Hello fellow dog transporters! I have acquired not one but two new doggies this year and my Rover 214 just isn't set up to lug around up to three small/medium dogs at one time.
Does anyone have (or ever had) a hatchback car in which the seats can be either folded completely flat or folded up and pushed forward, leaving me with a big area to stick a big crate in (thinking maybe a Focus or Meriva?).
My beloved Rover's back seat can only be folded forwards and doesn't sit flat, so currently I have a weenie metal crate in the boot and a soft crate on the back seat. Ideally I would rather an estate and just stick the beasts in the back but I'm a fairly new driver (and 23) so the insurance would astronomical.
Any ideas would be appreciated :)

>Ideally I would rather an estate and just stick the beasts in the back but I'm a fairly new driver (and 23) so the insurance would astronomical.

Have a look at an old Golf estate.  They go on forever, are pretty easy to get secondhand dog guards and tailgates for AND I don't think the insurance is too bad either.  My 23 yo nephew bought our old one and he was quite surprised at how reasonable his insurance was (I didn't think to ask him how much!).

hi cardilover iam a pem lover and have five my chose of car now is a fiat diblo like a citron berlingo only a bigger carrying capacity we have fitted decked cages in now and can and have carried 8 pems and three people to a corgi club champshow but it will take 2 corgi size cages in the boot it has a flat load bed with a plastic ridged rear bumper ideal for the dogs and come with either a tailgate or van doors on the rear, sliding back doors ideal for unloading stuff off back seats at champshows rear seats fold into the footwell and all the cargo space is flat and even better the spare tire is under the car so no need to unload if you get a flat we changed from a volvo estate to this and the next one will be this again and it is only a 1600 diesel model hope this helps

I have a golf hatchback which has seats which fold flat, I'm also lookin to sell it too as even though my 2 boys fit in the back I'm wanting a van.
I can PM you details if yr interested? I'm in the south east.

I used to have a honda jazz and the seats fold right down but also the back seats can fold up so when I had it I kept the dogs seperate and had the rottie in the boot and the staffie in the back.  Very cheap to insure, IIRC the 1.4 jazz was a group 3 or 4 which is pretty cheap for a tardis!

Seats don't go flat but my mum's just got a Renault Kangoo.  Loads of space in the boot compartment (though of course it isn't a boot) to fit the spanish in and loads of room for the Pom's too.

I have the seats folded down in my Toyota Auris, and 3 Collies are very comfortable in it.

I am the 'original' Doblo owner of this board and I do recommend them and insurance is only group 3 however they are a biggish vehicle to drive.   I had a Skoda several years ago and the back seats folded down flat, it was a hatchback and it wasn't too bad re: insurance and buying things like tyres. 

I had a 51 reg Toyota Corolla, the back seats folded totally flat, giving you masses of space.  We brought a tumble dryer and a big tv home in it (on seperate occasions)

They run forever, and i was sad to see mine go.

I parted with my Mercedes A class this year, as it approached it's 10th birthday, with almodt 200k miles on the clock.  Sold it to a friend's father, and it is still going strong.  It's back seats flipped over, folded compeletly forward, or best still could be removed so you ended up with van space in the back and very comfy front, with great driving and very low fuel use.  I loved it, would have replaced it with the same but have moved house and no longer have the space to store the back seats when removed, so opted for a Renault Scenic which is a bit bigger so I can fit everything in with the seats flipped.  Would certainly recomend the A class, great car, long lasting, lovely to drive and very trouble free.

If you fancy a focus,how about a focus C Max?I bought mine because even with the back seat up,there is plenty of room for my 4 terriers,and it is fairly economical to tax and,insure and fuel consumption is not bad either for such a spacious vehicle.

I have a citroen saxo, and although the seats do go down, they don't go completely flat. :-( The dog cage sits at an angle so I am going to have to put something underneath it to level it off. I had a Hyundai Lantra estate where the seats also didn't go completely flat. So there's 2 to avoid ;-)