What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

5th Report

The Berlingo crew van is unashamedly a functional van that has proven its worth as a willing, practical workhorse during the last several months on the What Van? fleet.

All the load-lugging the Berlingo has undertaken during this time has obviously meant I’ve spent a lot of time in the van’s cab, so what’s it like? Not luxurious, of course, but neither is it entirely free of creature comforts. Passengers sitting in the gloom of the back seats with no windows to look out of to break up the monotony of long journeys may bemoan their lot, but at least in this extended XL version they can’t complain about a lack of leg room.

Moving into the front of the cab and I’m definitely in favour of the roomy two-seat arrangement, with the handbrake in between the berths, as opposed to the more cramped three-seat alternative layout, even though this means you miss out on the work surface that can be created by pulling down the middle seat back in the three-person cab.

The driver’s and front passenger’s seats are comfortable and supportive, the former is six-way adjustable and replete with lumbar support and under seat storage space. The steering wheel is height and reach adjustable, thick and squared off at the bottom and pleasing to handle – although incongruously sporty when compared with some of the van’s more prosaic features, such as the 16in steel wheels, for example.

Annoyingly, the rearview mirror is still in place to give the driver a view of the solid bulkhead behind them. Citroën is not alone in failing to remove the mirror when it serves no useful purpose but it is irritating that so many manufacturers neglect to do so.

Luckily, the large side mirrors adequately compensate for this oversight.

There is a variety of storage provision in the interior, most of which is useful, such as the full-width overhead storage shelf that can accommodate everything from paperwork to laptops to lunchboxes and the 1.5-litre bottle holders in the front door bins. In addition, a topbox storage compartment is large enough to hold a 15in laptop or A4 files, and a glovebox sits above an open storage compartment on the passenger side of the cab. Cup holders for the front passenger and driver are positioned on either side of the dashboard. With continental tastes in mind, there is also a petite cup holder for an espresso-sized coffee.

An assortment of other small cubby holes and shallow trays are best left empty – unless you want their contents strewn over the floor of the cab after driving over the first pothole.

The cabin tends to get misted up in heavy rain. I’ve found the only way to reliably keep it clear is to turn the air con up high and direct the flow at the windscreen while keeping the two-speed wipers on high.

Report card: Cabin = 3/5

Few frills but functional and comfortable enough.

Citroen Berlingo Enterprise Edition Crew Van XL BlueHDi 100  

Mileage 2,606mls