Citroen Berlingo vs BMW M Models

What's the difference?

Citroen, the famous French manufacturer founded in 1919, has achieved global acclaim for daringly bold and brilliant design and engineering that was often ahead of its time.

Despite this, the double chevron badge has suffered a tumultuous ride since the 1970s, including a lifesaving merger with Peugeot in 1976, followed by another near-death experience for Peugeot-Citroen (PSA Group) in 2012. 

Since then, though, major restructuring has seen a remarkable turnaround. Under Inchcape Australasia, which took over PSA’s local distribution in 2017, Peugeot Citroen Australia has a fresh focus on light commercial vehicles, with the venerable Citroen Berlingo holding centre stage with its class-leading payload capacity.

Even so, with less than seven per cent of the local small van segment (under 2.5 tonne GVM), the Berlingo’s market share is dwarfed by French rival Renault’s Kangoo, with 25 per cent, and VW’s kick-butt Caddy, which now commands more than 65 per cent.

However, with an all-new Berlingo range just around the corner and super deals being done with the current model in run-out mode, we put one to work for a week to see if it would be worth a trip to your local Citroen dealer to bag a bargain.

To say the BMW M4 CS is a hot ticket in Australia is something of an understatement.

Consider this. There is an even more expensive one, the M4 CS Edition VR46 – at a cool $346,900 – and it sold out in less than an hour. Now, granted, Australia only got four examples, but still, demand was running hot.

That car makes this one, the regular M4 CS, seem like an absolute steal. It's only $254,900 (yes, the word 'only' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence), and it shares the same upgrades, and makes the same monstrous power, as the VR46 – for Valentino Rossi’s 46th birthday – only it does it for around $100K less.

See? A bargain. At least, that's how I'd be justifying it to myself if I had a quarter of a million burning a hole in my pocket.

So, this or a Porsche 911? Read on.