The latest Berlingo certainly looks much bigger than the old one. Same applies to the Renault Kangoo which would be a much better buy, especially here where we have a rubbish Citroën dealer and, being on an island, no alternatives.

I could have been tempted by an old style Kangoo, because it would have been much easier for our elderly Golden Retriever to get in without the lip on the boot but, in every other way, the Roomy is so much better.

Yep, they have certainly well and truly b****xed the Berlingo now, looks like some kind of light tank and probably drives like one.

Why do manufacturers do this over and over again? Remember the almost fabulous Golf Mk. 1 - now a sad memory due to VW's design stupidity. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Remember the Ford Escort Mk 1 - I had one and for the time it would go like stink for a 1300 due to it's light weight build but they had to make it bigger (and worser). Please, please Skoda, do not be tempted to make the same mistake by trying to make the Roomy look bigger and fatter for no good reason. There are thousands of folk in the market who need and will buy a simple lightweight VAN/CAR AND THAT IS ALL THEY NEED!

Why do manufacturers do this over and over again? Remember the almost fabulous Golf Mk. 1 - now a sad memory due to VW's design stupidity. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Polo is now the Golf and the Lupo is now the Polo from those days,. They keep making succesive models bigger until they have to produce a "New" small car.

Yep, they have certainly well and truly b****xed the Berlingo now, looks like some kind of light tank and probably drives like one.

Why do manufacturers do this over and over again? Remember the almost fabulous Golf Mk. 1 - now a sad memory due to VW's design stupidity. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Remember the Ford Escort Mk 1 - I had one and for the time it would go like stink for a 1300 due to it's light weight build but they had to make it bigger (and worser). Please, please Skoda, do not be tempted to make the same mistake by trying to make the Roomy look bigger and fatter for no good reason. There are thousands of folk in the market who need and will buy a simple lightweight VAN/CAR AND THAT IS ALL THEY NEED!

thing is a lot of the changes are to meet the more stringent crash test standards

the flat front is about pedestrian safety, thicker doors and higher bottom of the windows is to do with the adding door bars etc for the side impacts tests etc, all this adds weight

i to loved the old mk1 escort (learned to drive in one) but they had no crumple zone (came in on the mk2 if memory correct) very basic force limiters on the seatbelts etc, put one in for a modern crash test and be horrified at the results

thing is development goes in cycles, 50's / 60's you had heavy tanks because petrol was cheap, 70s you had a drive towards light wieght / economy with lean burn engine (did not know or care about NOx emmissions) due to the oil crisis, then the 80's we started looking at safety and crash tests (which pushed the wieght back up), 90's we are back to economy and also emmissions,the 00's their was a push towards being able to recycle more of the car, soon they will realise for economy we will need to start losing some of the wieght again, just this time it will be using different materials not just aerodynamics that affect economy at motorway speeds

bottom line is you can't get round the newtons laws that show if you increase mass you need more energy to accelerate it to the same speed as a lower mass object and just changing from petrol to electric motors will not help

peter

thing is a lot of the changes are to meet the more stringent crash test standards

the flat front is about pedestrian safety, thicker doors and higher bottom of the windows is to do with the adding door bars etc for the side impacts tests etc, all this adds weight

Thats doesn't really wash as there are plenty of cars smaller than the Berlingo which have 5 stars, including the Roomster... and the fronts are just as pedestrian unfriendly as the Berlingo's... Whats interesting about the B is that they have decided to keep the old one going... I accept that there would be some increase in car size to allow for crashworthyness, but that excuse finished about a decade ago, as all modern cars designed since then have similar crash worthyness... The Berlingo increase seems just to be about making it bigger inside, perhaps they needed to increase the size of the van its based on?

I'm just glad Skoda didn't decide to do the same with the Roomster, its main atribute is incredible interior space on a small "footprint"... and with excellent safety standards for its occupants.

Sitting in the land of the utility vehicle I find the comments here very interesting and entertaining.

To memory the first utility was the Citroen CV. The French peasant car and still a classic, specification to Citroen was that the vehicle must cross a field with out braking any eggs in a basket. Adolf gave us the Beetle and the French gave us the CV. Sadly both new versions have lost the flavour of the original.

If you require a large 8 seat vehicle then look no further than the Hyundai i800, try getting that into a Fiat Panda space or cornering the country lanes in rally mode.

The new addition to our family a Roomy Scout is sitting in Norwich, hopefully still in it factory wrapping protecting the new Safari colour.

My gripe is with Skoda marketing that have no idea where the design engineers are floor is let alone the factory floor.

Can anyone get hold of the specification for the new Roomster Scout please. The current marketing buff is incorrect as the vehicle manual. Need info on rear suspension, nope its different.

Edited 9 June, 201016 yr by JDW