Test drive Citroen Berlingo 1996 - 2002 Minivan
The night Watch...
... or 1,500 kilometers on Citroen BerlingoIf the reader thought that we, looking at the night, went from Paris to Amsterdam only to see the creation of the great Rembrandt, he was mistaken. Each of the five (including my friend from his student years, now a Parisian, his friend is an Englishman, as well as their common friends - a young couple from America) pursued his goals. Perhaps one thing united us: the desire to get out to the weekend from the cloudy and rainy at that time of the capital of France in the sunny, as promised, the capital of the Netherlands. At the same time, my fellow travelers had little worried - on which car we will take a trip, the main thing is that there is enough space. I was mostly interested in how convenient and how a typical city, passenger -commercial machine would behave on a long trip. Moreover, in the new version - Multispace.
Life in the central areas of Paris does not stop for a minute, in any weather. True, at night its current is not so rapidly, it is relaxed-linen, even the water in the hay seems to slows its run. So we gathered on the road only after midnight, when the majority of commercial Berlingo, on which in France they transport mail, stood on the joke. Ours, the passenger, took a large bag, a spacious portfolio and incredible sizes of a backpack, not counting any little things like water bottles, CDs or roadmaps. The luggage compartment turned out to be a little more filled than half, we covered the whole bite with a special curtain. A trifle was immediately placed in shelves and nets in ... ceiling. Here I must say that the new modification is Multispace - a long -known car of topics, mainly, and it differs that it is noticeably higher than the standard. And there is more than enough places over their heads, so it would be a sin not to use it. Looking ahead, I’ll say that throughout the trip, even with sharp accelerations and emergency braking, nothing from these pockets in the ceiling was poured on our heads, that is, they are arranged in the best way.
Since it came to the roof, I must say a few words about the appearance of the car. The exterior, of course, changed, but did not become worse. I would say that he is still severely elegant, and in some ways it has become more original: a huge windshield above the low line of the hood allocates it from the mass of machines created for everyday hard work. Doors that provide access to the rear seats (sliding, as in minivans) became higher, so it is convenient to sit down. The floor is absolutely even, which is also convenient, and the two guys and the girl settled down well, fastened with seat belts provided for each of the three riders. And although I pushed back the driver's seat, as conveniently, the knees into it, sitting behind, did not rest. For all the time of traveling complaints about inconvenience, I did not hear from anyone. But only one way, to Amsterdam, we overcame 500 kilometers.
The driver’s place itself is organized as a whole very well: the chair has a full set of adjustments, the controls are logically located. Perhaps I would like to have the possibility of longitudinal adjustment of the steering column, and the steering wheel would be less inclined forward, but, I must admit, and this location was not tired. In general, the salon is simple, but the sensation of cheapness does not arise. The climate control unit and an audio system with a compact drive player perched on the central console. This is not to say that the music sounds like in the concert hall, but tolerably, it would be more dishonest to demand from a car of this class. Here, on the console, the front windows control buttons are placed. Mirrors are funnyly regulated: the left is mechanically, and the right - using the button to the left of the steering wheel. Very economical. But I really liked the lateral mirrors: their shape and size allow you to see almost everything that happens, both on the sides of the car and under the wheels. This greatly facilitates the parking in tight streets, where you need to stand as close to the curb as possible. However, all things are collected, all fastened, the printout with the route is at the friend on the right - it's time to go.
Cities and highways
... Still, the night Paris is beautiful. Personally, in the dark, I like it more than during the day: no sad traffic jams, nothing prevents you from admiring the illuminated buildings on the central avenues, there are not even tourists near the golden Eiffel Tower. We can easily get out on the Ring Road of Pereferic - something like the metropolitan MKAD, and then, literally a few kilometers, we go to the A1 high -speed highway. At night, almost sovereign owners of European tracks - heavy cars, cars are not many.
Here they immediately made themselves the power of the motor and the features of a 5-speed mechanical checkpoint. Citroen Berlingo is primarily intended for driving in the city. Where the speed rarely exceeds the mark of 80 km/h, the power of a 4-cylinder engine with a volume of 1.6 liters is quite enough, and the short transfer of the checkpoint is provided. On the highway, where there is no need to perform quick overtaking, it takes a completely different one. Therefore, often I had to smell the fourth gear, on the fifth, with a barely noticeable rise, the car slowed down. On the other hand, it was loaded, it must be admitted, almost under the tie. The box lever seemed to me slightly alleged, although it is difficult to make a mistake in choosing the gears. City and clutch pedal: it is short and soft, which in traffic jams will not get tired of it, but in other conditions it does not reach her feedback.
What else appeared very quickly on the highway is sailing. With a certain imagination on the side, the grown -up Berlingo can actually remind the sail. In practice, this means that with a gust of wind, or when overtaking a truck, the car strives to get off the course, it has to be kept on a given path. A clear steering helps to cope with this, which even at high speed provides excellent feedback. By the way, the Berlingo speedometer is only marked up to 190 km/h, and the maximum speed is even less. Nevertheless, under the hill I still managed to reach this mark, and the behavior of the car was still on top. What is still pleasant: such a high car does not annoy completely with excessive aerodynamic noises, here we must pay tribute to the designers.
I liked the brakes with a rather stiff pedal, which for a second did not force me to doubt that you can stop the car from almost any speed even at full load. For the first time I checked this when not a very experienced navigator late noticed the desired congress to the next highway. I had to slow down a lot to fit into the turn.
We reached the dawn of the Netherlands. Here the sun met us correctly. On the path of the Hague, where it was a sin not to stop and take a couple of pictures. It was then that we noticed that we overcame 500 kilometers in 3 hours 45 minutes -very good, given the two stops for coffee and refueling. The fuel tank is not too large in Berlingo, like any typical city car. When we first drove at the gas station, after three hundred kilometers of mileage, the fuel level indicator came close to the zero mark. They calculated the consumption, it turned out about 10 liters per 100 km. However, it should be noted that the average speed was approximately 150 km/h, which is a lot for Citroen Berlingo with a 1.6 liter engine. Only at the gas station we noticed another feature of the car: the open rear door completely closes the gas tank hatch, so if passengers want to go out, this should be done in advance.
It was decided to do the path from the Hague to Amsterdam not along the highway, but along country roads, in order to enjoy the weather and picturesque environs. And, of course, admire the tulips, which are really the sea here. Flowers are everywhere: on the road, in neat palisades near the houses, in small and giant greenhouses. The country roads, meanwhile, allowed to fully evaluate the Berlingo suspension. The bodies of the body are, of course, too big, but we are talking about a car with a height of two meters. In addition, it is still designed for a calm ride, and not for the races.
And, having reached Amsterdam, we paid tribute to the maneuverability of the car. Narrow streets and an incredible number of cyclists even in the morning - it seems that this is the native element of Berlingo. We were lucky, and we were able to quickly shoot the car on the embankment of one of the channels. Well, then ... pastime in Amsterdam is a separate song that, however, has no attitude to the topic of these notes.
The return trip to Paris was more complicated because of a strong cyclone that fell upon this part of Europe. Berlingo wipers tried their best to clean the windshield. In general, it was possible that it was only bad that it is impossible to adjust the frequency of their operation, it is necessary to constantly switch the lever from one position to another, as on many models of previous years. Nevertheless, everything ended safely, and Paris met us even cool, but dry and clear weather. We drove a total of one and a half thousand kilometers for weekends. Everyone was satisfied, no one was especially tired - is this not the highest praise to the car?
Berlingo on order
This model cannot be called a bestseller Citroen. However, it is in sustainable demand, including in Russia, where mainly cars manufactured by the Taganrog Automobile plant are sold. Now that Tagaz products are used as a taxi, these cars, presumably, will become even more on the roads. Certainly Berlingo is much more reliable and economical than the Volga.
It is difficult to say how much a version with a high roof and a gasoline engine will cost in Russia. Basically, these machines are supplied to order. A small number of competitors can also help the success of the model - perhaps Renault Kangoo comes to my mind. Citroen Berlingo is not yet minivan, but no longer a car. Of course, the circle of buyers for such machines is already significant, but they are. It is not for nothing that Berlingo has been produced and has been sold for almost eight years, and Citroen has not yet thought of stopping its release.
Andrey Osipov
Source: "Automobile Izvestia"
