It's easy to appreciate the thinking behind four-wheel-drive vans. There won't be too many operators in this country who really need one but there will be some whose business regularly takes them down unmade roads, across rutted building sites or out to inaccessible locations with a considerable amount of cargo in tow. Then there will be those who need a van and simply warm to the rugged looks of an off-road model. Citroen's Berlingo XTR+ van is less straightforward to fathom than conventional 4x4 commercial vehicles. It's a small van created for off-road use that is conspicuously lacking any kind of four-wheel-drive mechanicals but Citroen are confident there's a market for it.

If you're a fan of the way 4x4 vans look, the Berlingo XTR+ is unlikely to float you boat. Commercial models like the Jeep Cherokee Pioneer, Kia's Sorrento XE-C and the Mitsubishi Shogun vans look a lot like their passenger-carrying 4x4 base vehicles with big wheels, bigger bumpers and aggressively chunky styling. Citroen's Berlingo XTR+, on the other hand, looks a lot like a Citroen Berlingo van. This isn't a bad thing in itself, the Berllingo being relatively attractive for a small van, but it means the XTR+ won't be winning sales from proper 4x4 vans on the basis of its rough and ready image. Instead, it will have to rely on its underlying abilities to persuade the punters but in the absence of an all-wheel-drive transmission system, does it have any?

The XTR+ is a Citroen Berlingo 1.6 HDi 600 van that's been modified for off-road use and the modifications have been more thorough than you might at first credit. We've established that the vehicle looks basically the same as a standard Berlingo but observant individuals may notice its wheels fitting their wheelarches a little less snugly than usual. This is due to the raised and strengthened suspension on the XTR+ which gives it an additional 40mm of ground clearance over a standard Berlingo and equips it to take more severe off-road knocks. Larger 15" wheels are also fitted and these are shod with Michelin Synchrome all terrain tyres for improved grip off-road.

"On pothole-ridden tracks the ride is exemplary"

The other visual clue that the XTR+ is not averse to getting its tyres dirty is the metallic skid plate that peeps out below the van's front bumper. If you're not averse to getting your knees dirty, you can take a look underneath and see that this is just the tip of the underbody protection iceberg. The XTR+ is well-shielded from protruding obstacles with a sturdy sump guard and two longitudinal metal skid plates. The smooth underside that these create helps the XTR+ slither along on its belly as it approaches the limits of its ground clearance, conquering obstacles that would otherwise have proved impassable.

Ground clearance and tyres are the off-road driver's best friends but he's also a very fond acquaintance of traction and without four-wheel-drive, you'd expect the Berlingo to struggle in this area. In a bid to ensure that proper 4x4 underpinnings are not too badly missed by companies running the XTR+, the manufacturers have fitted a clever multi-plate limited slip differential. When the mud gets deep and wheel slippage starts to occur, the differential automatically diverts as much as 75% of the engine's torque away from the wheel that has lost traction, firing it through the one that can still gain a foothold. This will be enough to extricate the XTR+ from some sticky situations but should both front wheels suffer a simultaneous loss of grip, there'll be little choice but to wave the white flag, get out and push. The advantage of 4x4 systems is that they have four wheels to send drive to, theoretically making them half as likely to require the input of farmer Giles and his tractor.

Sophisticated 4x4 transmission systems are expensive and because the Berlingo doesn't have one, it isn't. At around £12,500, the Citroen is a good £2,000 cheaper than the mainstream 4x4 vans and is priced equivalently to many bog standard, entry-level pick-up trucks - most of which also offer only 4x2 drive systems. The other important advantage that the Berlingo has over these products is that it's based on a van. With its 569kg payload and 3m3 load volume, it can cope with far more cargo than any commercial vehicle that's based on a family 4x4.

The XTR+ handles much more adeptly on the road than proper 4x4 commercial vehicles. Get straight from a standard Berlingo into this beefed-up model and you'll notice increased body roll in corners and a bouncier quality to the ride on undulating roads. This is a product of the heavy duty suspension on the XTR+ but it's a minor drawback in comparison to the roly-poly ride served up by all-wheel-drive vans. If anything, The XTR+ feels smoother on good roads than the standard Berlingo with the compliant suspension soaking up the imperfections more effectively. The steering is nice and direct, and there's a punchy action to the gearchange that makes the van enjoyable to get about in. Citroen's 1.6-litre HDi diesel engine is also very impressive with its 90bhp output and 215Nm of torque at 1,900rpm.

The issue of the XTR+ and its supposed off-road ability is an interesting one. In the UK, 4x4 vehicles are extremely popular but only a small proportion of them are ever used off-road and of those, very few are used in situations that will test them to their limits. The appeal of the 4x4 is largely derived from its image and the same goes for 4x4 vans. Very few operators will undertake serious off-roading in their vehicles and those that do would be ill advised to look far beyond a Land Rover Defender. For the kind of light off-road work that is typically undertaken in this country, the Berlingo XTR+ is virtually as good as many of the full time 4x4 vans and it's better on the tarmac. On pothole-ridden tracks the ride is exemplary and you can drive with the confidence that the vehicle is sturdy enough to take the knocks.

Obviously, if you attempt anything too extreme in the Citroen Berlingo XTR+, particularly on very low grip surfaces like wet grass or thick mud, the front wheel drive transmission is going to come unstuck before a proper 4x4 would but otherwise there shouldn't be too much of a problem. As a tougher Berlingo for operators needing extra strength and a little off-road ability along with a lot of loadbay and good on road manners, the XTR+ makes plenty of sense.