release the hounds
Active Member
not many people confuse me for a soccer mom, and I love a minivan for dogs and people.
What do you drive?
- Thread starter Jadex
- Start date
I like to read these! Only have two dogs now though husband seems to think he is getting himself a corgi again soon 
I have a 05 explorer xlt with the third row folded down. Fits a giant crate that holds a dobe and a smaller one that fits an angry cattle dog. Also have the 08 diesel F250 which I love.Fits both crates in the back seat if needed but usually only take them with us in the truck if we go somewhere without my son so they are generally loose in it. Have two beaters as well,little zx2 and a small toyota which I am not even sure what it is?
Have been looking an newer vehicles a couple years and can not find anything I like!
I am going back and forth between used tahoe or suburban. I am so NOT a chevy person but ford has nothing on a truck frame but a truck anymore and I already have the 250 and need something that has more seating and not just the bed. Have been back and forth on just getting a 150 but I think I have decided no. not enough to pull any of our trailers so why? I can not buy something low and with 4x4 because they literally do not plow our road sometimes and I need to get to work. We get horrible drifts. My explorer has gotten me through all kinds of things. The new ones seem to get stuck in a couple inches. We have pulled out a lot just on our street this year.
Could be driver error lol! Old jeeps in the past were good to but reviews seem to be hit and miss on transmission issues on new ones.
I hear rumors that they may use the new truck frame for the 17 explorer and I am trying to hold out to buy till then. But I also wont buy a new model year so I would have to hold on till 18 then. Ugh.
I have a 05 explorer xlt with the third row folded down. Fits a giant crate that holds a dobe and a smaller one that fits an angry cattle dog. Also have the 08 diesel F250 which I love.Fits both crates in the back seat if needed but usually only take them with us in the truck if we go somewhere without my son so they are generally loose in it. Have two beaters as well,little zx2 and a small toyota which I am not even sure what it is?
Have been looking an newer vehicles a couple years and can not find anything I like!
I am going back and forth between used tahoe or suburban. I am so NOT a chevy person but ford has nothing on a truck frame but a truck anymore and I already have the 250 and need something that has more seating and not just the bed. Have been back and forth on just getting a 150 but I think I have decided no. not enough to pull any of our trailers so why? I can not buy something low and with 4x4 because they literally do not plow our road sometimes and I need to get to work. We get horrible drifts. My explorer has gotten me through all kinds of things. The new ones seem to get stuck in a couple inches. We have pulled out a lot just on our street this year.
Could be driver error lol! Old jeeps in the past were good to but reviews seem to be hit and miss on transmission issues on new ones. I hear rumors that they may use the new truck frame for the 17 explorer and I am trying to hold out to buy till then. But I also wont buy a new model year so I would have to hold on till 18 then. Ugh.
Jadex
Member
That's my problem, I think a minivan would be perfect. I just don't think I would want to drive one. I admire your confidence, sass.
Elrohwen
Active Member
I feel the same way as many of you about not wanting a minivan, but I see all of the pros too. Strangely, my husband loves minivans and has been trying to talk me into one for years. We have two medium sized dogs and no kids so we don't *need* one, he really just thinks they're awesome. You can fit anything in them, and compared to other large vehicles they're cheap and get good mpg. He might wear me down.
I love how some minivans have a table in the back and seats face backwards! That's great! But defeats the purpose of hauling things and if I sat in the back husband would feel like a driver! And need 4x4.
I don't care what people think necessarily. Look at my beaters!! But my parents ruined me in minivans when on my bday when I was like 10 ish they said they had a big surprise and had my gma come over and I was sure I was getting my first horse and they come home with a new minivan.
I don't care what people think necessarily. Look at my beaters!! But my parents ruined me in minivans when on my bday when I was like 10 ish they said they had a big surprise and had my gma come over and I was sure I was getting my first horse and they come home with a new minivan.
ThatCrazyGroomer
Member
2007 Chevrolet Uplander... I love it. I just wish it were manual. LOL We zipline the dogs, both car seats fit in, and we can still pack a good camping trip with all that. Great on gas, too. Hubby keeps joking that we'll give it to Winnie when she's old enough... OVER MY DEAD BODY. LOL!!!
PuppyInMotion.com
Member
I wonder if anyone here can afford and will get a Tesla Model X.
Their dogs will have fancy falcon doors to get in/out
Their dogs will have fancy falcon doors to get in/out
PerformanceDog
Member
If you have facebook I would highly recommend you check out the facebook group "dog sport vehicle ideas & set-ups"
I recently found it and think its an awesome page.. especially with the search function you can look up different vehicles and see how people arrange the crates and such in them. I love seeing all the pictures and specs! They have some files that are worth looking at too.
I recently found it and think its an awesome page.. especially with the search function you can look up different vehicles and see how people arrange the crates and such in them. I love seeing all the pictures and specs! They have some files that are worth looking at too.
Michiyo-Fir
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2010
- Messages
- 2,494
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I drive a Volkswagen Golf Wagon, it's a larger version of the regular golf. It's called the Jetta Sportwagen in the US. It was one of the roomiest cars I found in that range and I liked the station wagon set up a bit better than an SUV (I don't like high cars because I don't like the angle of my legs. I prefer lower cars where I can sit flatter.
Overall there is room for a lot of crates with the rear seats folded down. We don't crate dogs in the car but I've easily fit an akita and a german shepherd in the trunk without the seats folded down. I would say if you only had 1 passenger, it's easy to fit 5 dogs in the car.
Overall there is room for a lot of crates with the rear seats folded down. We don't crate dogs in the car but I've easily fit an akita and a german shepherd in the trunk without the seats folded down. I would say if you only had 1 passenger, it's easy to fit 5 dogs in the car.
I drive a 2011 Nissan Rogue (they changed the body style for 2015, I believe). I can fit Addies larger plastic crate (I would think a small Border or Aussie could fit in) in there without the back seats down. But we have been leaving her wire crate back there. If I put the back seats down, I could probably fit two of the same size crate back there.
I have a 2000 Honda CRV.... do not recommend for dog crates lol although maybe the newer ones are different. I was able to fit a 36 and 30 inch crate in there with the seats down but it was not easy to get the big one maneuvered in there. And then i had to take out the small crate any time i needed to get into the big one...
Thankfully Juno and Cajun can be crated together in the large one which was the only good thing about the situation.
But I love my car when I'm not needing dog crates in it lol.
Thankfully Juno and Cajun can be crated together in the large one which was the only good thing about the situation.
But I love my car when I'm not needing dog crates in it lol.
Two Aussie sized dog crates by any chance? My dogs fit in medium size Vari Kennels. I need to buy a vehicle soon and am trying to decide between the Honda Fit or some kind of SUV. Or a van, but I don't think I want a van.
Lol the new CRV is awful as well. I can *barely* fit Fable's plastic crate in the back with the seats up. I don't know what size her crate is, but she's 40 pounds and it's a little small for her. So not a big crate by any means.
I LOVE my Fit.
I've had a couple different crate configurations. With the seats down, two 19" wide (21" tall) crates fit side by side in the back with hatch access. There's room in between the backs of the crates and the front seats for storage. I did rig up a little wood platform to elevate the crates so the doors swung freely since the trunk isn't a flush opening. But yeah, if your Aussies can do 19" wide, you're good.
If I need a larger than 19" wide crate, I can fit the 19" crate in the middle (door opening out a passenger door) and the larger crate with side access in the legitimate trunk space, accessed by the rear hatch.
BostonBanker
Active Member
Don't hesitate to ask if you can throw your crates in the cars when you test drive. I've done it with both of my last cars, plus was crawling all over this last one with a tape measure trying to figure out which size VarioCage I would be able to fit. The salesman had a bit of a laugh about it, but cheerfully helped me move the crates back and forth while I tried different set ups.
I don't think you'd have any trouble fitting two Aussie size crates. The seats fold up and drop down to give you extra vertical room.
Jadex
Member
Oh that's cool! I'll check it out.