Living with a Citroen E-Berlingo: making a great case for the van-based MPV

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• First report: Introduction
• Second report: Interior and practicality

This is our Citroen E-Berlingo, a big electric people carrier which we’ll be living with for a few months. We’re about four weeks into our time with the car now, and it’s been really refreshing having something this practical on the fleet.

*Prices correct at the time of writing
You can check out the full spec of our E-Berlingo in the first report, but here we’re going to take a closer look at the interior.

1. It’s insanely spacious

You can forget SUVs like the Skoda Enyaq and Tesla Model Y, if all you want from your EV is maximum interior space then the E-Berlingo is really hard to beat. Its van-like proportions may not be that stylish from the outside, but you certainly feel the benefit inside.

The boot is a whopping 1,355 litres in capacity, and the low load lip makes it really easy to just load. Pushchairs, bicycles, the kitchen sink, just chuck ‘em in the back and off you go. The rear seats are also nice and roomy, but there is one issue…

2. Child seat woes

Fitting a child seat is made difficult by one really annoying design flaw. The ISOFIX anchors are much lower down than the actual opening in the seat, so finding the right angle is a faff. At least you don’t have to contend with a narrow door opening or a low roof to smack your head on while you figure it out.

3. Driver comfort

Being at the helm of this daily bus is actually quite pleasant. The seats are comfy, you get a nice, upright driving position and the flip-down armrest is a really nice touch. The excellent all-round visibility also makes it easy to manoeuvre in tight spaces despite being quite a large car.

4. Keeping things tidy

Because the Citroen E-Berlingo is based on a van, you get loads of cubby holes inside to keep your bits and bobs out of the way. There are loads of cupholders, two gloveboxes, a storage box above the steering wheel and massive door bins.

5. Simple is sometimes better

The Citroen E-Berlingo has physical climate controls – unlike our Peugeot 5008 which has them buried in a fiddly touchscreen menu. They’re easy to use on the move, however we have found that the way they’re positioned can mean some of the buttons are blocked by the steering wheel, leading you to have to crane around it to see what you’re jabbing at.

First report: an introduction to our new electric MPV

The Citroen E-Berlingo has physical climate controls – unlike our Peugeot 5008 which has them buried in a fiddly touchscreen menu. They’re easy to use on the move, however we have found that the way they’re positioned can mean some of the buttons are blocked by the steering wheel, leading you to have to crane around it to see what you’re jabbing at.

If you rewind to the mid-2000s, van-based MPVs were popular among family buyers for their vastly practical cabins. In recent years however they’ve died off in favour of more stylish SUVs, but should they be consigned to the history books, or is there still a case for these hugely practical cars in 2025?

To find out, we’ve been given the keys to the new Citroen E-Berlingo for six months to find out what it’s like to live with. We’ll put it through its paces on the school run, on family holidays and for zipping around town.

So let’s take a closer look at our car. It’s the top-spec Max model, which means it gets a couple of cool styling upgrades. You get alloy wheels for starters, as opposed to the steel wheels which come on the basic car. There’s also some extra cladding and orange accents.

There’s more orange inside as well, specifically on the cloth seats. The Max also gets a heated leather steering wheel, a 10.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as Citroen’s Advanced Comfort Seats, which we’ll put to the test on long journeys.

The Citroen Berlingo is available with petrol, diesel and electric power, and we’ve gone for the latter. It’s powered by a 136hp electric motor which drives the front wheels, and the 52kWh should deliver a claimed 220 miles of range. Time will tell how close we can get to this.

Options fitted to this car include Citroen Connect Navigation which gets you live traffic updates at a cost of £400 and the Sirkka Green metallic paint, a £575 colour. We’ve also got the upgraded 11kW AC charger for an extra £300. You only get a 7.4kW charger as standard, which will take seven and a half hours to go from 0-100%. The 11kW charger cuts this down to around five and a half hours.

All-in this Citroen E-Berlingo will set you back £34,925 with options. There aren’t many cars which offer this much space for the money. The Skoda Enyaq starts from just under £37,000, and at the time of writing you can get a Vauxhall Grandland Electric for £33,600 through Carwow.

But is the Citroen E-Berlingo better suited to family life? Keep an eye on this page for updates on what it’s like to live with.

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