The £550 Citroen Berlingo 2.0 HDI (super shed)

[Coakers]

Ha ah well unless your absolutely minted I believe dailys should be as frugal on whatever juice you are using as possible nowadays.

Todays little adventure had us go see a possible wedding venue. HillBark Hotel on the Wirral.



Stunning place, and stunning prices too It was built in 1891, then dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt in current form in the late 1920's because its current location 'has better views'. Mad.



As stunning as the place was, what really caught my eye was what i spotted in the car park.






An Ascari Ecosse, only 17 of these were made between 98-99. Couldn't believe it. Looks like it had been stood there for a while though.

Edited by Coakers on Sunday 25th March 18:46

[bungz]

Saw a Berlingo NuSurf Motorhome yesterday on my travels.

So awful yet so awesome.

[Coakers]

bungz said:

Saw a Berlingo NuSurf Motorhome yesterday on my travels.

So awful yet so awesome.

True, its the ugliest car I've ever owned but by far the most useful.

Something does have me slightly concerned though, and I noticed it pretty early on. Its the amount of toe-out this thing has. Must of been carrying some pretty hefty cargo in its past.

[Cambs_Stuart]

You sure the previous owner hadn't slammed it with some trick air suspension? When they took it off to sell it they must have forgotten to re-set the geometry.

[paulmnz]

Execelent shed!

I love these 2.0 HDI berlingos, I had a van and the multi-space versions. Both were excellent. I added tuning boxes (similar to the remap mentioned above) and they seem to work quite well. they dont weigh much, so felt quite brisk after the tuning box and the MPG is great.

In the time I had mine, the van needed rear brake cylinders, the multispace had a radiator and a powersteering pump.... otherwise they just needed fuel! both had over 180k when I bought them I seem to recall and I did about 20k in each.

I retrofitted factory cruise control to the multi-space - the engine is DBW and the electronic boxes and wiring are already in place, you just need to buy a cruise stalk from a C5 picasso, cut a square in the side of the steering wheel hub and there is the plug underneath. enable cruise in the body ECU and your done!

I always ment to take them to the nurburgring as all my cars do a customary lap there, never made it, but I did fit some EBC yellowstuff pads which made it stop rather well (has the same calipers as the 306)

The camber you have on the back wheels suggests the rear beam has issues - these can be replaced / refurbed or just leave it as-is.

hugely practical, I got 4 guys and 4 mountain bikes inside the car. my friends at first where embarrassed but it, but it has a somewhat lovable character and they all became fond of it. My multispace was the desire version with the glass roof and extra storage...

Sold both to my parents who still have them, I'm often tempted to buy the multispace back...

[Coakers]

paulmnz said:

I retrofitted factory cruise control to the multi-space - the engine is DBW and the electronic boxes and wiring are already in place, you just need to buy a cruise stalk from a C5 picasso, cut a square in the side of the steering wheel hub and there is the plug underneath. enable cruise in the body ECU and your done!

I always ment to take them to the nurburgring as all my cars do a customary lap there, never made it, but I did fit some EBC yellowstuff pads which made it stop rather well (has the same calipers as the 306)

The camber you have on the back wheels suggests the rear beam has issues - these can be replaced / refurbed or just leave it as-is.

hugely practical, I got 4 guys and 4 mountain bikes inside the car. my friends at first where embarrassed but it, but it has a somewhat lovable character and they all became fond of it. My multispace was the desire version with the glass roof and extra storage...

Sold both to my parents who still have them, I'm often tempted to buy the multispace back...

Thanks for the interest paulmnz Very interesting and innovative stuff on the cruise control conversion. Definitely food for thought. Mine is also the desire version. Often find myself glancing up when I'm waiting for people etc its quite relaxing in the rain.

[Coakers]

Took the missus to get her 'new' car today. Since the Peugeot 308 is looking more and more like it needs a new timing chain.

Which would deem the entire stbox I mean car economically unviable, she wanted something cheap and cheerful since having dropped £2500 on said Pug 7 months ago we were working with a limited budget (I told her not to buy it! Would she listen, would she!? Bah)

After viewing a few various cheap sheds. Saw this crop up, worth a shout as its online Mot history was very clean.

1.6 petrol
110,000 miles
11 month mot
Last serviced Nov 2017.







Since neither of us have had much luck with cars lately. I hope this shed doesnt let us down. The more I look at it, the more I realise its quite a decent looking car. Speaking of luck.




Spotted this underneath Dingo after being parked up for an hour. Yet something else to the list of things i need to fix. This spare time could of really gone into the Mk2 Golf build but ah well I will buy cheap sheds.

[iantek]

You've got me looking at Berlingos! I need something cheap and practical so these seem to fit the bill.

[exgtt]

Can vouch for that diesel motor - it's a cracker. Had the same unit in my old Picasso. Definitely not fast but that lovely wodge of diesel torque keeps things more interesting than the 1.6 petrol motor.

Only remap if you have faith in the clutch being fairly new. It's not expensive if it starts slipping but if you wanna keep costs down just bare this in mind!

On the Picasso the throttle cable slackens over time, very simple to tighten in the engine bay, mine had a ton of slack and 5 mins got it taught again. Prob the same set up on yours.

The previous owner of mine had babied it for a while so I got the chance to blow the soot out with some spirited driving. Went away after a few miles and barely smoked again.

[exgtt]

Coakers said:

Something does have me slightly concerned though, and I noticed it pretty early on. Its the amount of toe-out this thing has. Must of been carrying some pretty hefty cargo in its past.

Could be the rear axle bearing gone. Is there any knocking over sleeping policemen?

[TheD]

I bought my Berlingo van 1.9D 4 years ago for £500 on a 52 plate. I love the thing. It just starts and away it goes. After fixing a few things and giving it a really good first service it has been spot on. Passes its MOT every year no problem. I put winter tyres on it as well as it needed tyres anyway and it is magic. I can't bare to part with it even though it isn't the cheapest to Tax and Insure considering how old it is.

[Coakers]

iantek said:

You've got me looking at Berlingos! I need something cheap and practical so these seem to fit the bill.

Do it, the interior rattles around a lot as its cheap and nasty but in a way it adds to its utilitarian charm but the main reason why you want one is how mechanically sound they are. Mine came with a decent service histroy too though. Ive done 225 miles since last fill and not used half a tank yet so really good on the juice too.

[Coakers]

TheD said:

I bought my Berlingo van 1.9D 4 years ago for £500 on a 52 plate. I love the thing. It just starts and away it goes. After fixing a few things and giving it a really good first service it has been spot on. Passes its MOT every year no problem. I put winter tyres on it as well as it needed tyres anyway and it is magic. I can't bare to part with it even though it isn't the cheapest to Tax and Insure considering how old it is.

Glad to hear it mate True it aint the cheapest to insure and tax by modern standards but it was so cheap to begin with and its so good on juice that It negates the higher ins/tax cost and I'm quite won-over by it. Not a car that I would ever see myself be happy to drive either but there you go.

Edited by Coakers on Sunday 1st April 23:11

[Coakers]

exgtt said:

Could be the rear axle bearing gone. Is there any knocking over sleeping policemen?

No mechanical knocks to speak of, plenty of interior squeaks and rattles. It is on my 'to-do' list to investigate once I've sorted the jag out though so I'll keep the thread updated once thats sorted

[Coakers]

exgtt said:

Can vouch for that diesel motor - it's a cracker. Had the same unit in my old Picasso. Definitely not fast but that lovely wodge of diesel torque keeps things more interesting than the 1.6 petrol motor.

Only remap if you have faith in the clutch being fairly new. It's not expensive if it starts slipping but if you wanna keep costs down just bare this in mind!

On the Picasso the throttle cable slackens over time, very simple to tighten in the engine bay, mine had a ton of slack and 5 mins got it taught again. Prob the same set up on yours.

The previous owner of mine had babied it for a while so I got the chance to blow the soot out with some spirited driving. Went away after a few miles and barely smoked again.

Thanks for the advice pal I'll refer to it once I've got time to investigate it. The non-running X-type is my priority at the minute unfortunately.

I've never really been a fan of french cars but I'm made up with this thing. And yes goes without saying I would prefer this over the petrol model anyday.

[Nealio]

Coakers said:

exgtt said:

Could be the rear axle bearing gone. Is there any knocking over sleeping policemen?

No mechanical knocks to speak of, plenty of interior squeaks and rattles. It is on my 'to-do' list to investigate once I've sorted the jag out though so I'll keep the thread updated once thats sorted

That's the rear beam bearings gone for sure.

Check it out soon, as once it goes too far the tyre will start rubbing on the inner wing removing the coating/paint and then the rust gets started.

A refurb beam is about £200 from imaxle and a few hours to fit.

[bungz]

TheD said:

I bought my Berlingo van 1.9D 4 years ago for £500 on a 52 plate. I love the thing. It just starts and away it goes. After fixing a few things and giving it a really good first service it has been spot on. Passes its MOT every year no problem. I put winter tyres on it as well as it needed tyres anyway and it is magic. I can't bare to part with it even though it isn't the cheapest to Tax and Insure considering how old it is.

XUD 1.9 engine is more or less unkillable, especially if it is the NA version. Will go forever but tax will be painful.

[MC Bodge]

Are there any (simple) handling mods for these? Bolting in some GTI-6 suspension parts or the like?

[TheD]

bungz said:

XUD 1.9 engine is more or less unkillable, especially if it is the NA version. Will go forever but tax will be painful.

Yep it is the NA. Considering what I paid I keep making excuses to keep it regardless of the Tax

[Djw John]

Good workhorse that'll just keep plodding on.

However...

Coakers said:

Going to do a second oil change in the coming week as the 'fresh' oil I had put in a couple of days ago is already very black and I've only done 20 miles which shows how much crap is in the engine. The first batch of oil was (Shell Helix HX7). And my more expensive stuff is Mobil 3000 X1 5w40. I'll run Wynns engine flush through again before I change it.

on a diesel its totally normal for oil to be black pretty much straight away. It being black after 20 miles is to be expected. The only brand new car I ever had was diesel and after its first 10k service the oil was black after 7 miles when I checked that it was at the right level. Just to hopefully save you some cash and time.