Weblog Joost – Where is the midi MPV going?

I already see several people looking for pieces of ballast to tie under my feet. I don’t need to be protected from it to float. I think these cars just need a little more attention.

What exactly is the midi MPV?

The term is just as vague if you take it into account. MPV sounds spacious, midi makes it smaller again. You often see them on the road. These are passenger cars, sometimes you are even talking about vans, which are based on small delivery vans. Yes, the Citroën Berlingo, the Peugeot Partner, the Volkswagen Caddy, Mercedes Citan or the Renault Kangoo. Not exactly cars you think of when it comes to an MPV, right? The passenger car Renault Kangoo won 16,811 people between 1997 and 2022, while its ‘civilian’ counterpart Scenic was ordered 77,745 times during those years. If we look at the Citroën Berlingo, then 14,655 of these have been sold. The more luxurious variants of Citroën MPVs of different models since 1996 also achieved a higher number. The C4 Picasso alone was registered about 27,000 times between 2006 and 2019. Those ‘civilian’ versions are indeed more luxuriously finished, offer a wider choice of engines and offer more comfort. But you do the midi MPV really short when you compare it 1 to 1 with its van equivalent. Because it is only really functional.

Dying breed?

It seems that the breed is dying out. You practically never see them in tests, you see few advertisements for them and they also seem to appear less often on the road than before. I cannot find a passenger car version of the aforementioned models on the price lists of Ford, Volkswagen and Renault. On the other hand: At Stellantis there are immediately four of these cars available from Citroën, Opel, Peugeot and with a sidestep Toyota. Technically and in terms of size identical and with electric drive. Because with a petrol or diesel engine, it becomes too expensive due to environmental requirements. The implementation details differ slightly per brand. Of course, that doesn’t have to be an obstacle at all, the range will be sufficient for most people in everyday life. And if you have to, you can even order a longer, seven-person version of the Rifter from Peugeot.

Super practical!

And that is such a shame that this type of car seems to be sliding away. They are super practical. I let my thoughts go to the egg-yellow Fiat Dobló ELX JTD I had in the past. From the first series, you know – with that big plastic nose (I’ve had to resort to an archive photo here, alas!). It was the more luxurious version with things like alloy wheels, air conditioning. In the early 2000s, that was already a lot. The engine, the 1.9 JTD engine with 105 hp was a delight. If you started it cold, I could forget my presidency of the neighborhood association, he really nailed it. But once it got going, it was a nice, fairly quiet and even fierce travel companion. Whether I was alone in the car or it was packed: five adults and all their luggage in full swing on the highway to the Champagne region. He didn’t flinch. And on the way back everyone had added a few more boxes of the bubbly liquid. No problem. Taking bicycles in the car and not on the bicycle carrier? Open the back doors and slide in. Bass guitar amp, case and bag with accompanying stuff? Bring it on. Long journey, to England, deeper in France? I always arrived rested. The sliding side doors turned out to be super handy, especially in tight parking spaces and I’ve made reverse parking on the mirrors a habit. No pagers or cameras. Actually, I should have kept that car after 175,000 km. Because I drove around 1 in 16 on diesel without any problems – and mostly on the highway. Outside of turns, I’ve never had any problems with it. In short: exactly what you expect from a car, and more.

Well, what now?

It’s strange that the general public overlooks this group of cars. They are practical, spacious, affordable (if you assume that you can or want to order an electric Opel Mokka, Citroën ë-C4 or similar class with the same budget). Come along nicely with the traffic. And you will indeed not drive the vowels out of the street with it, but the performance will certainly not disappoint you in everyday life. With all that in mind, I am very curious whether this concept will still be the (electric) car of the future? Especially if you look through the practical design? See my plea here.