Citroen Berlingo review - practical people carrier has room for everything except ego

The PSA Group – Peugeot Citroen, DS and Vauxhall – rather has the van-based MPV market sewn up.

Three of its four brands build a large “activity” vehicle based on light commercial underpinnings. Peugeot has its SUV-styled Rifter, Vauxhall the more workmanlike Combo Life and Citroen has this, the Berlingo. Each has its own approach to the segment but the three share many common features.

Whichever car you’re looking at, this is a segment that lauds practicality above all else, prioritising masses of space in the boot (775 litres, 4,000 with the seats folded) to swallow up buggies, prams, wheelchairs and - with the seats down - push bikes while leaving room in the cabin for five full-sized passengers.

Past versions of the Berlingo have struggled to disguise the commercial vehicle underpinnings and have typically been drab looking, boring and wobbly to drive and in a world filled with rugged-looking SUVs and slick hatches, pretty unappealing image-wise.

But it’s also a segment that’s refreshingly, completely, lacking in pretence. A seven-seat SUV like a Skoda Kodiaq or a Peugeot 5008 will let families fit more than two children’s car seats in the back and allow the driver to kid themselves that they are still the rugged adventurer they were in their 20s, able to handle themselves off-road and ready for the apocalypse should it arrive while they whisk the children off to pre-school.

The five-seat Berlingo will let you do that without the delusional ego stroking at a fraction of the price.

That’s not to say the designers haven’t made any effort, the new car is the best looking Berlingo yet and the remodelled grille, the air bumps along the flanks and the roof rails on the top tie the aesthetics to the rest of the Citroen line-up’s distinctive styling.

Inside, the cabin is very similar to what you’ll find in the Rifter: it’s comfortable, spacious and has a mood lighting bar suspended beneath the ceiling and more practical little pockets than an army surplus jacket.

Our test car was in the mid-level Flair trim. This adds parking sensors, electric rear windows, sat nav and an electronic handbrake to the lower-specced Feel trim level.

It doesn’t feel especially luxurious but that extra equipment is expected by buyers now and helps elevate the Berlingo in comparison to the Berlingo van.