Hi. I am on the look-out for a petrol powered Berlingo car. This is to replace my tatty looking C15 van. I am not clued up on these cars so would appreciate any comments about engine size or faults these cars may have. The ideal car would be the 1.6, but I stand to be corrected, but on paper it seems to have the same fuel consumption as the 1.4, but a bit more poke.
I am working with a budget of £1500 max.
I live in the North West in Lancashire, but would be willing to travel for the right car.
please feel free with any advice or comments.
Best Regards
Brian

I'd lean more towards the 1.8 engine. Depending on year, though - it may not be an option. Coming from a bunch of cars with larger than 1.4 capacity I can see the appeal in a few more cc's.

1.6 16v petrol in metallic green 2003 M59 shape, new clutch and belts in January, ultra reliable and comparable running costs to my 1.9d van, factoring petrol being cheaper... Needs a back sliding door interior trim on the drivers side is about the only fault i could point to
£950 ono?
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Thanks for the comments addo. Yes during my research I notice a 1.8 engine is available. Is the 1.4 one to avoid? I will only be using locally so not that important, but thought the bigger engines might not be stressed as much.

Thanks ulysses. Can you tell me more about the car pls? Mot tax etc, how many owners and more details on the part that is needed. You can PM me if you like.
ATB

I am not sure I would agree with that. I have the 1.6 16v and I would certainly recommend it. Mine has done 106k now and hasn't been problematic.

Plenty powerful enough. The 1.8 is an older engine and pre-dates the 1.6, so that would probably be an older model on a mark one and there aren't many about.

There a 1.6 with low mileage on sale on here on a 2005 model, but might be a little over budget but then the price has been coming down each week - so who knows!

(21-05-2014, 12:17 PM)tucker Wrote:  I am not sure I would agree with that. I have the 1.6 16v and I would certainly recommend it. Mine has done 106k now and hasn't been problematic.

Plenty powerful enough. The 1.8 is an older engine and pre-dates the 1.6, so that would probably be an older model on a mark one and there aren't many about.

There a 1.6 with low mileage on sale on here on a 2005 model, but might be a little over budget but then the price has been coming down each week - so who knows!

OK thanks for the info. I thought the 1.6 might be the best bet, which is what I had put in my original post. Is the 1.4 a slug then? Or is it worth considering if the right car came along.
I had spotted the Berlingo for sale, but no offence to the owner/seller but in my view the price is a bit ambitious.
ATB

Heavily loaded, the 1.4 is bit of a pain every d@mn time you find an uphill...
(Imagine an undersea tunnel... 2miles of 7% incline from the bottom, you have it floored in third gear, and still need to use the slow lane, just because you filled the trunk. )

Empty, though, it will eventually reach highway speeds
(It'll even do so with a passenger and some IKEA shopping. Though you need a bit more patience then, if you want to hit the 62mph mark. 62mph = 100Km/h, and now they're going to allow 110Km/h on some roads here in Norway)

It gets a bit noisy at highway speeds, but a lot of that can be avoided by not buying one with the ragtop sunroof...
For a car with such a high profile, it's remarkably steady at those speeds, even with a bit of wind from the side. Headwind, though... sucks...

Oh, and on winter days, the 1.4 has problems filling the cabin with hot air.
-20degrees C and a 5seater is not a good combination.
(You need to drive in a lower gear most of the time, kissing goodbye to the fuel economy. I imagine that the 2seater van doesn't have that issue if it has a proper wall behind the seats)

Other than that, the 1.4 is made from cast aluminium, not steel, so it's lighter than you'd expect it to be, compared to the 1.6, but the block is remarkably solid. In fact it's the same model as was used in international rallying.

If you don't drive too often with full loads at highway speeds, or have massive cold issues, the lack of grunt shouldn't be a problem.

YMMV...

(21-05-2014, 06:41 PM)spike240 Wrote:  

(21-05-2014, 12:17 PM)tucker Wrote:  I am not sure I would agree with that. I have the 1.6 16v and I would certainly recommend it. Mine has done 106k now and hasn't been problematic.

Plenty powerful enough. The 1.8 is an older engine and pre-dates the 1.6, so that would probably be an older model on a mark one and there aren't many about.

There a 1.6 with low mileage on sale on here on a 2005 model, but might be a little over budget but then the price has been coming down each week - so who knows!

OK thanks for the info. I thought the 1.6 might be the best bet, which is what I had put in my original post. Is the 1.4 a slug then? Or is it worth considering if the right car came along.
I had spotted the Berlingo for sale, but no offence to the owner/seller but in my view the price is a bit ambitious.
ATB

Yeah maybe... although due to lack of interest he appears to be open to offers!!

Clearly it's worth a few quid more due to low mileage I guess.

I treat the 1.4 like a 600cc "Deux Chevaux" motor. Keep the revs up in congested situations; mostly the tacho is at 12:00 and use the gears. Still, with two people and 120kg of payload it struggles as Gadgetman outlines.

If my 1.4 dies young (joke; it has almost 400K on the original motor) I will fit an early 1.9 litre Mi16 engine. That should offer grunt without noseweight.

At that price I would buy ulysses van! the TU5JP4 engine despite the 110hp output is very economical and it still smokes most little hatchbacks on the road. Don't forget the Berlingo is fairly light like 1100kg which helps a lot. The magic happens after 3000rpm unlike diesels where it's game over for them at that range....

The old 1.8 doesn't even stand a chance being 8v. To put it in perspective in my old computer company when we had kangoos I drove whatever i can get my hands on and it always happened to be the 1.4, where my other co-worker switched between the 1.2 16v and some old Citroen 80's van (forgot name). When we had a little drag race he was correct, the 1.2 really shot 1.5-2 cars lenght in front.