13 feb

Why are there so many Berlingo’s in France? Sometimes they are called Kangoo, or Partner, but they’re all really Berlingo’s. Small high cars that have enough storage space to carry a cow or two.
I’ve always thought that the most popular car in a country tells a whole lot about the character of that country. In America, the most popular vehicle was the F150 pick up truck. Gas slurping monsters that allow Americans to enter their vehicle without having to bend, an annoying stretching of once body that needs to be avoided at all cost.
In England the Ford Mondeo was the most popular car. For European standards a relatively large car to be so popular. Not that England is so rich – if you’re rich there, and want to show it, you buy a Range Rover, second had of course – but cars are cheap. In Holland it always was the Opel Kadet when I was young, no idea what it would be now. The Opel Kadet is ugly, boring and cheap, but efficient and properly built.
Germany has the VW Golf, with the same qualities as the Kadett, except quite a bit better on every account.
France has the Berlingo. Which is not a great car regarding engineering. It is noisy, all kinds of pieces fall off, the heating is bad, the seats are uncomfortable. But who cares. It is lovely, charming and funny. It makes one happy to drive it. I am sure that’s why so many french people drive it.
The Berlingo was called the Renault 4 before it was called a Berlingo.
I know, we are shifting brands here, from Citroen to Renault. But the Renault 4 was Renaults reaction to the Deux Chevaux from Citroen.
Citroen reacted with the Berlingo to the Renault 4. This whole process took almost 40 years. French people are not very fast, at least not regarding car manufacturing. There is of course a lot of talking that has to go on before doing something. And they also have to drink a glass of wine, or two.
The Renault 4 was designed to be acceptable for Paris housewives and for country farmers, I just read on a French website. How marvelous. Only the French must put themselves to the task to satisfy such different groups of consumers. No wonder that it takes a while to come up with a solution. And how successful the result is (except for the noise and the seats!). In the process they have included hunters. I have not seen a French hunter yet without a Berlingo, including two barking dogs (as large as cows) in the back.
I came to think of our (really Julie’s) Berlingo, because there was a problem again with it. One tire was slowly losing air. We were a little hesitant to bring it to a garage. The last time we did it, the mechanics there almost directed our dear dear Berlingo to a car cemetery.
But then, tires need to be fixed and even Julie can not do that (although her diagnosis, flat tire, was immaculate again) by herself. So Julie brought the car to the Citroen dealer. They changed the tire for her, would have a look if it was fixable and asked Julie to come back a day later. My experience is that car mechanics never consider a tire fixable. It is too much of a hassle. But here they got out the nail, did whatever else they had to do, replaced the tire the next day and mounted the spare tire under the car again. This all for the full price of €18.
So our trust in the wonderful world of car mechanics has been restored and our jolly noisy Berlingo is driving around again without limping.