Citroën Berlingo Van long-term test: report 10

The Car Citroën Berlingo Van Panel Driver Pro XL BlueHDi 130 EAT8 Run by Max Edleston, photographer

Why it’s here To show just how far modern vans have come

Needs to Serve as both a practical working vehicle and weekend leisure transport

Mileage 24,067 List price £24,995 Target Price £24,995 Price as tested £27,205 Test economy 49.5mpg Official economy 47.7mpg 

23 January 2023 – Floored

I’ve written in previous reports about the space and versatility of my Citroën Berlingo Panel Driver Pro XL van, but until recently I was unsure about one element of its rear load bay: the 9mm coated wooden floor.

I’d added the wooden flooring as an optional extra when speccing up my van, and it intrigued me from the start. How, I wondered, would it hold up against the barrage of plastic and metal flight cases that form the bulk of my luggage? Would it stand the test of time, or would the van's floor quickly become a scuffed and splintered mess?

Thankfully, it has lasted remarkably well, and gives me a smooth surface to load my equipment on to. It's also a far comfier place to sit than the standard floor of a van when I’m using it as a mobile office. One downside is that the floor can quickly become slippery under foot if the weather outside has turned nasty – but that could be solved by investing in some handy rubber mats.

I’ve certainly been putting the space to good use in recent weeks. I've not only been loading my van to the gunwales with photography kit to help with our Car of the Year shoots (see the results on our New Car Awards pages), but also helping out a mate who needed to shift some hay bales at his farm. Thankfully, the rear of my van is easy to clean out after agricultural adventures of that sort.

Back to the day job, though... When I'm doing tracking imagery (a fancy term for shooting one car from the rear of another at our private test track), I wear a harness that needs to be secured to the inside of the vehicle I’m being driven in.

Again, the Berlingo has delivered in spades, with several hooks for me to attach things to. Combined with a comfy ride, they make it an ideal photographer’s assistant. Of course, most buyers won’t have to be anchored to their Berlingo, but those same hooks could be used to hold your ladder, tools or even some shelving in place instead.

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