A taxi driver we know owns a Citroen Berlingo diesel. IIRC it's an 02 plate and has done about 50-60k. According to him it's been a nightmare for poor reliability from day one with various annoying problems ranging from a dodgy sliding door catch which never seems to work properly to a broken cam belt which happened last year and was repaired under warranty. This latest problem is, however, the most annoying of all. Yes, the cam belt has just gone again leaving him high and dry with a car full of child passengers!
I've checked HJ's CBCB and there is mention of cambelt/ pulley problems but why on earth would a new cam belt fail after less than a year? This begs a number of questions, not the least of which is can our friend obtain any form of compensation in view of the fact that for the second time in a year he's effectively unable to work now until it's sorted.
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A friend used to work at the Halfords and then AA with the fleet servicing/repairs, his day was full of British gas vans with bits dropping off (including doors) and all manner of engine/gearbox problems.He told me the only thing thats worse than a Berlingo is the Renualt Kangoo.
Having said that I do know someone that had a Berlingo (HDI engine) on contract hire and nothing went wrong in 3 years but he only did 20k miles in that time.
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A friend with a courier business runs a Kangoo (1.6 Auto). She's had it 6 months and done over 30,000 miles without any major problems - a minor problem with the exhaust was sorted under warranty.
I see Nissan now do a Kangoo look alike. Is it just a rebadged version due to their tie up with Renault, or are there differences?
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Just wondering here whether it's a question of how the vehicle is used? Only speculating, but could it be that the Berlingo is fine for normal use, but can't take the hassle of heavy and/or abusive use?
From what I've seen of fleets of vans, they often get a fairly tough time from the drivers, who bear no responsibility for the vehicles' wellbeing.
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I'm not absolutely certain but I don't think the Berlingo got the HDI engine until mid-2002, so he didn't have one of those for three years. It was probably the old 1.9 XUD, which is/was outstandingly reliable and sold millions of units from the early 1980s onwards. My Pug Partner (with the HDI engine) has done 17,000 absolutely trouble-free miles.
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You are most likely right Chris, I remember he had the top spec engine at the time as for some reason the lower spec had a longer delivery time.
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