A Car Fit For a Big Dog
 

We are going to get a puppy that will turn into a big dog (an Akita ... fantastic dogs!). They grow to basically the size of an alsatian, but are stockier. This means that we will need a car that will fit that kind of dog, i.e. either an estate/wagon or some kind of 4x4.

Would a Scooby Wagon be big enough? If not a Scooby then does anyone have any thoughts on what estates/4x4's are good.

Money is a factor. I don't need anything super-cheapo but X5's, Cayennes etc are out. Also need something that will be comfortable on the motorway, and not too thirsty.

Any thoughts appreciated. (But if you just hate 4x4's, please just start another thread to get that out of your system :))

We have an Alsation and she fits perfectly into a Wagon ..... no probs at all!

Pete

ps. Just read the 'Thirsty' bit .... a Scooby is out then. Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi Estate then? £13000 on the road and 62mpg :eek: you simply cannot argue against figures like that!

I can just get our boxer and black lab in the back of an 03 wagon, but with the dog guard in the boxer struggles to sit up as there's not much space between the guard and the rear screen.

Thanks for the responses so far. When I said "thirsty" I meant no more thirsty than a Scooby. I had heard that some of those 4x4's were real gas-guzzlers!

MY03 wagon circa 19mpg. I've met darts players with less of a drinking habit....

The whole mpg thing has been done to death though..... I keep paying cos I keep smiling :)

Most cars these days are designed with a lot of movement in the drivers seat and you can also adjust the steering wheel by quite a bit. I would imagine that it should be possible to get a suitable driving position for most dogs. I suppose the real problem might lie with the pedals and so it might be worth looking at something with an adjustable pedal box.

In general dogs have little interest in "comfort on the motorway" and in fact this months "Dog Driver Monthly" carried out a survey which showed that most dogs wanted a fast and manoeuvrable vehicle with nice wide tyres to ensure maximum surface area for hitting cats. Most also asked for lots and lots of glass so they could slobber over all of it and for manufacturers to consider fitting wipers on the inside, as well as outside, so they could clean the windscreen once they had put their tongues back in their mouthes and stopped slobbering.

Really I don't think that car makers cater for the canine market these days and it might be worth seeing where they stand in terms of equality of opportunity as there could be a bit of discrimination going on.

PMSL ;)

I'd look at the Audi A6 avant, BMW 5-series touring and Merc E-class. I don't think any of the cars in the size bracket below have the proper room for that kind of dog - certainly not the ones I've had experience of such as the octavia or A4 (the vectra estate is meant to be pretty big though). I'm pretty sure 4x4's are not the answer anyway - the cayenne for instance has a rather small boot considering the overall size of the vehicle.

Gary.

Forester?

Les

i would certainly be looking for a 4x4 LWB diesel

Westwood rolls with the big dogs in a Navigator, boom bangin baby.

PMSL @ Hedgehog, superb, more please

Weimaraner's fit quite happily into WRx Wagons. They tend not to be too impressed by the sound of Blitz Nur Spec R exhaust systems :D but they do like scoobs.

My friend has a mondeo estate and three large weims can fit quite happily in that too.

A volvo 760 is pretty good too.

My monster fits in my BMW 328 quite happily. He also fitted in my classic wagons no probs. In fact he wedged himself perfectly in there and never seemed to be thrown about. He's great in the snow as well for putting mega weight on the back wheels.:D
Alas

These

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...9/thetroop.jpg

intothis
No problem ! Had to go down the dreaded Derv route :( and am missing it for sheer load space and comfy cruising already.

PG you spoil those dogs!

My OES is the fastest dog in the west! He sits in the back of the Audi RS4 (estate). MPG is not an issue as the taxes go direct to physiotherapy units etc (but generally it's about 23 which is the same as the previous 'much missed' STi but this car has 470lb Ft :))

Find out what car Vanessa Phelps drives... ;)

:D:D


p.s. I'd go for a Land Rover Defender either diesel or for uber crazyness a small block chevy :D:D

What about a Legacy Sport Tourer or an Outback

I know they are boring but we show our dogs all over the country and we had a MONDEO estate and tbh i dont think you can really beat them for value for money ....we use my van now so thats why we got our MY00 PPP DBM WAGON ......:) BEST MOVE I EVER DID ...lol :norty: oh by the way the dogs we have are German Shepherds ,Schippeke`s and a Border collie :freak3:

:p good luck cleaning the fur out

Cant argue with that ;):D ...well apart from the boring bit :p
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=396606

I'd second a Legacy Sport Tourer, my dads got a standard 2litre.
Economical and could swallow a house in the boot:D

Volvo V70 T5, quick economical(ish) and can be picked up for a song. And another class compared to the old legacy and mondeo's ect.

I'll second that as I can get two Ridgebacks into the back of mine with room to spare although they enjoy the music of a Scoobysport system.

:)

Thanks for all the responses folks. A lot to think about there, tho probly not the Mondeo ...

Hedgehog - I'll look into the discrimintation issue :).

PG - nice gang!

PG my gang wana meet ur gang lol

Weird, I was looking at a website of these dogs the other week, they rock, but they look like a lot of hardwork to look after, and defo not a city dog! I decided to get a Sony Robot dog instead! :D

Don't see why they're more hard work than any other similar-sized dog. True they're not a city dog - you'd need to have somewhere to walk them a lot. Fantastic dogs though - went to see a breeder the other day ...

:lol:

John.

Legacy GT/B, 280bhp Impreza engined twin-turbo goodness into a Legacy estate. The Legacy estates (sorry, Sport Tourers) look far better than the Impreza ones IMO.

Another vote for the Forester. My dad's got one which I drive occasionally, and there's a fair bit more height in the back than the legacy or the scoob wagon which I used to have.
I've never driven the S-Turbo, but I'm told that it's pretty good - the normal one's respectably quick as well, and good on the motorway etc.