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

1st Report

Citroën revamped the trim levels on its range of vans, including the Berlingo, in December last year.

The Berlingo consistently features in the top ten monthly sales lists for LCVs and often vies to be the most popular compact van with its Stellantis stablemate, the Peugeot Partner.

It should be noted that the models are also available badged as the Vauxhall Combo, Fiat Professional Doblo Cargo and Toyota Proace City as part of Toyota’s product-sharing deal with Stellantis.

Customers favouring the Citroën brand can now choose from Enterprise Edition and Driver Edition specs, which have replaced the previous Enterprise Pro and Driver Pro grades.

They can order their vans through Citroën’s new online reservation platform.

The manufacturer promises that customers who place an online reservation will be contacted within one business hour to confirm all the details and add any part-exchange appraisal. They then have the opportunity to pick their preferred Citroën Business Centre to supply the vehicle, and a local business manager will contact them to finalise and complete the order. Customers who progress their online reservation through to a confirmed order benefit from priority build and the option of home or office delivery. 

The new arrival on What Van?’s fleet is an Enterprise Edition Crew Van in the longer XL body style. This derivative comes with five seats: two at the front, providing the occupants with plenty of personal space due to the lack of the middle seat, and three in the rear. The lack of windows in the back does make for a rather claustrophobic and dark environment for rear-seat passengers, but on the plus side it increases security if you want to make use of the fold-down rear seat row to create more storage space. The repositionable mesh bulkhead can be used to free up more space under the seats as well. With the rear seats and bulkhead in place, load volume is a modest 1.8m³ but if you make use of the fold-down rear seating and under-seat storage when provision for passengers is not required then this increases to a more generous 3.8m³.

The cabin has a functional and somewhat rudimental feel, with an old school handbrake positioned between the front seats and a key that actually has to be turned in the ignition.

The controls are on the old-fashioned side too but none the worse for this, with clear and easy to use dials and buttons and a chunky, not to say bulbous, gear knob, which may be on the large size for drivers with small hands. Storage provision inside the cabin is ample and includes an overhead shelf, 1.5-litre bottle holders in the front door pockets, a topbox storage compartment and cupholders at either end of the dashboard plus two more by the gear stick.

Report card: Practicality = 4/5

First impressions are that the crew van’s versatility will serve it well as both a load- and people-carrier.

Enterprise Edition Crew Van XL BlueHDi 100  

Mileage 1,064mls

Official combined fuel economy 47.0mpg