Hello all and Happy New Year,

The time has come to bite the bullet and buy a dog only vehicle. I have narrowed it down to a people carrier or van, not afraid to make tough decisions me! :-)
People carriers have the advantage of air con which brings me to my question-how would one keep the rear of a non a/c van cool in summer?
I have TMs so heat can be a problem, that said if it's too hot we stay home and go to the pub garden!
Thanks in advance,

Jeff.

I know Van type MPV's like the Berlingo, Partner, Kangoo and Doblo all can be bought with Air con.

I think the Peugeot and Citroen are the same vehicle except for badge. the Kangoo is same size, and the Doblo the biggest.

They all seem to be an excellent solution for space and headroom for larger dogs, and still give you a vehicle to carry people when needed, or a Van when you don't.

Unfortunately the Kangoo etc are not big enough, I would be looking next size up Despatch etc or maybe Vivaro and secondhand. As yet I have been unable to find any with aircon but early days yet.
Thanks,
Jeff.

The Doblo seems quite large.

Here are the details: http://www.fiat.co.uk/showroom/?id=4800#showroom/doblo

It is a bit bigger that the Citroen/Renault/Peugeot versions.
Thanks for the link.
Jeff.

I carry a Newf and a Chow X Rottie in a Doblo.  They have enough room in the boot but I tend to fold the rear seats (really quick and easy to do - literally takes seconds) which gives them plenty of room to lie down and stretch out on longer journeys.  I've had a Bernese in the back with them with the seats down and there was still plenty of room for everyone (could probably have got another Newf in...or even a TM ;-) )

The Doblo has proven itself reliable, economical to run and cheap to insure.  The Dynamique (mine is a 1.9 diesel) version comes with air con as standard BUT there are no vents in the rear of the vehicle...although you may be able to have it modified to have rear vents as well.  However, the windows at the boot pop open to provide additional ventilation and I've never found the lack of air con vents in the back to be a problem as the car cools fairly quickly with just the front ones.

HTH :-)

Hi Jeff,
Happy new year. 
I used to have a Ford Galaxy with no air con (too old!).  I bought big plug in fans from barjo http://www.barjo.co.uk/products/accessories/vehicle-accessories/12v-oscillating-utility-fan and found these worked really well even in the height of summer.  When we were stationary I used to keep the tailgate open.

My last van was a LWB transit and two of those fans with a roof vent kept the back cool enough for the zois when driving. A rear tailgate guard allowed the doors to be open when stationary. I fitted the roof vent myself, all you have to do is use a jigsaw to cut a circular hole in the roof and then drill some screw holes.

i have a citroen C8, MPV it is great for the dogs, i have a gardsman cage in the back with devider and escape doors, it has climate control so you can set it to what is best for you with out freezing everyone to death.i can carry 5/6 dogs and 4 people no problem.
I have a medium size breed

We have a Vivaro van with air con , so they are available! We asked our local van sales garage to look out for one on our behalf.

We have a peugeot expert, which easily holds four rotts, we went for it, purely because it has twin sliding door on the back, and it is nearly as big on the inside as my OH's transit (swb). I find it quite cool actually, but my friend also has one, and has plugged in a couple of fans in the back aswell, which seems to do the job. The other thing I liked, you could leave the twinsliders open ad the back wing doors, and still lock the front. Infact, I've been so happy with it, I'm now looking for a new one :-)

I know someone in my breed who has a Peugeot mini van which comes with automatic air con for the back and a seperate switch for the front. Its great for our breed which need it when we don't.
I can't recall which model it was, when i do i'll post it on here.

You could always buy an ex police dog van....they have fans on the top to keep the dogs cool and its already kitted out for the safe transport of dogs...it only has 2 seats mind you so this could be a disadvantage if theres more than 2 humans travelling too.

We have a Renault Trafic van with air con

Barry

We also have a Renault Trafic with Aircon, it's super for the dogs, 3 pensioners (Boxers) and 5 Frenchies and not forgetting the two humans.