Posted earlier about the problem of big dog little car. Think i need to trade my lovely renault clio in for something more dog friendly! i dont want anything too big as its hard enough to park outside my house as it is, but with a nice big boot! was thinking one of the smaller 4x4s! it would be 2nd hand as im poor!! anybody know any nice cars to suit me and the pup!!

Ooooooooohhhhh a subject close to my heart as have just picked up today my new Subaru 5 door Impreza WRX :D :p

A 4x4, which is practical, looks good and is such fun to drive :D :D

I used to have a fiesta and used to quite happily get 2 Labs in the back but I am trying to put that in the back of my mind ;)

Lucy
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ps please feel free to PM me and tell me to shut up if you get sick of me going on about my the new man in my life :p ( it is like having something that you have always dreamt of and, YES it is now a reality :) )

Ha! excellent! will have a look at them, i think may be out my price range for now (recently bought house and getting married this summer!!Ouch!) but will def look at them! im pleased u got 2 dogs in your fiesta, that makes me feel a bit better!!!

Have you seen the Renault kangoo they are great for dogs loads of room,not that exspensive either.

Sheila.

Hi Lucy I assume that you are out 'running it in' as its a nice day :D

Now you be sure not to over rev it or go breaking any speed limits in 2nd - well at least not in the first 1000 miles :D :D

:D :D No not yet as my husband has just been out to get another Bday present and some cards :)

I think I may go out during the Grand Prix as have to go and get something or other that is everso important ! :p

I did go out rather alot yesterday one trip to go and get a pair of £2 laces ! :D :D

Lucy
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Hi Weezie,

Can you fold the back seats of your Clio forward to allow room for a crate?  Perhaps your model of car has a specific custom dog guard with tail gate attachment too?  Both worth looking into if cash is a problem and you really like your car :)
Alternatively as for small 4wd, I used to have a 3 door Vitara and with rear seats folded forward into footwell had room for 2 large BSDs - but you may be transporting your dog along with two passengers in which case that wouldn't work!  I've now moved into the bigger league with a Freelander which has oodles of space but everything depends on your price point of course - and it is a bit of a brute compared to the Vitara or Rav 4 for eg :rolleyes:

I'm sure there are cheaper, small ordinary cars around that would accommodate a crate or custom model dog guard and tail gate guard (Ford Focus has a HUGE boot area ;) .  Both of these would keep you and your dog safe in the event of an accident and that to me is a high importance factor in canine transportation.  HTH, regards Teri :) 

Thanks everyone will look into them!

We have a Citroen Picasso, not very nice to look at, but you could get the biggest dog in the boot, and if you're not travelling with anyone the 3 back seats completely come out and you could get 3 huge dogs in! The petrol versions are crap and (believe it or not) the diesel are loads better, especially 1.8 cap and up. We were told when we bought ours 2 years ago (from new) that they depriciate very quickly so you could probably pick up a fairly new one for not too much money. I know they aren't great looking (or a 4x4) but they will still be easy enough for you to park, as they look a lot bigger than they are (though they are still big inside) and they are definetly the biggest boot we could find for what we wanted to pay (around £13000 from new for our model) The other good thing about them is that even if you picked up a basic level, I'm sure I remember that they all had at least manual air con which does work, without drinking all of the juice, and will be good for your pup in the summer. Hope this helps, or you find what you are looking for, the other one you could try is Peugeot 307 they have a fairly good size boot but again not a 4x4.

Hi weezie Im another scooby driver. Looked at loads of 4x4s. Problems I could not overcome were:1. Fuel consumption (especially if driven enthusiastically) was truly appaling on most of them. 2. Most of them have a big jump in and out and I was worried that as my dogs get older they would damage their hips/ not be able to make the jump. 3. Whilst the space is deep in terms of head room many do not have a big floor space.

Mine also ride in a focus TDCi, which is quite surprisingly nippy and is just about big enough for 2 labs. The new ones are bigger though and the estate version positivley huge.

Most of the small 4x4s don't really ahve much room for their bulk.

I think th3e best dog cars are the little van cars.  Here I am thinking of the Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner (identical other than the badge), Renault Kangoo, and Fiat Dublo.  The latter according to my dad who test drove them all seems to give a very jarring ride (hard suspewnsion). 

We didn't like the Kangoo so much as in the passenger are it still ahs the middle himp, whereas the first two have the floor leveled, and the left and right rear floor areas have built in tool storage in the floor.

The beauty of them is that the load area is practical being whipe down heavy duty resin/plastic and you ahve the choice of rear passenger carriage, or folding the seats forward and having full depth van able to take plenty of dogs and tal ones too.

If you're a pauper like me having got married just over a year ago and all money goes on the dogs, dont earn much etc etc etc I went a bought an escort estate for about £1500.  L reg.  Not a day's problem with it, bits are cheap from scrap yards if they do go bad and you can get all the dogs crates and guards you could possibly want for it.  I have a tailgate guard and behind seat guard for it.  Doesnt matter if the dogs trash it and not bad on fuel either.  The gaurds cost me £105 from ebay and are made by Barjo which cant be bad.

I did have a new car once and had nothing but trouble from it!  Am dreaming of the day that I can get the 4x4 impreza estate.... long way off the way the agility addiction is going!

Claire

I did the folding down the seats thing for my two dogs.  I've got a Fiesta, LX n-reg.  The boot is barely big enough for one lab-size dog usually, but with the back seats down I can comfortably fit my Dobe and my Rott X in - and there's room for them to play as well, the rott even chases her tail as we go along!  The only thing I've had to really think about was keeping the dog guard in place - it used to slip down behind the front seats when a dog leaned on it, but a pole tied in place holds it where it should be.  A rubber mat helps to keep the dogs in one place when you're braking, if the back seats have bare metal backs!

The car cost me £1700 second-hand when I got it a few years back, nowadays you can get them for around £500, give or take, and they are good little runners.

I have recently swaped my Astra est for a Kangoo and it's the best thing I've ever done!  My Kangoo seats fold forward leaving a totally flat area in the back. Barjo very kindly fitted me a guard (removable) behind the folded seats, also covering the sliding doors and a tailgate guard.  Not cheap, but worth evey single penny.  There is no carpet, the whole of the floor including the driver footwell and between the seats is rubber, so much easier to clean, just scrub it out and let it dry!  It also has storage compartments in the roof (not all models though) which they call 'aviation boxes'
Drives nice, v good on the motorway. 
I can fit 5 adult flatcoats in the back with the seats folded down & 3 in with the seats up.
I just love it, can't see myself ever going back to an estate now!!

Hopevalley,
I am interested in this as i need a tailgate guard for my Kangoo, my Lintran box is not high enough and the height of my Kangoo is wasted. I have the 4 wheel drive version and the back wheel is in the boot area, can you tell me which part the guard fixes to as I am not sure if the wheel will interfere with it or not. Barjo say they have a pattern for a Kangoo 2003 model but not the 4WD and Wokingham where the factory is is a long way from me to go for then to measure it up. I am also interested in the front guard that covers the side doors too, presumably they have a pattern now for this too. Does it cover both side doors or just one?
Amos

Barnesbrook cages will make you a bespoke cage/guard to the same or better quality than Barjo for much less outlay.  I have had two made to measure cages from them and the one they do for the Kangoo/Citroen/Peugeot is taller and wider than the Barjo model.

They do not rattle and he wil put on hooks for leads etc.

He has all the patterns for all the cars on his computer and if he does not he will go to the showroom and measure up.

His lead time is about 10 days.

Thanks for that I have just e mailed him.
Amos