Dog friendly cars?

But then she's have to look at an Aztek on a regular basis. :rofl1:

Tiff, I'd suggest any Subie with 5 doors. You can't go wrong there. Considering where you live, AWD would be nice.

What sold me on the 4Runner was the electric rear window . It's a '97 and it's never needed anything but the usual maintenance , the paint job is still show room bright .

That's a pretty sad statement. In these days, we should all be concerned about our environment and gas consumption plays a big role in that.

I'm looking at either a Subie or a 4Runner for my next vehicle most likely. I love the new 2010 Outbacks, they redesigned them so they've got a bit more head clearance and look more like the older Foresters. Good ground clearance, good towing and lots of cargo space. My mom has one and I drove it to Albuquerque and it was great.

4Runners are just great all around.

A lot of my friends have the Honda Ridgeline, including the couple that have 4 dogs, 2 of which are Danes. They love their Ridgelines, I just don't much care for the body styling.

Normally I'd jump at the chance to recommend a RAV4, I've loved mine up until last month, but with the ECU/transmission issues I just had and finding out that Toyota has been keeping that information quiet, despite the fact that it's affecting pretty much every single RAV built between 2001 - 2003, I'm a little leery. When they changed the body style in 2001, they tinkered with the guts as well. I'm wary that they did the same thing in 2007 when they enlarged everything and basically did a total redesign.

The Element, as God-awful ugly as it is, is probably about one of the more useful cars out there from what I hear.

I have to say I <3 my kia. I have lots of friends who love theirs too. Mine is an awesome dogmobile. But its small. (I have a 2003 kia rio) I can fit lots in it though . No matter how cold it gets it always starts, isn't bad for driving in snow etc. Have had no problems with it and its fantastic on gas!

Though the vehicle I think I would love for my next one is:
2010 Soul Overview (I am so in love with this car.. its a tiny SUV, still boxy enough to handle large crates (rounded edges suck for fitting crates in back) and even though small as it is there is still lots of people room, even in the back seat, which is important in my next car as Darien is going to be a tall lad.

Going to agility trials you see a lot of Toyota Matrixs, Mazda 5s. (as well as mini vans) some 4 runners. THese are a bit on the smaller size, but get great gas milage whilst still being dog friendly.

You'd be surprised as to what you can do with a small hatchback when you put your mind to it.

My 2006 RSX-S packed full

Yeah, I can get quite a bit into my eclipse too, thanks to the hatchback. It wouldn't be any good for large crates though when they're assembled. What it's really great for is long things. (I transported our entertainment center through downtown DC with it! It only stuck out a foot or two )

Nice! I have pics like that too of my little Kia. We took 2 dogs, camping gear, food, clothes etc for a trip from ON to KY. We took everything but the kitchen sink and the result was:



It also holds 2 JRTs 2 Cockers, 2 adults (MP and I) and all our trial gear and clothes for a 3 day trial

Dekka you must've graduated from MIT to have engineering skills like that! LOL

lol just necessity . It was the most affordable long road trip I have ever been on.

When it was just us and the dogs our Pontiac Vibe was AWESOME. you can just put the seats down in the back so they have a large area and it's plastic so the area is easy to clean.

and it's proven to be quite a reliable vehicle as well.

i'll have to tell my salvage titled, 13 year old, running great saturn what poor quality she is.

I don't think shes aware

My ford, however, great for carting around the dogs, is in the shop CONSTANTLY. Piece of crap lemon.

LOL yeah my dad had a saturn for probably ten years and now my uncle has had it for 3 or 4 years and it's still running great

But I don't know if they make them like they used to.

Well, they don't really make 'em period anymore, so that might be a problem!

When Amy and I took Hunter and Chip for a 10 day out East trip , I removed one of the back seats of my 4Runner and we piled our/their gear from floor to ceiling . This gave them 3/4 of the rear . Small things went under the seats .

Impressive! I have a 2 door too. Sunfires have massive trunks, which i love. You could fit at least 4 adults in there without folding down the back seat. Izzie rides shotgun in her carrier usually, but when we have the other 2 with us they all ride free in the back seat (if it's not covered with university crap).

I love my sunny, i just wish i had something that was better when the roads are ice and snow... And maybe something with cruise control and air conditioning, long trips to Calgary in the dead of summer are excruciating! :lol-sign:

Well, I ended up just looking for a four door and got a 2000 Chevy Impala. I can fit two crates in the backseat and throw a ton of stuff in the trunk. EVERYBODY remarks on the enourmous size of the trunk on the Impala. When I loaded myself and a friend up to drive to Chicago he was like "Oh wow... you DO have a lot of space back here." Then on our way back another pal was helping us pack back up and he said "Wow Beanie, you can fit like ten dead hookers back here." LOL
It's also awesome on gas mileage. It gets better gas mileage than a brand new hybrid Malibu. Also it's a V6 and I wouldn't drive anything less than a V6. I looked at a Pontiac Vibe for a long time but ultimately the biggest drawback was the teeny tiny little motor and the overall lack of power.

It's the greatest little car and I love it for the versatility. A hatchback would have been rad but I couldn't find one with the power I wanted. Just a four door has WAY exceeded my expectations of what I would be able to get out of a car.

I bought my1991 Ford in 2001 with 86,000 miles on the odometer. It now has 187,000 on the odometer. Other than 2 starters and alternator and a drive shaft rebuild I have not done anything to it other than normal maintenance. Diesel's last a long time. Some people I know have over 300,000 on their diesels and they are still going. Mine rarely sees a shop and the last time the starter went I replaced it myself as I did not want to pay someone an hour of labor or a job that literally took me 15 minutes.

Having my truck in the shop could be dangerous to my health. The last time I did have it in the shop for a rear brake job they never did the brake job right. They started throwing parts at it and wound up replacing the wheel cylinders, master cylinder, front calipers and front pads in addition to new drums, wheel cylinders and brake shoes in the rear. They Basically gave me a complete brake job and the pedal was still low. Finally they threw another mechanic on it and he adjusted the rear brakes the proper way and the pedal was fine except for the RABS light being on. When they seen that they gave me a complete refund of the parts and labor. After I walked out with the refund I got back in the truck started it up and the rabs light did not come on so all was well. When they were going to release it to me the first day I noticed that the guy put the wheels on wrong. It's a dual wheel and they only go on one way.

When he put them on the right way he broke a wheel stud in the process and did not have one so I left the truck their till the next day. Over all it took them 4 full days from open to close to do the brake job.

There were times in college I could have borrowed a few of you trying to stuff everything in my (Corolla) trunk after a trip home

Thankfully my 2 take up one seat combined, so I dont have to deal with all this, any car is fine.

Good Luck finding a new car!

It does depend on the size of the dog ! Our old station wagon was on it's last legs many years ago and I had no idea what to get as it had to haul a horse trailor . I saw my first Trooper with 3 Great Danes hanging out of the windows .....yup my next car ! Had it for 14 years , went to a van for 6 months ( yuk! ) and now my 4Runner . Probably my last car . Sad .