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

With a bit of luck the relative scarcity of Blingos (certainly compared to Picassos) should keep residuals high. Mind you because we treat ours a bit more robustly than we did the Picasso ours is looking more "worn" after 3 years than the Pic did. It also smells of cat p**s at the moment following an incident on the way to the vets last week. Our current thinking (and for the first time since the registration prefix was D !) is that we're going to keep this one instead of trading at three years automatically.

They're obviously saving money on door mirrors - perhaps they're spending it on reducing the turning circle !

It wasn't so bad - Stuart Macconie was sitting in yesterday. Bring back Johnnie Walker. It's actually the unit in the C2 rather than the Blingo - but it's the same type. I wouldn't mind replacing it wth something more iPod friendly but I've been reading what a palaver the CAN-BUS makes of changing a Citroen (or P*****t) unit and still retain dash display and steering wheel controls. Citroen units are coded to the car's VIN (no need for a user entered security code). I know that a guy from Ford was heard to say "even bloody Citroen have better ICE security than we do"

Not yet - it depends how anoying Chris Evans is on the way home !

Anyone know if the CD player is covered by the full 3 year warranty ? Mine won't eject a CD (nor play it). :angry:

I reckon £3k should put you into a 2000/2001 ish model from a dealer. Probably too old to be a a main dealer so you're probably looking at an independant who's not scared of Citroens. This is the "old shape" so 3 doors models are available - I'd suggest that they're less usefull than a 5 door. The old shape has a 1.8 petrol version - I'd love that in mine but it's not an option on the current ones. Doesn't sound like your best bet given your parameters. The 1.4 petrol is a little underdone - but coming from a 2CV you won't notice. There's plenty of 1.9 diesels around - it's a bit of a tractor lump but well proven, reliable and economical - it'll certainly cope with motorway speeds. It will also hold it's money well and still be saleable with a monstrous mileage. I wouldn't say there was anything particular to look out for - don't worry about a creak from the front end if you drive one on a dmap day "they all do that sir". These things are robust by Citroen standards but trim and fittings can be iffy on a poorly looked after example. Finally that big tailgate has a lot of unsupported metal - it will dent if you give it a stern look. Go for it, you won't regret it - welcome aboard. IMHO, YMMV, FWIW, ROFL, ETC I'll pretend you didn't say the K****o word on this forum ;)

At least we're no longer in the "olden days" when Citroen (and Rolls-Royce) hydraulic fluids had to be extracted from the secretions of a virgin's armpit.

It's an interesting contrast between us and mainland Europe. Over there, replacing wiper blades annually seems to be the norm. We in the UK generally (and I include myself in this category) wait until they show obvious degradation (or fail an MOT).

I agree - sudden catastrophic failure following a "bang" does not sound like "wear & tear" to me. I'd be looking for a more specific diagnosis - and sight of the failed components. Getting a warranty claim out of components that are generally subject to wear (brakes, clutch, tyres etc) is difficult. But if you can show failure rather than wear then they shouldn't be able to wriggle out.

Just to "bump" this thread. Our centre rear jammed a few weeks ago (seats upright) - we kept it as a "get it done next time we're in" job as we rarely need more thean the outer two rear belts. The trouble is, over the weekend, I tipped the seats for the first time since it jammed - and now I can't get the seat back up !!!!!!! Fortunately (as it were :angry: ) SWMBO has an injured hand so she's driving the C2 this week as its easier. We'll see what happens when we get it in one day this week - I had a quick look but couldn't get anywhere near the mechanism. I reckon its about halfway down the back of the seat. :P :angry: :angry: