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2nd hand Citroen Berlingo Diesel - which engine for economy?

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contrariousjim 28 Jul 2014
We need to get a new second hand car, particularly focussing on space for kids, trips and filling with tools for work. We've been in one of these owned by different friends twice over the last month and really like them. At the moment we are using the car for short urban commutes (20mins each way 5 days a week) and for longer w/e trips 400+ mile round trips almost every week. So what I care most about is fuel economy and then longeavity (we'd want to run the car into the ground). Which diesel engine is likely to be best for our needs. Our friends said they got 60mpg, which seemed very good. Is there a general principle with respect to engine size and economy? What about injection, does this make things better or worse?

Should we be looking at something else entirely?

Any advice from UKCers really appreciated thanks.
 bigdrew 28 Jul 2014
In reply to contrariousjim:

I seriously considered these for a while. Diesel options are 1.9D 1.6 HDI and 2.0 HDI.

I discounted the 1.9D as it was horrifically slow.

I was on the lookout for a 2.0 HDI. It probably isn't as good on fuel as the 1.6 but much more reliable and less fussy to servicing. £800 worth of engine repairs soon wipes out the 5mpg benefit..

The 1.6 is the newest / most economical engine. It does have a reputation for going wrong in an expensive way. This is usually due to people not following the service routine but as you are buying second hand you can't guarantee how well it has been looked after

 bigdrew 28 Jul 2014
In reply to bigdrew:

Also what sort of age car are you looking at? If pretty new used then maybe consider the 1.6.. If older I'd go 2.0

There are a few other relatively common problems if you have a search on-line. Rear suspension beams collapsing / sagging are one of them so look out for that..
contrariousjim 29 Jul 2014
In reply to bigdrew:
> (In reply to bigdrew)
>
> Also what sort of age car are you looking at? If pretty new used then maybe consider the 1.6.. If older I'd go 2.0

Well so far been looking at cars with about 80-90k on the clock, 2002-2004 around about the £1500 mark.

> There are a few other relatively common problems if you have a search on-line. Rear suspension beams collapsing / sagging are one of them so look out for that..

Ok. Thanks for that. Is there another car like this that I should be considering? You said you'd considered this and then went for something else.. ..what did you go for?
In reply to contrariousjim:

LPG? Don't have much experience with them but I hear they're fairly economical if you can find the fillups
 Neil Williams 29 Jul 2014
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
I don't think the petrol engines are absolutely terrible for economy given that Berlingos are basically just a brick on wheels. And they are cheaper to buy and less likely to go wrong than a modern-day high-tech diesel.

Just don't go for the old 1.4 because it's seriously underpowered (I had the 2005 model). If I'd gone for the 1.6 petrol I'd have kept mine a lot longer. I think it averaged around 40 to the gallon, though I never quite worked it out properly.

Neil
Post edited at 10:03
 BobbyH 29 Jul 2014
In reply to contrariousjim:

Stay away from anything with that 1.6 diesel PSA engine (Peugeot/Citroen - it's in the Ford Focus too). Replacing the turbo (£800 - £2000 depending on how soon you want to have to do it again) and DPF unit (£1000) is not fun.

A quick google for '1.6HDi turbo failure' should scare you off sufficiently.
The DPF unit is actually a service requirement at around 75k, which they (unsurprisingly) stay pretty quiet about.

The 1.9D is dog slow, as mentioned above, but a simpler and hence more reliable engine.

My 2.0HDi is going pretty well at 122k right now. Could do with a new EGR valve, but that not big bucks compared to the 1.6 issues.

I'd go for the 2.0HDi every time.
 Dave Williams 29 Jul 2014
In reply to contrariousjim:

We had the 2.0 Hdi engine in a late model 306 estate and took it to over 100K before we got rid. Great engine, no problems, lots of oomph considering it was only 90bhp and reasonably economical too (low 40s mpg; not driven with economy in mind.)

We've also had the 1.9 NAD. Yes, it's a bit slow, but it's a real slogger of an engine and it's ok once you're up to speed. You can keep up with traffic with no problems once on the move but it's no more economical than the 2.0 HDi. However, it's an old-school engine with less to go wrong although we did have to replace the injector pump (not cheap) at 160K miles.

We have a 1.5 Dci Kangoo at the moment and despite what people say about Renault reliability, it's been just as good as any Citroen/ Peugeot that we've ever had.

I too would be put off by the scare stories relating to the 1.6 Hdi engine.

HTH

Dave
 yeti 29 Jul 2014
In reply to contrariousjim:

I'd agree with Bobby the 2.0 is great but it only does 50 to the gallon on a rolling road

it has so much more power than the 1.9 I can't help using it...

so, my old 1.9 did 48 mpg and my current 2.0 does 40 if only I could drive less erm enthusiastically

 Rick Graham 29 Jul 2014
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

> LPG? Don't have much experience with them but I hear they're fairly economical if you can find the fillups

I am a big fan of Astra LPG dual fuel cars/vans but of the Citroen conversion have not had any recommendations.

The Berlingo 1.9 D we have just runs forever, bombproof engines. I thought the HDI would be better but the 1.9 D was such a silly price I went for that. Flat as a fart until I tightened the throttle cable. (a 30 second job , no tools required) . It zips along now. Using it for work, still gets there in exactly the same commute time unless some nifty overtaking required then the Astra 1.6 16valve petrol obviously wins out.

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