Citroen Berlingo 2026 review | A no-nonsense, van-based people carrier

What is the Citroen Berlingo?

This third-generation Citroen Berlingo is one of the most practical passenger cars you can buy. Although it can’t disguise its commercial-vehicle origins, Citroen has done a decent job of differentiating the Berlingo from the courier-spec van it is based upon. Chiefly, this is by referencing the quirky styling cues of its passenger car stablemates: vehicles such as the C3 and C5 Aircross.

The huge windows, lashings of lower-body cladding and vibrantly coloured Dali-esque detailing are complemented by matt-black A-pillars and roof rails, plus funky double-decker front lights. It is, in short, a family car in the purest sense, putting what is conventionally considered stylish to one side for the sake of outright practicality.

The third-generation Berlingo was launched in 2018, and while it hardly blew the world away with sales success, it found a dedicated fanbase who praised it for a pragmatic approach to family motoring. It was then given a refresh at the very beginning of 2023, bringing the looks – if not the car’s profile – bang up to date.

One point to note: despite its many similarities, the e-Berlingo is, in Citroen’s eyes, a distinct model in its own right, not just ‘the electric version’. With that in mind, this review will focus solely on the petrol and diesel variants.

How practical is it?

One look at the Berlingo and you can tell it would reach the practicality hall of fame, if such a thing existed. It’s available as a five-seater or ‘XL’ seven-seater, so whether you play the part-family, part-delivery van card or simply go down the full-on party bus route, the Berlingo has you covered.

The sliding rear door will save you face when you’ve proudly squeezed into a tight parking spot, only to remember you still need to get the kids out of the back. And the awning-sized tailgate will play a blinder when it comes to keeping the rain off your head while loading up the weekly shop.

The middle row of three seats (with a 60:40 split on Plus models, or a 40:20:40 divide on Max versions) will collapse almost completely flat into the floor, freeing up masses of boot space. The extra rear seats in the seven-seat XL can be whipped out without too much sweat and cursing as well. Consequently, that old sofa bed which has been in the spare room for years can be whisked off to the recycling centre quicker than you can throw the cushions out of an upstairs window.

Getting into the nitty gritty, the regular Berlingo has 775 litres of storage space behind its rear seats, or a whopping 3,000 litres of space with those seats folded flat. The seven-seat XL, with its 2,975mm wheelbase (200mm more than standard) has a colossal 1,050 litres of storage space behind the middle row of seats with the third row folded flat. With the middle row down, there’s 3,500 litres to play with: almost enough for a five-a-side football game.

The Berlingo also comes with more storage solutions than a Big Yellow Box warehouse. With so many cubby holes, bins, lockers, cupholders, shelves, and pockets, you’ll need a spreadsheet to keep track of where you stashed all those sweets and smartphones confiscated from the kids.

The rear parcel shelf is also stiffer than a scaffolder’s plank, so it will double up as a nappy changing mat, allowing you to wave goodbye to public changing rooms once and for all.

What's it like to drive?

Given its frontal bluffness, big windscreen and those turbulence-inducing roof rails, there is surprisingly little in the way of wind noise when you’re bowling along in the Berlingo. Furthermore, for such an echoingly sized cabin, road noise is well suppressed.

On top of this, the soft suspension soaks up most lumps and bumps pretty effectively. However, you will need to employ a ‘steady as she goes’ strategy, as the merest hint of a bend will induce lots of roly-poly body lean. Honestly, it’s quite entertaining, as so many modern cars are built to resist roll or to be sporty. In a Berlingo, the lack of ultimate grip and all that body movement means you can have fun at truly ordinary speeds. It should go without saying, if you’re looking for something that’ll feel its best being hustled down a B-road, this isn’t the car for you. Yet that doesn’t mean it won’t put a smile on your face.

Post-facelift, now that the Berlingo range has been fully padded out, there’s a selection of petrol and diesel engines to complement the electric powertrain of the separate e-Berlingo. The Plus is available with a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine with 109bhp, which is paired with a six-speed manual gearbox. There’s also a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel with 101bhp and a manual transmission, or a 129bhp 1.5-litre diesel with an eight-speed automatic (called ‘EAT8’). The XL-size Berlingo is only available with the diesel engines, while Max trim is only offered with the standard wheelbase and the 129bhp diesel.

Petrol power works perfectly well in the Berlingo, but few manufacturers make better diesel engines than Citroen. The 1.5-litre units here are no exception. Both are smooth, quiet and deliver punchy performance, as well as returning excellent fuel consumption.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

What else might you find in the Narnia-like interior? There’s a roof light that doubles up as a stowage area and runs the length of the cabin. The Modutop, as it’s known, is a £750 option on the Max model (handy hint: the light is turned off by accessing the settings in the infotainment system, not by the interior light switches in the roof). There are also overhead lockers above the boot and pockets above both front seats for maps, gloves, sunglasses and all the clobber found in a family car.

Plus versions of the Berlingo get 16-inch steel wheels (they look glorious, we have to say), electric heated door mirrors, LED headlights, automatic wipers, air conditioning, rear parking sensors, a height adjustable driver’s seat and tray tables on the back of the front seats. You’ll also find a a 10.0-inch digital driver’s display and a 10.0-inch central touchscreen, complete with a DAB radio and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

Make your way into a Max and there are a number of upgrades. These include 17-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, a 180-degree reversing camera, Advanced Comfort seats (some of the best this side of a Rolls Royce), a heated steering wheel and more.

A number of safety features are available on the Plus and Max models, too. The Plus has the standard Safety Pack, which brings with it lane-keep assist, autonomous emergency braking, speed limit recognition, traffic sign recognition, adaptive headlights, driver attention alert, cruise control and a speed limiter. The Max features the Advance Safety Pack, which is exactly the same bar an attention alert system that uses a driver-monitoring camera.

Some features that are optional and available only on the plusher Max model include keyless entry, Citroen Connect navigation software and a single, seemingly unnamed pack that brings with it front- and side parking sensors (adding to the rear sensors), a blind-spot monitoring system, adaptive cruise control with a stop-and-go function, lane positioning assist, and advanced grip control with hill-descent assist.

That’s pretty much it. Sure, you can choose between five colours and three different alloy wheel designs, but the overall Berlingo lineup is wonderfully simple.

Citroen Berlingo running costs

The Citroen Berlingo is built on the same platform as the Vauxhall Combo Life and Peugeot Rifter, and given van versions of those vehicles usually sit cheek-by-jowl on the same trading estates, it is easy to play one off against the other to find the best deal. That said, because of its versatility and dual-purpose nature, the Berlingo is a sought-after used buy, so don’t go wandering into a Citroen dealership expecting the salesperson to offer a huge discount.

For some time, diesel Berlingos outsold petrol versions by about six to one. Consequently, there are far more diesels to choose from on the used market. On the flip side, as petrol is more in vogue, these models command a premium.

If you’re not too fussy about colour or spec, you will be able to pick up a very smart five-seat diesel Berlingo with well under 20,000 miles on the clock for around £14,000. Generally speaking, seven-seat versions command the thick-end of £1,000 more than their five-seat siblings.

Petrol versions of the Berlingo are pretty economical, with combined economy figures of around 45mpg. Obviously, achieving these figures will depend on how much weight you haul around, and how much force you squeeze onto the accelerator pedal. The fuel consumption figures of three-cylinder petrol engines are known to be significantly affected by high throttle demands, so a considered driving style is required to get the most miles from them.

The 1.5-litre BlueHDi diesel engines are claimed to achieve fuel economy beyond 50mpg. And with a 50-litre tank on board, once settled into a motorway cruise, they are capable of significant mileages between fill-ups.

The Berlingo is the absolute antithesis of a sports car, so it’s no surprise that insurance costs reflect this. Group ratings start from as low as 11 for the least powerful petrol version in entry-level Flair trim, topping out at group 15 for the most powerful BlueHDi models.

Citroen Berlingo reliability

Given it’s based on a commercial van, and that such vehicles need to be sturdy and efficient, it all bodes well for the Berlingo.

In terms of a warranty, you start off with Citroen’s usual three-year/60,000-mile cover (with no mileage limit for the first two years) from when the vehicle is first registered. Then, if you get your vehicle serviced at a main dealer according to schedule, your warranty is then automatically extended up to a maximum of eight years and 100,000 miles.

Service intervals are every 12,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. And because the Berlingo is a pretty basic machine, it shouldn’t cost you a fortune. You can also take the sting out of paying in one hit by signing up to a staggered payment plan, which should cost you in the region of £16 per month. This will cover the usual health checks, as well as fluid and filter changes, but not consumable parts such as tyres and brake pads.

The Berlingo has undergone a couple of relatively minor recalls and these only affected a small number of vehicles. One such recall concerned a handbrake component that could fail. Another was for diesel-engined models, regarding potential damage to the particulate filter in the exhaust system.

Has the Berlingo featured in any survey results? Sadly not, but Citroen as a brand certainly has. According to the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, Citroen came home in 10th place with a score of 93.9%. Considering the list is 30 brands long, and Citroen hasn’t always had a positive reputation for durability, this is a very good showing.