We've had ours for 5.5 years, but it's been a patience-tester from day 1 really.

Now it's going - I've had enough of the whole experience. The new car's been ordered, part-ex arranged, so as soon as the new one's been built then it's goodbye from me.

The Croma has also put me off buying second-hand so, for the first time in my life, we're ordering brand new, from a main dealer.

My need for carrying capacity has also increased since I started my own business just over a year ago. I retail online, and often end up carrying a fair bit of stock from suppliers.

The replacement (deep breath, it's the longest model name ever)...

A Citroen Berlingo Multispace 1.6 e-HDi 90 Airdream XTR 5dr ETG6

This is the top-of-the-range model, plus climate control, auto lights and auto-wipers. I was expecting rough-and-ready, but it was actually amazingly quiet and civilised on the test drive - a big step up from the previous model we had years ago.

It's a lot like the Croma, in that you kind of walk into it and sit on a chair, but higher still. I don't think the driving position's as good as the Croma, but I'll get used to it - all new cars feel strange at first.

The boot with the back seats down is 3000 litres, versus 1600 in the Croma, but it's about a foot shorter.

The ETG gearbox is a robotised clutch and gearbox. Due to the extra economy of the gearbox, it's £130 road tax for the manual or £30 for the auto. So that was decision made then. It's an official 61mpg combined (so 50-55 real-world probably).

We got a big chunk off the list price, meaning that there was no sense at all in buying used.

Some piccies of one - identical down to the colour and every nut and bolt. I think it looks a bit mad and pimped actually, but this is absolutely factory standard - the lowered suspension and side skirts are part of the Airdream efficiency thing, and the dark windows and blingy front are the XTR spec...

Many many thanks for all the help from everyone here over the years, nice forum, shame about the car.

This comes as devestating news.Two fellow Croma loyalists jumping ship in one day.LOL.I can totally agree with your logic,my wifes on her third brand new 500,this one an abarth.Never had a minutes trouble with any of them.I wish you good luck.

Will be sad to see you go Doofer.

We never did meet up with us only being a short drive away from each other.

Wish you luck, reliability and enjoyment with the new wagon. [even though it's French ]

As mentioned by others the dedicated Croma drivers are slowly jumping ship.

My passenger inside door handle 'pinged' last weak (internal return spring) and having looked at the new price of £45+ I'm going to live with it not fully returning. I could swop with the rear passenger door handle (only passengers we ever have is the Rabbits & Degus) but to be honest if I remove the door card if nothing breaks I'll probably still get an irritating rattle/creaking noise.

Aye cheers buddy, can of worms stuff. No doubt held together by pingf##kit clips!

And by the way it's Spanish - honest, all Berlingo and Pug Partner vans are made there, along with various Picasso things. I was very happy with my SEAT I had once, but that's not really relevant as it was made in Belgium.

I don't think the guys are jumping ship. I fear the ship is holed below the waterline

However, bailing is such good fun.

We will miss the advice and the humour.

[And by the way it's Spanish]

Hasta la vista, baby

cjlar said:

We will miss the advice and the humour.

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We don't give advice hear, only share pain!

Of course I'm jesting and even being totally unfair.

What has let the Croma down is the GM engineering.

For example the 1.9 engine is a Fiat designed engine but I believe it is actually a GM variant built under license. To this they couple and GM clutch, gearbox, driveshafts, front & back suspension (read GM running platform)

Thus the Croma is as "? parts bin" of items sold with a Fiat badge.

In reality all makes of cars are going this way and there is little we can do to avoid this trend other than design and build our own cars.

Yes, the GM parts are carp, but I believe that the EGR system, driveshafts, alternator and front and rear wipers* among many examples are completely Fiat - let's not let them completely off the hook for it.

* The front wiper mech self-destructs due to the rod hanging against gravity, and the rear one leaks like a sieve and corrodes from within.

To be fair, ours is at 105k miles - it was 39k when we got it, so we've certainly had some use out of it. But it just seems to have lurched from one fault to the next. I think I remember one time when nothing had failed for two months, but I think that was the record.

There haven''t been any huge failures - the engine or gearbox haven't blown up, but it's had dozens of £100+ problems, which don't half add up in terms of money and hours.

So I'm very much looking forward to having a car/van/bus thing with no unknown history, and a 3-year chuck-it-at-the-dealer warranty for anything going wrong. I didn't want to pay new prices, but as I'm self-employed any messing about time is eating up the hours when I'd otherwise be earning, so annoyances can be very expensive.

If anyone wants a bargain set of brand new, un-fitted tyres for 18" wheels then let me know - I ordered them about a month or two ago ready for fitting, before deciding to get rid of it. I can deliver local-ish, or further afield if you're on the way to the midlands or up north where we go occasionally.

cjlar said:

I don't think the guys are jumping ship. I fear the ship is holed below the waterline

However, bailing is such good fun.

We will miss the advice and the humour.

Click to expand...

There's that well known song that goes "....ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?". From bitter experience I now know that this applies to both women and cars.

We loved the Croma, its why we kept it so long, and we actually miss it in a way. But there comes a point with troublesome women and cars when you have to let go.

Strangely I found trading the Croma harder than breaking the bad relationships.

Radlet6 said:

There's that well known song that goes "....ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?". From bitter experience I now know that this applies to both women and cars.

We loved the Croma, its why we kept it so long, and we actually miss it in a way. But there comes a point with troublesome women and cars when you have to let go.

Strangely I found trading the Croma harder than breaking the bad relationships.

Click to expand...

Exactly how I felt yesterday at Car People Sheff, seeing the salesman drive the Croma away to the "part ex pound" brought a tear to my eye . I actually had a lump in my throat!!!
"Part Ex-ing a car is like making love to a beautiful woman"---Swiss Tony

Doofer said:

We've had ours for 5.5 years, but it's been a patience-tester from day 1 really.

Now it's going

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Dear Doofer
Very sorry to see you go, Wish you lucky driving your new car.
Vento

Radlet6 said:

There's that well known song that goes "....ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?". From bitter experience I now know that this applies to both women and cars.

We loved the Croma, its why we kept it so long, and we actually miss it in a way. But there comes a point with troublesome women and cars when you have to let go.

Strangely I found trading the Croma harder than breaking the bad relationships.

Click to expand...

Yes. You felt guilty about waving goodbye to the Croma.

cjlar said:

Yes. You felt guilty about waving goodbye to the Croma.

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And yet when I start up the Toyota and all the dashboard lights go out I feel less guilty every day.

I'll be nothing but relieved to get rid of it. I'm greatly looking forward to the new van/car thing though. Our first automatic. She who must be obeyed did a lovely emergency stop on the test drive while trying to shove the clutch down. I've told her to take her left shoe off for the first month of driving.

Sadly it's not due to be built and delivered until late October or early November. So the Croma has to not break until then, and pass an MOT next month.

Oh, as well as saving £150 a year on road tax and using less diesel, I've also checked the insurance and they'll give a £13 rebate for swapping from the Croma to the new one - that's only for the 8 months remaining, so that means it must be just under £20 for the year, so it's gone down from £185 to about £165 for the year. Minus £70 cashback too!

It makes no sense at all - the new one is worth about 10x more than the old one, so how can it be less? I know it's also about the damage you could cause to others, but even so. I suppose it's 90bhp instead of 150 though (but it seemed quicker than our breathless old thing).

Doofer said:

I suppose it's 90bhp instead of 150 though (but it seemed quicker than our breathless old thing).

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The BHP vs Torque vs gearing is an ever developing *game and marketing hype* and you could have 150BHP, xyz torque and still be outperformed by lesser figures.

Generally speaking I have no time for these number games because games is what they really are.

I've towed our 1000kg caravan with:

Tipo 1.6ie 70 BHP petrol - no turbo
Punto HGT 1.8ie 130 BHP petrol - no turbo
Stilo 2.4ie 170 BHP petrol - no turbo
Croma 1.9 150 BHP diesel - with turbo

Have also towed my track/race Fiat Uno SX on heavy car trailer with a Tempra 1.8ie 110BHP petrol - no turbo

All of these cars have performed quite adequately. And if you were to bear in mind the age of the technology, the relative BHP & torques etc. and the fact that I was not disappointed with any of them then I'm fairly sure that most modern smaller cc, lower bhp cars with flater torque profiles will perform very well for their given DNA (regardless of the manufacturer).

Go enjoy Doofer

Totally agree S130,at least fiat are honest with their figures.By this i mean if their badged as 150 they make bang on 150 and no more.Reading a german car forum that had dyno,d at least 3 models of the same diesel engined vehicle that were suposed to be rated at 170 to find they all made over 200hp.Funny thing is they were all having massive dpf problems.Wonder why.lol