i mean. The dog doesn't fit .
If the dog fits in a Polo how can it not fit in a Yeti?
The boot is i mean. The dog doesn't fit .
If the dog fits in a Polo how can it not fit in a Yeti?
Everyone knows there's no hole in a Yeti.
The boot is i mean. The dog doesn't fit .
If the dog fits in a Polo how can it not fit in a Yeti?
Everyone knows there's no hole in a Yeti.
there is - but you'd be a braver man than me to stick anything in it
Hmm it does look bigger than i thought. Was the older yeti smaller?
either way i don't think its as practical as the berlingo.
Ideally the dog and the boards can live in perfect harmony without getting a bit shovey about loading.
I went a bit bigger. Traveller/space tourer/vivaro life. Diesel though.
Rifters/Bellingo are best if you need smaller
Love my Vivaro Life Elite. Such a nice van to drive.
I like the practicality of Berlingos and might have bought one save for the Stelantis wet belt engine worries so decided to get an normal estate car.
Have just agreed to buy a Kia Ceed estate but looked at Octavia and Superb which are nice and slightly bigger but more expensive.
Estate cars FTW. More space than an SUV and for me more practical.Although not quite as van like as a Berlingo like they can fit a lot of stuff.
We already have an estate, had a few over the years.
Lack of headroom is a pain. Paddle boards in bag upright are significantly more convenient.
Sitting up in the back waiting for the rain to subside. Mich better.
i should have said that i have had a touran as a lugger before. Its definitely that kind of laod shape i want.
Dacia Jogger? 😉
We went bigger and got a Tourneo Custom. It's ace and huge. Also see Transit Crew Cab.
Joggers are 7 seats, which may or may pt appeal. Bigsters are similar in price but 5 seats and more "suv" like Appearance.
Ford s-max or galaxy? Seats allfoldflat to create van-like capacity.
Oh, does anyone know how to set the auto trader search to show every Citroen/Peugeot/vauxhall variant of the same thing?
I wanted a Berlingo or a Japanese people carrier like a nissan Elgrand , but we ended up with a Dacia Jogger.
For the same money it is several years newer had 20,000 miles less on the clock.
Good- it's absolutely fine at everything. My 5 year old loooooves the tables on the back of the seats.boot is massive with the 6+7 seats out.
Bad- so far the only thing has been getting comfy in the seats. I'm 6 4 and my wife is 5 4. Both of us have had some trouble getting the drivers seat in a good position.
I'm having trouble driving it smoothly, but I've been driving an automatic for 6 years and am putting it down to user error
Yeah i am interested in the jogger.
My main obsession is the roofbars that turn into a roof rack.
Kinda holding out for the hybrid to be a bit older.
Heres a question. What are these tiney engines like.
1.0 ecoboost etc. no issue with engine size as long as they are powerful enough but there must be a catch?
Citan, specifically in XLWB version would be worth a look.
2, 3, 4 or 5 seats depending on what or who you’re carrying at that time.
Room for 2 adults, 1 six year old, two 29’ers, 1 x kids bike, 1 x paddle board (deflated, in bag), umpteen dry bags, 3 x hold alls full of clothes, 1 x big blue Ike bag full of bike stuff, helmets, shoes and spares and comfy enough for the 8 hour round trip to Aviemore last week for our holiday.
it could use a 6th gear but sips diesel pretty frugally. Usually get 50mph plus.
Mine’s gearbox shat itself at about 80,000 miles (unlucky according to the guy that reconditioned it as they normally go for much longer before this inevitably happens) but it wasn’t as horrendous a repair bill as I’d feared.
its been great apart from that in. 4 years use. 2013 model but I think they’re all similar.
Think they are rebadged Renault Kangoos, so likely to have more choice there as well...
1.0 ecoboost etc. no issue with engine size as long as they are powerful enough but there must be a catch?
They blow themselves up (allegedly)
I had a 1.0 turbo petrol in a Focus. Was a decent thing with plenty of go when required. Very smooth and quiet too. Don't get hung up on the old rules where anything below 1.3 was terrible as the turbo engines with the right tune are much more like old money 1.8/2.0. Mine didn't blow up.
Think they are rebadged Renault Kangoos, so likely to have more choice there as well...
Aye, that's the one. Kangoo with a few 'nice-ish' touches to satisfy ze premium German badge on the front, from what I can gather.
I don't think there's an XLWB version of the Kangoo though. And that wee bit extra length really does make a substantial difference vs the normal (which are pretty titchy) and LWB Kangoo sized ones. I've slept in the back of mine with no bother at all.
The only reason we're looking to change it is cos it won't take 3 x people + 2 x 29'ers + 1 x kid's bike in the next size up without having to faff about taking wheels/bits off*.
(*which I know is the first world of first world problems)
There's now a "recall" on those 1.5 Diesels
Stellantis diesel recall UK: Check affected cars and claim repairs
I've put recall in quotation marks as they're not actually replacing them proactively, just checking them and offering a 10 year warranty which isn't all that generous if you're looking at cars that are well into the 2nd half of that period and still quite expensive.
It won't affect me to be honest. Done with diesels.
Avoid anything made by stellantis, really have been shocked by the build quality and reliability on two vehicles made by them.
I’ve been in the same spot. Had a Yeti but it was too small and there was a lot of road noise (seemingly common). Also Expensive for one with decent power. Then a 1.6 Rifter. Engine warning light came on as we drove off ferry to France. Stressful drive to Bilbao and 660 euro bill. Now have a 2012 Volvo xc70. Bloody love it.
There's now a "recall" on those 1.5 Diesels
Stellantis diesel recall UK: Check affected cars and claim repairs
I've put recall in quotation marks as they're not actually replacing them proactively, just checking them and offering a 10 year warranty which isn't all that generous if you're looking at cars that are well into the 2nd half of that period and still quite expensive.
Thanks for that info! Will be having a chat with the dealer soon
FWIW, 1300 miles into a week road trip to the continent in a LWB Berlingo 130. Returned a nice 55mpg for the trip so far. Not sure what the petrol would get
I am not buying an suv.
I would rather walk.
Personally I had a focus estate with the 1l eco boost. It wasn't as crap as it sounds. It's been replaced with an Octavia at the 10, year mark and the wet belt was due replacement.
At work I had a transit custom gutless but comfy drove like a car, it had 92k on the clock on a 19 plate and would be due it's wet belt done soon too. I now have a vivaro h1l2 with 1300miles on the clock and while oversized for what I need it's comfy and loads of mod cons. It doesn't have the adaptive cruise control my Octavia has which I find epic.
Between the connect and the vivaro I had a combo, I wasn't too keen on the seating position to upright when it felt like it should have been car like.
I'm not sure if that helps anything.
1.0 ecoboost etc. no issue with engine size as long as they are powerful enough but there must be a catch?
The catch is the wet belt as mentioned above. Sheds rubber bits into the oil and blocks the oil pick up pipe with inevitable results. You really don't want a second hand one because you won't be sure exactly the right oil has been used it's entre life. Same issue with the Stellantis 1.2 Puretech.
I currently have an older Berlingo and is great. At some point I will need to replace it with something very similar. Having read above about the newer Berlingo engine issues it's got me thinking about alternatives.
Is a VW Caddy any different size wise? Read that they are similar lengths but in real terms is the usable space any different? In my Berlingo I can fit my trail bike in whole (seats down obvs) and my bigger bike goes in front wheel off. That or a tiny bit bigger would be great. Would the caddy offer that?
May be able to help regarding the Bingo vs Jogger vs Yeti. Me and the Mrs are both retirement age, so we’ve owned a few ‘bike friendly’ cars/vans. For about 15 years we had Kangoos, but unfortunately Renault stopped doing the MPV version in RHD a few years ago, so we ended up getting a posh spec Yeti. The Yeti was very nice to sit in, but nowhere near as practical as the van based MPVs, and the ride quality and fuel economy wasn’t as good as the Kangoos!
More recently we swapped our 2019 base model Berlingo petrol for a 1.0l petrol Jogger ‘Extreme’. The Bingo was super practical and did around 38-40mpg with mixed town and A road driving. The ride and handling were good for a van based thing. Good wipe clean interior for muddy people, bikes, dogs. The infotainment system was sometimes a bit laggy and glitchy, but otherwise it was reliable and trouble free. Only reason we got rid was because the garage forgot to reinstall the sump plug properly after a service, so I ran out of oil whilst driving - We were obs not happy!
We demoed a Jogger and liked the more normal car-like feel of it (and stuff like heated seats etc). We bought an ‘extreme’ model and have been really impressed with it. It has quite a firm ride, but it goes round corners really well, and the engine is a peach. It’s a Renault 3 cyl 1.0L with about 110bhp, but it feels easily as brisk than my wife’s Fiesta 1.0L eco boost 140bhp - and FWIR the Dacia/Renault engine doesn’t have a wet rubber timing belt. It feels like a hot hatch compared to the Bingo petrol. We’ve been getting 47-50mpg from the Jogger (mainly town driving and short sections of A road) and it’s cheap to insure.
The third row of seats can be easily removed, and they’re a lot lighter than the Yetis removable seats. We chucked the spare seats in the loft and put the boot liner from an old Octavia estate in there - it’s the same size:) We can fit bit our large sized e-bikes in the back with seats down, front wheels off. Nice wide boot opening and lowish sill, and lots of wipe clean plastics. Oh, back quarter light windows can be hinged open for dog transport - helps suck the stink of wet dog out whilst driving:))
The Jogger is definitely a more car like driving experience than the Kangoos/Bingo, so it depends which you prefer really.
HTH
So in the end... It was a berlingo.... With a vauxhall badge.
Pick it up on saturday. All 1.2litres (belt changed) of roar power.
definitely haven't been googling microcamper ideas...