Hiya. We have a scudo van (with extra seats)as our first vehicle and I recently swopped our Berling Multispace for a newer one only to get it written off after 2 weeks. Insurance company are now paying out so need to look at what to get. Would prefer a mpv rather that an estate as I dont like long fronts to cars and also want a 'car' rather than another van. As much room as poss to get 3 or 4 german Pointers in. (The citroen would take 3 but 4 would be better). I like the Berlingo but fancy a change. Have been thinking about a Fiat Doblo. Any comments or suggestions as what to look at. Newish vehicle wanted, max price £9000 to 9,500 Cheaper would be better though) ;)

will watch this with interest- we have a Volvo v40 for the dogs that we are thinking of changing for more room and for better fuel consumption (it is guzzling fuel like no ones business)

We have a Honda HRV - CRV is slightly bigger - only have one dog, but there's plenty of room in them. Lovely easy car to drive, very comfortable and not a fuel guzzler.

Definitely check out the Doblo.

We bought the 1.9 turbo diesel model (with air con, cd player & various other extras) last October and paid less than £10k brand new. It is economical to run and cheap to insure too. We looked at several makes and models of MPV and estate but the Doblo offers by far the most versatility and the largest bootspace. Nice to drive too (says the worlds worst driver!! ) Can't recommend it highly enough :) I kow another CDer will agree if she sees this post as she recommended it to me.

Must admit we are leaning to a doblo. I saw one at stafford showground. It was a high roof which I thought was great (More dog room)

Yes, they are very spacious. I have a Newfie and a large Rottie X and they have bags of room. We can even get our friend's Bernese Mountain Dog in there with them with room to spare :)

Is yours a high roof or not? I have just looked at the Honda but can only get an older vehicle for what we can afford. Like the idea of a newer one really as that is waht I had.

Yes, it has a high roof. If you want to PM me with your e-mail addy, I'll send you a couple of pics :)

Edit...oops, got your addy from your profile. Pics on way :)

Done :)

OOOOhhhhhhh  Doblo's all round!  :D   I bought mine in September and it's fantastic, I get 3 Munsters in the back without a problem and haven't had to put the back seats down to accomodate them yet.  It's only group 3 insurance.  Loads of air circulates for the dogs as 6 windows open, visibility is fantastic.   I sent photos to Julie (Shaynlola) of mine and it made her & her husband look at the Doblo & they bought one!

I have a colour you can see in dogshow carparks too, so I'll never lose my car!  

This post was about cars. I think there may have been another one in the last couple of months too.

The Fiat Doblo is a bit bigger than the Berlingo.

Its a lot wider too.

Sounds ideal now all I need is a chauffeur and a win on the Lotto

If you do win the Lotto, I'm a pretty good chaffeur!  ;)

>I'm a pretty good chaffeur

Job's yours then Christine :) Even the dogs cover their eyes when I'm driving :rolleyes: :D

I used to have a Seat Alhambra which I loved and easily fit 2 Rotts in the back where the extra 2 seats can go, if you took more seats out you could get yours in easily.  I now have a Volvo XC90 which again fits 2 rotts in the back and is great as the seats don't have to come out as they fold down in to the car but this is not really used for the dogs as I also have a Mercedes Vito which I put my crates in and find it better for my dogs as my boy can get car sickness, plus its shaded for the sun.  My friend has the V class vito which has seats in the back that you can also remove but she gets 2 crates big enough for rotts in the back without moving a seat out and they are really nice.

If I was to go back to an MPV I would get a Seat any day, the newer ones are lovely with all the mod cons :)

Hello Star - my mum has the Doblo and so does Gabrielle S (with Gus).  It does look a bit like a Postman Pat van   but it does the job

No it's a Pope Mobile

lol all I know that is if I take it to work I make sure I get there very early and park it in a corner - I loose all my 'street cred ' driving that car  

Ah but who cares you have loads of room, and its a lot cheaper than some less useful ones.

I've had 5 Honda crv s Then i found the Kia Sportage, Brill cars, mine was a 2ltr petrol, but they do come as Diesel, added bonus of 4wd for the likes of Bath! My OH owns a Ford dealership so i had to swop to a C-max, 2 ltr diesel 55mpg at 80mph, huge boot and comfort! What about king cab pick ups. He has just taken one in part exchange which has a hard top, with built in roof vent! (used by someone with dogs).
Karen

I love my Doblo & mine is bright orange so everyone can see me in it.......I don't care, I'll never lose it in a dog show carpark!  ;)

When you have 3 dogs & all the smells and hair that goes with it, you lose some of your sreet cred anyway!

Hi all, I have a Hyundai Trajet which is fab for my 2 OES.  It's a 7 seater so I took the back 2 seats out to fit the crates in and all the show gear and grooming table goes on the middle 3 seats.  No stret cred with one of these but a fab 'dogmobile'.  It's not bad on the old diesel either.

Thanks to all of you and to those who emailed pics. we have looked at a 10 month old Doblo today and are having a test drive tomorrow. If all gos well the doblo it will be....:)

I lurve the colour of your Doblo, Christine :) Makes much more of a statement than 'safe' black but I just couldn't get the OH talked around to orange :rolleyes:

And street cred was way, way, way down our list of priorities when we bought. We needed reliable, economical and most importantly, big enough for at least 3-4 huge dogs so we don't have to change the car again when no.3 (&4 :D ) comes along :)

The one we might get is a dark blue metallic so not too bad a color

Lol @  Julie (No.4!).

I've still got a 'maybe' gap to fill after losing my darling Asti last year but I'm being very patient!

Well, had the test drive, got the air con going ( a must have in this heat for dogs) and decided to go for it. Gotta wait for the Insurance cheque from the Berlingo but hopefully get it next weekend. Its definitely bigger than the Berlingo but has less cupboard/storage places.
time will tell how it works out. (I'll blame those that recommended it if I hate it LOL)

Yep, blame Julie!!!!!!  ;)

Noooooo, blame Christine! She started the whole Doblo thing!! :D :D :D

I'm sure it will be great and I wont have to blame anyone ;)

Nope nope nope...Fiat have it on their books you've recommended them more than I have, so na na na-naaa-na!  ;)  :D

In that case, Fiat should start paying me commission!!! :D

We looked and looked at different things for a few years, and finally settled on the Chrysler Grand Voyager with the stow n go seats.  Yup - I'll admit it's expensive, but the ROOM is amazing.  AND the fact the seats fold down into the floor (and proper full size seats as well) made it very appealing.  We got Hamsterbaskets to build a platform and crate for the back (show stuff stored under the platform, crate with dogs on top of the platform).  The crate is HUGE and our three whippets fit in it easily - with room for at least 3 more.  Not the best on MPG, but the diesel version isn't too bad for the size of car, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So we can easily travel with 4 people plus dogs plus stuff, which we could never do before.

Wendy

We have the Mercedes Vito Dualiner, it is fantastic!! Its a mix of both van and Traveliner MPV, so the back part has van sides, better for keeping dogs cool, no windows, we had a huge cage made by Hampster Baskets for the dogs, This Dog Pod as they call it, is light and easily removed, much better than the Dog gates that are a fixture.We have 5 GSDS, and there is plenty of room for them all to lie down, and tall enough to stand as well. it has 5 seats with side windows for passengers. although, can be used as 7 seater, with Dog Pod removed and seats used instead.Turbo Deisel, so good fuel ecomony. It really is a Dual Purpose Vehicle ( Ishould be on commission shouldnt I)  It is a real Show Stopper (No pun intended) when we park at showgrounds, and was featured recently in one of the dog papers.

Charm

dad bought a Ssang Yong Rexton Jeep in april after years of pestering him for a jeep  it finally paid off :-) , it is a 7 seater currently i have only one TT but that is going to change pretty soon ,
i will be able to fit 2 large crates and possibly a small crate into the back with dogs in them ,if i folded all the back seats i could fit 4 crates easily even more if needed

once i get a small table without wheels because the table on wheels i have is too big it takes over the whole boot and large crate cant be up but a small one could all my stuff fits too including my lovely new grooming box on wheels that dad bought for me when lil won her first title in march 'celtic junior winner 2006'

Georgina