Kangoo or Berlingo: everyday family versatility

Kangoo or Berlingo, for a family of four: the same claimed boot, 775 litres with five seats, and two cabins that have little in common. The Kangoo relies on a bench and three well-rated Isofix positions. The Berlingo answers with three separate seats in MAX trim and almost four times as much storage. And on Citroën Belgium's offers page, the new Berlingo now only appears as an electric car.

The same boot, not the same rear bench

On paper, it is a draw from the first line. Renault claims a boot "from 775 L to 3,500 L" on its Belgian Kangoo page. The practicality sheet by La Tribune Auto, a French car evaluation site, gives the medium-size Berlingo 775 litres, with a 2.70 m load length at floor level. A pushchair and the Saturday shopping fit in either.

It all happens in front of the tailgate.

Sofie and Jérôme live in Waremme, in the Hesbaye farmland west of Liège, with a daughter aged 1 and a son aged 5. The pushchair stays in the boot during the week, the two bikes travel on Sundays, and their 2012 estate car gave up in September. They tried both MPVs on the same Saturday, with the child seats in the boot. Their conclusion fits in the table below, built from the carmakers' pages, La Tribune Auto, AutoScout24 and the Euro NCAP datasheets.

Three seats or a bench: what changes with two children?

With two children, not much day to day. With a third on the way, almost everything.

The Kangoo's bench folds in two unequal parts and leaves a flat floor, as described in the AutoScout24 Belgium road test. The two outer seats and the front passenger seat take Isofix, the middle seat does not. For Sofie and Jérôme, that is enough: the baby's infant carrier on the left, the older child's seat on the right, and the middle free for the changing bag. The equipped front passenger seat helps on the day the bench is full, with a rule that is not up for debate: a rear-facing seat never goes there while the front airbag is active, and the car's handbook explains how to switch it off.

The Berlingo MAX lines up three separate seats, folded away from the boot with the Magic Flat controls. Each one folds on its own. You can therefore fold the middle seat to slide a pair of skis between two child seats, which a 2/3-1/3 bench rules out, since its wider part always takes two places at once. Watch the trim: the cheaper PLUS comes with a 1/3-2/3 bench, and Citroën's French price list of March 2026 does not publish the number of Isofix points in the second row. Look under the seats of the car you test, not in the brochure.

How much storage is there in the cabin?

On this point, the Berlingo crushes its rival, and family life is better for it. La Tribune Auto counts up to 27 storage spaces totalling 186 litres, including the Modutop: 92 litres under the roof, with a 60-litre, 10 kg overhead locker reachable from the second row. Renault claims up to 49 litres for the Kangoo, with a drawer in place of the glovebox.

I did the sum for a family heading off for the weekend. Boot and storage added together, the Berlingo offers 961 litres, the Kangoo 824. The 137-litre gap is more than three 40-litre cabin bags, and it sits within the children's reach: cuddly toys, water bottles, wipes, jumpers. One drawback, noted by La Tribune Auto: the Berlingo's large tailgate is awkward in town, in narrow parking spaces.

Overhead storage is light storage. Nothing hard or heavy above the children's heads.

Euro NCAP: 12 points out of 12 for fitting child seats in the Kangoo

The Euro NCAP datasheet for the Kangoo, tested in 2021, gives 87% for child occupant protection: 24 points out of 24 in the crash tests and 12 out of 12 for installing the recommended child seats. The Berlingo, rated on its twin the Peugeot Rifter according to the Euro NCAP results page, scored 81% in 2018, with 23.8 in the crash tests but 9 out of 12 for installation. That rating has expired, as our article on the Euro NCAP crash test explains.

Almost the same crash protection. The gap lies in how easily a seat is fitted correctly.

Is a new Berlingo in Belgium necessarily electric?

On 18 October 2026, yes, going by Citroën Belgium's offers page: only the ë-Berlingo appears, from 38,495 euros including VAT in medium size 50 kWh PLUS, or 29,995 euros with an 8,500-euro trade-in bonus reserved for private buyers and subject to conditions, from 1 to 31 October. The last combustion-engine offer published by the brand, valid in March 2026, started at 24,560 euros. The Kangoo is still offered with petrol and diesel engines from 27,650 euros, a price shown without stated conditions on renault.be, alongside an electric E-Tech version.

The figure that counts: 10,845 euros. That is the gap between a combustion-engine Kangoo and an ë-Berlingo at their starting prices. With the trade-in bonus it falls to 2,345 euros, but only for families who meet the criteria before the end of the month. Citroën claims a WLTP range of 343 km for this 50 kWh version.

Regional taxation changes the sums for a private purchase. The Belgian motoring magazine Moniteur Automobile shows an annual road tax of 92.93 euros for the ë-Berlingo in Brussels and gives no figure for Wallonia or Flanders. A petrol Kangoo pays a registration tax and an annual road tax calculated under your region's rules: check with your regional tax administration, in Brussels, Wallonia or Flanders, before comparing the two quotes.

Before signing, six points can be checked on the test car:

• the real number of Isofix points in the second row, by lifting the seats;
• the exact trim: bench or three individual seats at Citroën;
• the centre seat: width left between two child seats already fitted;
• the fold-flat front passenger seat, missing on the electric Kangoo;
• the folded pushchair, placed in the boot with the parcel shelf in place;
• the tailgate opening in your garage or your parking space.

The Kangoo for a baby and a budget, the Berlingo for three children

My view, after lining up the figures: with a baby, an older child and a tight budget, the combustion-engine Kangoo is the simplest car to live with, and the simplest to equip correctly. With three children, or two older ones who each want their own seat, the Berlingo MAX takes the lead thanks to its separate seats, provided you accept electric when buying new or look for a used one. On the Belgian market, that last point weighs more than everything else.

For Sofie and Jérôme, the petrol Kangoo won, for a simple reason: their budget stopped at 30,000 euros and the trade-in bonus did not apply to their old estate. For a family, the duel also plays out with the Peugeot Rifter and the Opel Combo, compared in our article on the Berlingo, Rifter and Combo MPVs. For the pushchair, our boot measurements list the dimensions to take, and the comparison tool lines up family cars by Isofix positions and real boot space.