Terry1100

Well, the lure of a new shiny object on the drive proved too great. So from our point of view, you replace a Berlingo with: http://gibsonfamily.interactivehosting.co.uk/images/mazsm.jpg So it's goodbye from him. Cheers guys - thanks for all the info, help and laughs.

You're right about "price to change". Although we have actually accepted a very low price for the Blingo, if you take the large discount from list price of the new car we got and add it to the trade-in price of the Blingo, it is the equivalent of giving us £5350 for the Blingo ! :D It's all swings and roundabouts. I'm happy that we've got a sound deal We went for the Mazda 5 in the end - the Touran is a van (might as well keep the Blingo), the Verso has surprisingly heavy steering (and a silly key) and the Mazda's got sliding doors :blink:

Just "bumping" this topic. Has anyone traded in at a dealer recently to know how the Blingo is doing (1.6i 16v Desire 25k miles with aircon and safety pack) at trade in. We're planning to replace ours before the end of May - and we're looking for a 7 seater this time. Shortlist looks like - Toyota Verso, Mazda 5 and VW Touran (looks like we'll be spending a bit more). We drove the 7 seat Picasso and liked it - but it looks quite expensive next to the three above - and no real Citronesque discounting yet.

When it failed to start, did it crank over (at normal speed) and not fire ?, crank slowly - or nothing happened at all. When you tried to start it, did the battery warning light do nothing, go dim, or go out completely.

Does that mean that you have the C2 type right hand stalk control. Two rocker switches on the end of the stalk - nearest one does CD track change/radio station change on the rocker and trip computer "cyccling" by pushing in - furthest one does volume on the rocker and mute by pushing in.

I've never changed a complete arm but there's an old AA man's trick for springs in general which might work here (I'd need to look at ours to see the fitting exactly). Extend the spring away from it's mounting and put coins between the coils - this prevents the spring from closing up without pulling on it - which can make it easier to hook the end over. It works on motorcycle centrestand springs - might do the trick here.

I can see how you'd save space - but wouldn't you lose the "tumble forward" which is handy for putting things in the back when you're in a car park and haven't got room to open the tailgate.

Davin, I'm not sure what you mean by "soft" on the steering. It's certainly not a sportscar but I think to call it vague would be going too far. To me, it steers how I would expect a van based vehicle to drive. Having said that, one of my few real dislikes of the Blingo is its turning circle. To be fair, we get an extra "shock" when moving from car to car as the C2 is particularly "roller skate" in its demeanour. I can't speak for the Blingo in 1.9D guise but I have driven many miles in a Peugeot 309 with the same engine (they were AA Inspectors cars in the early '90s - that or a 1.3 Maestro !). Although acceleration wasn't dramatic, it bowled along at motorway speeds quite tidily. I would have thought it could cruise at 80 - 85. One of the tractor owners here will be able to comment :) We'll be going furhter than usual this Summer in ours. We've been going to Southern Brittany for 10 years now and we need a change so we're returning to the Carmargue - an area we used to go to before we had kids. We're going to take two days each way to stop the kids killing each other - in the olden days we'd drive down in one go throught the night. I've posted a picture previously of how much you can get into a Blingo - and still have room for the luggage and four bicycles.

Nice one - I think they look good in Iron Grey. Anyway, my questions for when it arrives. Tell me about the trip computer ? Do the windows work after the ignition is turned off ? Does the CD player have a line in (iPod) facility ? cheers.

The easiest, cheapest way do do this (and you don't end up killing motorcyclists) is the stick on (suction cup) blinds that you see so many of in France. We replace ours annually as they can get a bit tatty - literally only a few Euros in Super U, Leclerc etc They have the added advantage of keeping the interior cool when parked. Those big windows really turn a parked Blingo into an oven. It means the aircon dosn't have to work so hard when you first get back into the car. I would have thought you could get them in Halfords. (mind you, it pains me to admit it but professionally applied tints can look very cool on Blingos). P.S. - Saw a Hurricane Grey Blingo with tints thsi morning - looked nice.

What year is yours - is the trip computer now standard ?

Hey Oxy, A long time ago you posted that you were replacing your front Michelin tyres with Contis. I've just put 4 Continental Eco Contact 3 tyres on my C2 and the Blingo is in imminent need of two front tyres as well. Were they Eco Contacts that you fitted - and are you still happy with them ?

Donkey You'll make that fuel cost back the first time you come back from France. Your 2CV could never carry that lot. And that's with a family holidays worth of luggage and four bicycles on a fixed towbar mounted rack :D 65 bottles of wine @ about 75p each vs £2.99 in your local Tesco/Sainsburys etc - you do the maths. http://gibsonfamily.interactivehosting.co.uk/images/load.jpg

And you can rest assured that we'll give you some stupid answers :D IIRC correctly another "benefit" of the Pug version is that you don't have mesh seats to capture all the kid's crisp crumbs. Useful for keeping it tidy but less valuable if you get peckish on a long journey.

If you get some touch up paint and colour in the corners of the bumpers it'll look like a Blingo from a distance :D . Welcome aboard