2 medium-large sized dogs... what car do you drive?

[kieranjholland]

I'll soon be the proud owner of 2 medium-large sized dogs (most likely labs) and have begun to realise my Volvo S60 may not be the best car to drive them around in whilst on our trips around the UK, Ireland and Western Europe.

To all those with a couple of medium/big dogs, what car do you drive?

Here's what I have been looking at:

BMW 5 series touring 530d/535d (2004 onward)
BMW 3 series touring 330d/335d (2006 onward)
Audi A4 avant 3.0 tdi (2005 onward)
Audi A6 avant 3.0 tdi (2005 onward)

I love my Volvo and am open to ideas on the next car... I do like the E61 5 series estate in sport spec.

[CanadianScot]

An 08 V70 in my family for our rather big Dobermann.

Didn't think the 3 series touring, A4 Avant or V50's had a big enough boot really. I'm sure the 5 series, A6 would be fine though.

[tobster]

I was looking into geting an estate to ferry around my 2 labs and I think the largest boot was the Honda Accord then the VW passat. The downside with the Honda is the diesel engine as there are reported problems.

My choice would be a VW Passat diesel.

[Tyngwndwn]

We have a lab only just fits in the golf , but two , well you have got to be looking at an estate car.

[Jasandjules]

Labs are small enough to get two on the back seat are they not?

We have a Passat estate for our mutts, one in the boot, one on the back seats (both have harnesses).

We went through a lot of cars - a Volvo 760 Estate has a decent sized boot, as did the Passat - the mondeo estate seemed a fair bit smaller (in that the dogs couldn't stand up in the back without hitting their heads on the roof).

[jackthelad1984]

2 little old terriers, 1 big old banger omega estate!

[jj333]

In the market for a dog carrier myself (only one dog at the moment though) and i'm leaning towards a rav 4 - purely beacuse I like the look of it. Not an estate man myself but this thread might help:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[B17NNS]

I'd have thought a 535d touring would be a bit of a no brainer personally.

[kieranjholland]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

The Volvo S60 (estate I assume?) or any of the other cars is fine enough place for Two Labs.

S60 is the saloon version of the V70

B17NNS said:

I'd have thought a 535d touring would be a bit of a no brainer personally.

You're right, this was a dumb thread

The issue is I want a big boot and 5 series is one of the smallest in the class

I've also been thinking about the Merc E320 2003 onwards, an awesome common rail diesel engine so economy is good and has a huge boot (630 litres)

Edited by kieranjholland on Monday 18th April 23:14

[kieranjholland]

jj333 said:

In the market for a dog carrier myself (only one dog at the moment though) and i'm leaning towards a rav 4 - purely beacuse I like the look of it. Not an estate man myself but this thread might help:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Good shout, some interesting ideas and I like what CSLchappie did in the back of his M5

[jj333]

Seem to remember someone saying they had this tube in their car and recommended it. Pretty sure our lab would chew his way through it and be sat up front with me within 3 miles though!

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/dog-bag/dogs-pets-carrier...

[RichUK]

We have a 2010 A4 Avant for the Wiemeraner and Beagle cross. When I get the opportunity I will likely swap the A4 for an A6 to give them a little more space, though they cope with a 250 mile round trip each week just fine as it is.

[rscott]

Saab 9-3 SportWagon has a surprisingly large boot. Our two greyhounds are perfectly happy there :-)

The 9-5 is even larger.

[Mrs Grumpy]

I am a bit OCD about safety when travelling dogs, so I got a van and had crates professionally fitted. Now I can carry at least four dogs in safety Granted I may be more likely than the average person to need to travel unknown dogs all over the place, but it gives me peace of mind that they can't get to each other and are unlikely to be able to escape in an accident and subsequently get run over. Plus, my decent car was getting trashed by being used almost exclusively as a dog transporter!

This is my Kangoo van. Loads of room and a lot of storage space between the seats and the crates.

[therealpigdog]

I used to be able to fit our two grown Labs in the back of my TT but wouldn't recomend it as I'm sure it wasn't the safest way of transporting them! Cassie loved it though!

I've not got an A6 estate which has a boot big enough for three - and room for luggage on the back seats.

Our other car is a Yaris, which is actually brilliant for transporting the dogs because the entire rear seats fold up, giving a flat load space - it's actually the same size as the boot in the A6. Far better han most small cars which don't have flat load spaces.

[Powderpuff]

Had a V70 when we had one Golden Retriever but now we've got two the family puppy wagons are a Disco 3 and a C4 Grand Picasso.

We found a lot of estates are big in terms of boot floor for when they're laying down but are somewhat lacking in headroom if they're standing / sitting.....there's nothing worse than looking in the rear view mirror to see a grumpy looking Golden staring back with his head on the roof, his face saying "Headroom dad...I need HEADROOM!"

[Digga]

Powderpuff said:

We found a lot of estates are big in terms of boot floor for when they're laying down but are somewhat lacking in headroom

They also have very slopey rear screens so at certain headings/times of day, your dogs are being cooked by the sun.

I had an Audai A6 Avant and my dog hated it from day 1; he literally walked up and down the side of the car, looking at it with disdain and wondering why it was parked where 'his' Discovery normally was. This drill was reated every trip for 6 months until I gave up and bought another Disco 3.

He was happy in a p38 Range Rover and hes also happy in Defenders, but wouldn;t go near the Audi - had to be asked repeatedly to get in - and neither is he a fan of Mrs Digga's 320d touring. No idea about his younger sibling, because all he knows is the Disco.

HTH.

[ChrisRS]

Mines the opposite, hates going in the Discovery but loves the OH's Megane hatch, he's only a small dog but i can't work it out, Disco's boot must be 8 times the size of the Megane

[Jasandjules]

ChrisRS said:

Mines the opposite, hates going in the Discovery but loves the OH's Megane hatch, he's only a small dog but i can't work it out, Disco's boot must be 8 times the size of the Megane

He might not feel quite so secure when there is too much room.

[ChrisRS]

(Don't mean to hi-jack the thread)

You could be right, i've been using a cage in the boot of the Disco for the last few weeks and initially he didn't like it, now he's happy enough to get in the cage but whines like mad on his way to his walk (as he did before the cage), however on the drive home he just lay's down and waits