Sail_Away Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 Maybe the Hyundai ix35 might be worth a look too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airedaler Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Airedaler I think you would just need to check that there was space for the top edge(unless it was a soft crate that would bend a teeny bit). I put my crate in and based on the length of my crate plus the extra space to the tailgate there was 91cm. So it's a bit borderline for me to tell you definitively whether it would work. Is it a wire crate or a soft crate? If we have one at work on monday and I know what sort of crate you are planning to use I can put one in and see whether it works. I am using a sloped front crate at the moment which just fits in my Territory. Don't go to any trouble KC but I appreciate your input. I'm a little way off buying a new car but just want to have some idea of what to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotMyCircus Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 The Mitsubishi challenger is pretty good, mine is a diesel and has huge dog space :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliwake Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 we had a look at the ix35, and the cargo area is very small. we looked at a lot of suvs and whittled the list down based purely on cargo area being a good size, and comfortable for our labrador. I would look at: cx-5 outlander forrester honda cr-v rav4 (if you're looking new - I didn't like the side opening door on the old ones either) x-trail (this wasn't on our list cos neither of us like them, but I agree they are a very practical option dog-wise) that list has deliberately only included 4cyl options - if you're open to 6cyl there are probably some others, including the toyota kluger. I'll try to take a pic of our dog in the back of the outlander this arvo - ours is the newer shape and I think may be a little bigger than the older style with the split tailgate? It has plenty of room anyway. There is also under floor storage, and the seats lay completely flat which is great. For short trips I usually tether him by the collar to an anchor point on the back of the rear seats - longer trips we do the same but use a harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah82 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I just bought a SUV Fiat, it's pretty new in Australia so not many people are familiar with it, it's called a Fiat Freemont. If you are familiar with the Dodge Journey is pretty much a rebadged one of those with a smaller engine and cheaper price tag We were looking at a Jeep patriot or compass but when we saw all the space the Fiat had we were blown away, and it has lots of other nifty features in the base model like keyless entry and ignition, bluetooth for music and phone calls, dual climate control, touch screen display and did I mention the space :p You can get it in a 7 seater but if you go for the 5 seater all that space that would be usually taken up with the extra seats turns into sneaky storage under the boot floor. The down sides are the engine is pretty revy and fuel consumption doesn't look great and it doesn't come in a 4wd but for the price something had to give Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbesotted Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 very happy Mazda CX7 driver here..have 1 young and 5 very old maremmas... it is lowish to the ground so it is not too difficult to lift the oldies into the back.. plenty of room for 1 to lie down in the back, room for 3 with the seats down. I love it H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I think it would fit :)y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 I just bought a SUV Fiat, it's pretty new in Australia so not many people are familiar with it, it's called a Fiat Freemont. If you are familiar with the Dodge Journey is pretty much a rebadged one of those with a smaller engine and cheaper price tag We were looking at a Jeep patriot or compass but when we saw all the space the Fiat had we were blown away, and it has lots of other nifty features in the base model like keyless entry and ignition, bluetooth for music and phone calls, dual climate control, touch screen display and did I mention the space :p You can get it in a 7 seater but if you go for the 5 seater all that space that would be usually taken up with the extra seats turns into sneaky storage under the boot floor. The down sides are the engine is pretty revy and fuel consumption doesn't look great and it doesn't come in a 4wd but for the price something had to give Woah that is huge! I always thought Fiat's were tiny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 WAY too many choices out there! I will need to go test drive a few but I hate going to car yards before your've made up your mind, always feel so pressured! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliwake Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I know what you mean. In the end we only test drove two - we looked at a lot but given what we wanted was fairly specific, it was pretty easy to cross a lot off the list just by looking at them. Car salesmen suck so much! One guy wanted me to hand over my credit card details just to make an offer on a car, which i didn't even know if it was in the ballpark or not cos he wouldn't tell me anything! Needless to say he didn't get my business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espinay2 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 We have a Volvo Cross Country. Great station wagon and plenty of room. Good to drive (except for the seatbelt. OK for OH but for somereason it doesnt adjust down far enough for shortarse me and cuts into my neck!). My 'dog car' though is a VW Caddy Maxi. I love the way it drives for the space it provides. Plenty of power and very comfortable. Of course I am carrying big dogs so I got a car that would do that specifically....if we take the Volvo we are usually only taking one dog (smaller dogs you would fit plenty!) It may be worth looking at a Skoda wagon too as they seem to be pretty roomy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah82 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 (edited) I just bought a SUV Fiat, it's pretty new in Australia so not many people are familiar with it, it's called a Fiat Freemont. If you are familiar with the Dodge Journey is pretty much a rebadged one of those with a smaller engine and cheaper price tag We were looking at a Jeep patriot or compass but when we saw all the space the Fiat had we were blown away, and it has lots of other nifty features in the base model like keyless entry and ignition, bluetooth for music and phone calls, dual climate control, touch screen display and did I mention the space :p You can get it in a 7 seater but if you go for the 5 seater all that space that would be usually taken up with the extra seats turns into sneaky storage under the boot floor. The down sides are the engine is pretty revy and fuel consumption doesn't look great and it doesn't come in a 4wd but for the price something had to give Woah that is huge! I always thought Fiat's were tiny! I'm calling it an American Fiat as that's pretty much what it is :p that or Fiat 5000 Edited April 24, 2014 by Leah82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Oooowwww now this looks right up my alley... maybe I should wait until 2015 as seems a lot of upgrades from different brands are coming - I must admit I love how versatile my Honda Jazz is on the inside it's like a mini van so this might be perfect size for me http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2013/11/2015-honda-vezel-a-production-version-of-urban-suv-concept.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliwake Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Oooowwww now this looks right up my alley... maybe I should wait until 2015 as seems a lot of upgrades from different brands are coming - I must admit I love how versatile my Honda Jazz is on the inside it's like a mini van so this might be perfect size for me http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2013/11/2015-honda-vezel-a-production-version-of-urban-suv-concept.html But that's an american website - it may not come here? Or if it does, it will no doubt be a couple of years after everywhere else, so you might be waiting a while. Looks like the cargo area is tiny too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah82 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Looks like it will be in Australia as well... http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/car-news/honda_vezel_due_for_2016_arrival_81522_20140121 But I agree boot space looks pretty limited, you would probably need to fold the back seats down to get anything more than a single crate in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 We have a Volvo Cross Country. Great station wagon and plenty of room. Good to drive (except for the seatbelt. OK for OH but for somereason it doesnt adjust down far enough for shortarse me and cuts into my neck!). My 'dog car' though is a VW Caddy Maxi. I love the way it drives for the space it provides. Plenty of power and very comfortable. Of course I am carrying big dogs so I got a car that would do that specifically....if we take the Volvo we are usually only taking one dog (smaller dogs you would fit plenty!) It may be worth looking at a Skoda wagon too as they seem to be pretty roomy. I desperately wanted a VW caddy but when I was looking they only came in manuals. Wah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Oooowwww now this looks right up my alley... maybe I should wait until 2015 as seems a lot of upgrades from different brands are coming - I must admit I love how versatile my Honda Jazz is on the inside it's like a mini van so this might be perfect size for me http://www.autoguide...uv-concept.html But that's an american website - it may not come here? Or if it does, it will no doubt be a couple of years after everywhere else, so you might be waiting a while. Looks like the cargo area is tiny too... Apparently it is coming to Australia in early 2015. I can't find any info on the actual size of the cargo area but the CRV has a decent cargo space and my Jazz is huge for a small car (not enough for x2 dogs comfortably though)... looks ok though, can't work out if it is only 3 door or just futuristic handles at the back I can't see?.... a 3 door is a no go. Honda's are great cars but they are falling behind the eight ball in terms of specs and inclusions when you look at what you can get for the same price in other brands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Here is a pic of the cargo space... doesn't seem too bad. This car is meant to be one of those 'mini SUV's' - which I had a look at in the Holden Trax, Suzuki SV but most of those looked a bit too small so this could also be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliwake Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 That pic doesn't look too bad - though the back window slopes so much there would be very little headroom for a dog standing in there - and not much hope of putting an erect crate in there if that's what you want to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sail_Away Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 That pic doesn't look too bad - though the back window slopes so much there would be very little headroom for a dog standing in there - and not much hope of putting an erect crate in there if that's what you want to do. mmm that's a good point. That seems to be the problem with some SUV's, they have the slopping rear window so for the dogs not ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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