Having had the opportunity of evaluating and appraising our Berlingo whilst abroad and driving on all types of road we think current and potential owners of a Berlingo or its close cousin the Partner may find this of use.

Our Berlingo

An XTR 110 in Tivoli blue with several upgrade options, ordered March '11 and delivered May '11.

Overview

             - should apply to most Mk 3 Berlingos.

Driving position - quite upright with very good forward view. Door pillars provide quite large blind spots especially for continental driving.

Top of dashboard causes very strong reflections on the windscreen in strong sunlight.

Passenger glove box is a joke - from the outside it looks massive but open it! Suggestions please for what can be stored in it.

Seat belts - the front seat belts are mounted far too high on the door pillars even with the adjusters on their lowest setting. Not uncommon on cars but tend to be uncomfortable across the neck/ear line.

Rear view - good when driving in a forward direction via the rear view mirror but when in reverse, that is another story.

Ride comfort - it must be realised that our Berlingo is an XTR which has stiffer, and raised, suspension.
The ride in the UK is not good nor is the road noise from the Michelin Primacies. However, cross the channel and it all changes - ride is good and almost nil road noise. The Berlingo apparently does not appear to be enamoured with the UK's standard of road construction and maintenance.

Door storage (front and sliding) - again suggestions please as to what can be stored in the door pockets.

Headlights - the dip beam is good but the main beam leaves a lot to be desired.

Rear Lights - almost invisible when viewed from the side - not good for being seen.

Eco system - a real pain in the a**e! Why, oh why? We can understand the need to ensure lights are not kept on unnecessarily but on our Mk3 the fag lighter sockets are turned on and off by the ignition switch - not very good if you have a car fridge in hot weather or want to listen to the radio or CD player whilst waiting for the other half.

Instrument Panel - too far away from drivers eye line?

Electric Window switches - far better when in conventional positions on doors.

Centre console - what is the material used in the rectangular compartment in the centre of the console below the radio? We keep car park and supermarket trolley money in this and it remains perfectly in place. Could do with some of this to 'line' the passengers dash 'cubby hole' to stop things sliding about.

A big disappointment to us, and we believe it to be our fault, is that the boot/luggage space is quite a bit less, many inches in length, than we had expected. We both independently came to the wrong decision on the length of the luggage space (rear seats in place). This was important as some if not most of the time we have the two electric mobility scooters to transport.

Wind noise - there is a lot more wind noise than we were expecting from a vehicle with such close fitting doors, windows etc. We don’t think the noise is caused by the roof bars.

Driver and passenger seating - very good, quite firm and with excellent lateral support. We are both 14 stone plus lumps and we suffered no problems after several days of motoring 350 miles each day.

Braking - superb but needs a light touch.

Performance - the torque is amazing after the 1.9TD Xantia and the overall performance is impressive considering the weight of the vehicle and it only being 1600 cc. Without doubt it could benefit from a sixth 'overdrive' gear for level motorway/autoroute cruising. Does anyone know whether the 'new' six speed automatic has a higher top gear?

Fuel Economy - fuel consumption is improving as the miles go by and is very good at secondary road speeds but I doubt if we will achieve 50 mpg on dual carriageways as the wind resistance of this semi-aerodynamic brick is appreciable at the speeds at which we tend to travel.

Options fitted

Detection Pack

Electrically folding door mirrors - the Berlingo is quite a wide car with large mirrors and the folding feature really is a must when parking in narrow parking spaces or alongside a pavement.

Rear parking sensors - brilliant! without them parking really is a 'hit and miss' operation.

Cruise Control - little benefit until one drives on a quiet dual carriageway or a French autoroute - then its magic!

Speed Limiter - most useful through roadworks.

Summary - on the whole well worth the cost.

Automatic Pack

Automatic digital air conditioning - we had a similar system on our Xantia so decided to opt for this and we haven't been disappointed. The individual temperature settings are a boon (yes! individual settings). Just set the temperature and it looks after itself - no further knob twiddling.

Heat reflecting windscreen - driver and passenger kept cool even in mid-thirties outside temperature.

Automatic rain sensitive windscreen wipers - we thought this was at first just a gimmick but on our delivery/collection run from Warrington along the M6 we soon found their advantage. We're converted. The wiper speed varies with both speed and rain intensity.

Automatic illumination of headlamps - another gimmick? No way! Very much appreciated - the lights on the car are illuminated during periods of low lighting - tunnels, underground car parks etc etc. From now on a must-have.

Summary - definitely well worth the cost.

MyWay

This really does seem to be an expensive luxury but I think we can now say we wouldn't be without it.

We both suffered problems reading the display of our TomTom 730 due to (a) size of text; (b) distance from viewer when mounted on window sucker or too far out of eyeline when mounted on an air vent (also it upset the distribution of air); (c) almost impossible to view in bright sunlight; (d) 'Angela' produces a rather stilted pronunciation of some place and street names. ‘Her’ pronunciation of French and Spanish place names is just about incomprehensible.

The MyWay, however, gives concise, polite verbal responses and the most recent set of directions can be repeated using the switch at the end of the lighting stalk.

The radio/CD player etc seems to us old fogies to give excellent quality and more than adequate volume.

The coverage, mapwise, of the MyWay is excellent without the clutter that occasionally makes life difficult on the TomTom.

No, the MyWay is not touch screen enabled but follows on from the German way of doing things. Harman Becker, the manufacturers, also supply Mercedes, Audi and Porsche along with some other 'top of the league' manufacturers. Yes, the control knob takes a little getting used to but it is in the end far easier to use by a shaky geriatric than a 'tiny' touch screen.

As mentioned above, 'Marianne' presents her instructions very precisely and politely - something we of the older generation appreciate. Also, any music playing is either muted or stopped whilst 'she' is speaking.

There has been much comment about the MyWay only accepting a five character post code. OK, so this does not allow you to get the full geographical position in one go - but it does get you to the nearest town from where the remaining details can be easily filled in. We have not found this to be a problem.

Live traffic information is a blessing when it is up to date but that is not always the case so whether this feature is worth it is, in our minds, doubtful.

Blue Tooth compatibility is something that is a new art or science to us but we have found it to be very simple to use and very good. Connectivity between phone and MyWay is a cinch and the phone book/s get transferred to the MyWay allowing selection to be easily achieved on the large screen. On using it on a roughish section of the A2, the person we called could not believe that we were talking from the car whilst travelling 'at the legal speed limit'!

The trips are we guess the same as on all Berlingos, just presented on a bigger screen.

Summary - a very expensive piece of electronics that has done just about everything we asked of it - it even displays the current height above sea level (in 10m steps) if it has access to enough satellites. There is no noticeable delay in obtaining satellite signals - its there just about instantly. Whether or not it is worth it will always be a matter of debate but I don’t think we would be without it now.

Modutop

A must! Nuff said.

The roof windows appear to the latest 'glue in place' type which should get over the leakage problems that seems to afflict Mk2s.

The air freshener is a bit gimmicky - probably there to defeat the smell of Gitanes or Gauloises.

The rear overhead locker is a very useful feature in a space that is in reality redundant. Don’t know about the sliding panels in it though.

The 12 volt ‘fag lighter’ sockets are only powered when the ignition is on - not good.

The torch/interior light in the luggage compartment is a good idea but the luggage space could benefit from more light especially with the parcel shelf in place.

Split opening tailgate

The opening tailgate window rather took our fancy but after having had the car for four months the number of times it has been used is minimal.

The dark tinted side and back windows were a great boon in the warm weather in Corsica and kept the interior of the car at very acceptable temperatures even when parked in the sun. We believe the amount of tinting to be around 15%.

Row 2 Seating

The XTR is fitted with 3 individual seats. Either or all may be removed, set back folded or folded forward to give more ‘boot’ floor space. The centre seat back folds neatly to provide a table top which is complemented by the airline type folding tables. We haven’t been too successful at finding cups, bottles etc to fit the cup holders. All in all though row 2 provides the ultimate OAP picnic facility! If only the ecosystem would allow the modutop provide air circulation for more than the maximum 20 minutes or so.

Tyre wear

OK, we haven't for various reasons done too many miles in the Berlingo but the question of tyre wear, especially rear tyre wear is always rearing its head. We have done coming towards 4k miles now and the moulding marks, the little pimples, on the outside of the tyre tread are still visible on all four tyres, in fact they are more prominent on the rear tyres. We are hoping that this is a good omen.

Clunks and Rattles

No clunks or rattles - even the shock absorbers are still quiet - fingers crossed eh?

There is a fair amount of shuddering on arriving too quickly at hidden traffic calmers. In Corsica they often precede the hump with a shallow ditch - very cunning these Corsicans - don’t have to make the hump (or table top) so high.

Unexpected extra

On picking up the car we needed to put some diesel into the tank before returning home from Warrington and lo and behold on taking the filler cap off there was a device fitted which strongly resembled but was different from a Fuel Angel in subtle ways. We had bought a Fuel Angel before taking delivery of the car as someone who shall be nameless had the idea of trying to run the Xantia on unleaded! We still have said Fuel Angel and are still open to sensible offers. Give us a PM if you are interested. Fuel Angel sold it to us under the understanding that it would fit a Mk3 Berlingo (their web site quotes 08 on Partner).

Does anyone know if fuel cans with diesel diameter spouts are available OR how do you top up in an emergency?

Overall

So far the Berlingo has met and even surpassed our expectations. Just as well as we anticipate that it will have to serve us for the remainder of our motoring lives.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or questions than we will attempt to reply to them.