Citroen Berlingo Review 2024

Extensively revised and with a fresh cabin layout, the latest generation of the popular Citroen Berlingo remains one of the UK’s most popular small vans. Read our extensive Citroen Berlingo review to find out why.

The Citroen Berlingo has long been a go-to-choice in the small van market, with the French manufacturer having established a reputation for making durable, functional and fun-to-drive vans over several decades.

Today, with almost two million Citroen Berlingos having been manufactured since 1996, it continues that offensive, with the revised 2024 model yet again a paragon of excellence in the small van market.

Based on the model introduced in 2018, the latest Citroen Berlingo ushers in a new range of safety equipment and advanced technology, including a new ‘Smartphone Station’ for media integration, digital instrumentation, a new 10-inch HD infotainment display and ‘Flank Guard’ blind spot warnings.

There’s also the option of Dynamic Surround Vision, which uses a screen in place of a rear-view mirror to transmit camera views from behind the van to the driver’s eyeline. Clever stuff, then, for an already impressive van.

The Citroen Berlingo also offers the biggest range in the small van market, with a 1.2-litre PureTech petrol in addition to the diesel and electric variants offered across its Stellantis sister vans – the Peugeot Partner, Britain’s Vauxhall Combo and Italy’s Fiat Doblo.

The Citroen e-Berlingo is subject to a separate review, so here we’re focusing on the more traditional petrol and diesel models, the latter of which will make up the bulk of UK sales.

Despite its modest proportions, the Citroen Berlingo is a practical van with two different body length options. The shortest is called the M and the biggest the XL, which may sound confusing, but S and L variants exist in other markets thanks to the modularity of the platform.

There’s also a crew cab variant on the XL, with seats that can be folded away and a clever pop-up second bulkhead to give the best of both worlds.

Two trim levels are offered: the Citroen Berlingo Enterprise and Citroen Berlingo Driver, the former being more business-focused, and the latter a plusher, more comfort-oriented model.

Both come with Citroen’s unique Advanced Comfort seats, which feature specially engineered lateral supports in high-density memory foam.

This is a feature exclusive to the brand, which may help to make it the preferred choice for users who spend a long time behind the wheel.

The Citroen Berlingo has always been one of the best vans in its class to drive and that is still the case.

It’s perhaps not as sharp as the Ford Transit Connect, but it’s nevertheless extremely car-like to drive, with a smooth ride, precise steering and agile handling both laden and unladen.

The 1.2-litre PureTech petrol is there to serve a purpose where diesel engines won’t suit, and the 110PS unit is perky enough.

It’s used in many of Citroen’s cars and acquits itself well overall but is quite harsh at speed and not best-suited to heavy-duty work. For urban couriers though, it’s perfectly acceptable.

The other engines on offer are all derivatives of the Stellantis Group’s 1.5-litre diesel, which is offered in power outputs of 100PS and 136PS.

The less powerful is the volume seller and it punches well above its weight, easily coping with the one-tonne payload and accompanied by a smooth-shifting six-speed manual gearbox.

Our only real criticism is that the rectangular shift lever feels a bit strange and bulky to hold.

The 136PS derivative is offered only with the company’s eight-speed automatic gearbox, which is a shame in two respects.

Firstly, the engine is so lively that it would be a lot of fun attached to a manual transmission. Secondly, the auto is extremely good and would probably suit the lower-powered engine just as well.

Regardless, the perky 136PS auto is our pick of the range, in its element both within and beyond the city limits.

Visibility is good all-round and there’s also a decent suite of safety equipment, including lane departure warning, blind spot assist, hill start assist, active safety-assisted braking and hill descent control, plus Citroen’s new Dynamic Surround View system, which projects a rearward view of the van to the rear view mirror housing.

It’s helpful for changing lanes and driving in traffic, but unlike a traditional mirror the camera system makes it quite hard to judge the distance of following vehicles.

There are two lengths of Citroen Berlingo offered in the UK and both are designed to be as practical as possible.

In M layout it’s 4.4 metres long, with 3.3 metres of usable load bay length and the option of a load-through bulkhead. It’ll swallow a Euro pallet with ease, but is only offered with a single side loading door.

Twin doors are offered on the 4.75-metre-long XL, as well as a crew cab option which will still swallow a pallet.

Both versions have a flat load bay and narrow wheelarch intrusions, giving them a pretty generous capacity for small vans, while there’s also the Extenso Cab option, which uses a part bulkhead and folding passenger seat to extend one side of the load bay further.  

Maximum payload is one tonne, which is impressive for a van with such a small footprint.

Up front, the cabin is neat and well trimmed, with a new digital instrument cluster that’s both fuss-free and easy to use, and a concentric steering wheel that allows better access to the cabin.

Major controls are operated either via the 10-inch touchscreen or (in the case of the climate control) through fiddly buttons mounted beneath it – our only real criticism of the Citroen Berlingo’s ergonomics.

That’s offset by the Advanced Comfort seats which really do live up to their name. They feel disconcertingly soft when you first climb aboard – not what you’d expect in a commercial vehicle – but once settled in they really are astonishingly comfortable.