StephenM

To early to tell but looks good - 1.6 did 280 miles on its first tank with a tight engine, HDi looks to have got around 400 on its first tank!

Well the Berlingo HDi is due next week! over a month earlier than planned... only taken 3 weeks for a factory ordered Desire model with air con, in the new Iron Grey - nice. My outgoing 1.6 forte was reliable and cheap to run - but having done the figures it was cheaper to change now and enjoy more fuel economy to offset the slightly higher payments - what puzzled me was Esure charging an extra £40p/a even though its the same group 5 as the forte that I have owned since new :P " its a dearer car sir" mmm... I smell poo :blink: Never mind, after owning petrol since passing my test 11 years ago (mostly 1.6 16v's) its going to be a shock - remains to be seen if I get as passionate as most desiel owners :o but my mates clio DCi returning 65mpg was tempting! Honestly, the only reason I didnt get an HDi 2 years back was waiting times. I now hope to keep this one for 5 years+ at 20k miles per year, so if I want to sell it on it has to be an HDi, I would normally sell my petrol cars at 60 - 80k miles at most. Anyway - are the HDi's as good as they say?

Can believe those pluriel values!!!! Makes the trade in in price for my berlingo 1.6 forte with 38,000 miles on the clock of £5k (plus an extra £500 dealer allowance as my car was mint) against a new Berlingo HDi seem pretty good now! Even my saxo VTR which was sold after 4 years with 70,000 miles on the clock and aftermarket alarm, suspension and alloys went for £3,700 (private sale) :ph34r: I do look after my cars though.

My berlingo 1.6 does something similar - but only under cold and damp conditions, dealer claims to have eventually fixed it (an electrical fault they claim) but only time will tell as it was sporadic. The car would sometimes take a few goes to start, then ran like it was on 2 cyclinders (or had just become on old desiel!) it cleared after a few minutes. Only did it about 10 times over the winter.

Saw that! I wish I had kept my 2 letters of reply from Citroen to forward on. Seems a bit of a farce that these carriers are designed to be so 'scum friendly' - it would be very easy to make these lockable and would cost very little to the manufacturers.

Well - my 03 1.6 forte (38k miles) acheived £5500 as a trade in, mainly due to it being mint! The deal on a new Berlingo HDi desire was just too good to miss, and better value than the Multipla and (yawn!) Zafira. Reckon the dealer will sell at £6,500 and I know I would have got £5,900 easy as a private sale - as I cant do without a car, for even a day, it meant it had to be the trade in route. Dealer says around 2 months for my Iron Grey HDi with Air Con... all good things come to those who wait :ph34r:

Is this the citroen item - if so i would refuse to pay for something that should be supplied ! I will be getting a bicycle cable lock for my new berlingo - should be as secure as it needs to be for around a tenner,

My non-modutop forte has rubber grommets between overhead shelf and visors, assume modutop should have these too.

Not really into buying a big bus... I mean C8 :rolleyes: 6 or 7 seats would suit me with having child in car and bikes, kit etc. on one of my many trips up north. 3 seats with huge load area is the best option for me, however there has been a few times I have been heading away with friends or family and have been 1 seat short - small seats are OK as it wouldnt be everyday use. On the legroom front, my friend who is 6' 2" travelled to scotland from way down south in the back of a Zafiri... it can be done!

What does the HDi really get to the gallon? My 1.6 16v seems to get 35 - 38ish, I have heard that the HDi gets less than citroen say - nearer 40 mpg, is this true? Also what extras do you get on the desire? Cheers

Looked at the Fiat Multipla - looks great and flexible seating is much better than the berlingo, seems expensive for a fiat and rrp. is up there with the Honda FRV!, dealer was keen to do a great deal on a demonstrator so I will see what figures they come up with - seen new 1.9TDs for as little as £11,500. Compared to the berlingo I was surprised as the tiny boot and limited load area with seats in :rolleyes: but (importantly!) my wife didnt like it as much as the multispace - so its a dilema for us. Because we want a bit more safety in the new car I did consider looking at a new Multispace HDi with specced up goodies - airbags and a modutop, but fancy a change too - mmm, descisions, descisions Also looking at a used Touran or Zafira (flexible seating appeals) but these have no character... the multipla and berlingo have loads! Only if citroen did a seven seater Multispace!

I was looking at £5900 for private as the nearest one to me is a Mk1 51 plate at £5700 (a bit overpriced!). One magazine reckoned £5000 trade - no way I would go for £4k! although I suppose its cost to change. Need to look out for a demonstrator on nearly new JTD Multipla now as they are just a little outside what I want to pay for a car. My neighbour just bought a 52plate 1.9D Mk1 for £4300 (haggled down from £4900 I believe) so they seem to hold their value well enough. Once the I get the small parking ding removed by my friendly local bodyshop I reckon I will make the swap in April or so. Used berlingo anyone? :rolleyes:

I got a locked belt (see my post somewhere on this forum) - dealer had to replace the whole seatbelt assembly as they could get the seat back up! fine since then (over a year and 20k miles later) Indicator switches are a weak point - mine went twice, but has been fine for a year now. Its a known fault where the switch breaks - second time i got a jammed on indicator!

Mine does it and has done occasionally since new. Checked out by dealer who says its OK, at 38k the wheels and suspension are still attached to the car so it must be fine.

Mine does it and has done occasionally since new. Checked out by dealer who says its OK, at 38k the wheels and suspension are still attached to the car so it must be fine.

I was contemplating selling my precious Berlingo Forte after seeing the new (facelifted) Multipla <_< Still got a year left to pay but I can sort that out, what I was wondering was had anyone sold or seen one for sale lately about the same age/spec as mine. These are very rare on the used market up in Glasgow area and having sold a few cars in my time I know the glasses guide doesnt really mean anything when it comes to the deal. Looking to trade-in or preferably sell (maybe!) Berlingo 1.6 Forte (april 03), med blue with no extras other than the mettalic paint, totally mint condition with 38k on the clock, new front tyres FDSH, and just serviced (the biggie at £280) with tax until september. Any ideas? Or maybe I am mad - I love the blingo and wanted to keep it until next april, but it will have covered 60k at that point and may be harder to shift. I have a kiddie due soon and love the idea of 3 in the front and all the gear in the back for holidays etc. plus I have a thing for quirky practical cars :rolleyes:

£145!!!! :rolleyes: The top end rear racks I have seen retail for £100 max. You'll probably find it is made by another manufacturer and costs around £50 (or maybe I am just cynical over main dealer prices for accesories)

I would ask this question a bike website, most racks suit a wide range of cars and these sites have a high percentage of users of such things - www.singletrack.co.uk is the best site for bike related stuff. If you cant be bothered registering with the site, let me know and I will put up a post, loads of feedback is always guaranteed - I am sure the 'bones' rack (I think supplied through raliegh) is a good un, but there are bound to be others. I an a keen cyclist and have used various racks over the years (although now I just put the bikes inside the blingo :D ) One thing I would say that the best systems are either roofbars and a frame clamping carriers such as thule (not fork clamping which have been known to dispatch bikes at 70mph on the motorway :o ) or towbar mounted rear carriers - way more expensive than a strap on rack but many times more secure and once the towbar is fitted, much easier to use and never ruins the paint. The later is also better if you have different sizes of bike. In terms of carrying bikes when the car isnt full of luggage - I have got 5 adults and 2 mountainbikes in the boot (all wheels off) and 3 adults and 3 bikes plus riding kit (some wheels off and double seat down) - this is why I bought my berlingo :rolleyes:

I know what you mean - there was a similar thing a while back with Saxo VTRs occasionally cutting out due to errratic engine idle, a pain in rush hour traffic :angry: I know loads of people from being in the SaxoSportClub has similar probs - dealer responded in much the same way. Same with the airbag light staying on on Saxos - everyone knew this was a common problem (I didnt know anybody who had the same car that the light stayed off!). Recently I witnessed a local dealer charging an unsuspecting female for reseting the warning light :) Its niggles like these that put me off Citroen, I may well buy another blingo cause its cheap, but i will be looking at a used Touran or Corrolla verso as on option, especially if Citroen stop the discounts <_<

"Why should I pay to fix a design problem with my new car ? I must phone Citroen UK and ask them how many failures they need to record before they do something about it" Wouldnt waste your time - I wrote to them twice regarding the design flaw which allows the spare to be easily removed WITHOUT excessive force. Both replys stated it wasnt a "specific concern" to citroen (even though I have since found out that this problem goes back years with various citroen models, and that only excessive force could remove the wheel - even though I offered to take my damage free blingo to the dealer!!! The tone of the letter suggested that they were not aware this was a problem (yeah right!) and that a wheel securing kit was available at cost from the dealer (mmm, interesting - I think not) The distinct absence of any 15" citroen/pug wheels at scrappies in a 20mile radius suggest that many have the same problem - I will not be paying Citroen for one. Sorry for the diversion, but I suggest the wont care in the slightest that the wheel arches stay in place if the are not worried about spare wheels. By the way my arch popped of in a big puddle - havent got a new clip yet, I just dodge puddles :)

Not a member of Costco anymore :) however on the plus side the Goodyears seem a much better gripping tyre in the damp (and dry!) than the Michelins fitted as standard - I found the car understeered at fairly low speeds before. Not as bad as when I had conti sports on my astra a few years back - wet driving was a tad frightening to say the least.

Well etyres called to say the van in my area was unavailable for the near future so it was a call arounf to get best price for Goodyears - £76 - 80 from most dealers compared to etyres @ £60. Got a small local fitter to order them in for £63 each. Just in time for a trip up north with snow forcast :) I looked around but NCT5s seem good for the cash.

I would be worried - Mine have a little bit left but with winter well and truly here I will get them changed, my driving is mainly on B roads up north or in the scottish borders at 50mph plus, loads of bends - i would expect this to be harsh on tyres. I would get it to dealer to check - unless you have been doing Max Power style burnouts :) even my wheelspin happy Saxo VTR got almost 30k on a set of hancooks! I ordered some new Goodyear NCT5s on etyres for £60 each including on-site fitting - bargain :D should be grippy again tomorrow.

Need a new tyre very soon at front at 33k miles, bizzarly 1 is OK but other has about half the tread (check tyre pressures regularly)! need to replace both at once I reckon. I have checked out a few tyre fitters and the michelins seem to be £80+ which is a bit steep so will probably go for a more basic tyre at £50 or so. Anyone got tyres from their Citroen dealer - how do they compare?

Both 12k and 24k services cost me £125 inc vat. and needed no extras, apart from the usual 'cleaning discs up at £70' which I said no to at the last service. This was Citroen Glasgow but all local dealers were within a tenner of this.