Big Paws Only Dog Forums
BPO Travel & Transport Forum => Transporting & Traveling With Dogs => : pink2378 December 27, 2006, 03:02:59 PM
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I will be getting a new vehicle this spring and thought I'd see if any of you have suggestions of vehicles that work great for you and your big paws. My 6 month old newfy, Lucy, is doing fine right now in my VW Bug and the back seat folds down so she'll have quite a bit of room even when she's full grown but she'll be all I can fit in there. I was thinking of a Honda Element because you can just hose it out when it gets dirty on the inside and the seats fold up and it seems like it'd be pretty easy for her to get in and out of. Any suggestions?
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we picked up an old Police impala. well not old. but a 2000. Its all vinal seats and the floors are nice no carpet at all...its GREAT with our dane :)
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we have an explorer. great room, i can fit axle, sheeba, and diesel in the cargo place in the back, with no problems. caine has to ride in the back seat between our two car seats, and we still have room. it's not so good on gas though, but our leather seats are super easy to clean, and axle sure loves to stick his head out the sunroof to smell when we stop at the red lights!
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i'm glad i'm not the only one who bought the truck to fit the dogs and not the dogs to fit the truck!
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When I saw the subject line for this thread, my first thought was the Honda Element. My daughter has one and it is fantastic when it comes to transporting the dogs. The back seats are so versatile, you can fold them flat against the walls, you can fold them flat down to make a bed, you can remove them or you can leave them as normal for the human passengers. It gets great gas mileage, has a wonderful stereo system (standard for the vehicle) and can be hosed out very easily. This is the vehicle that Bella hurled in for several hours straight and the clean up was a breeze.
I personally have a Mazda single cab truck and a Chevrolet Z71 Extended Cab. Jake rides with me in both vehicles, but is not so comfy in the Mazda. The Mazda is great for transporting just one pooch- any more than that and we are in the Chevy. There have been some excellent vehicles mentioned though so I am betting you are going to find the perfect one.
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I get teased for the endlessly, but I have a Dodge Grand Caravan. (and, yes, I am a soccer mom too)
We do alot of family road trips, the kids get the middle seats and Jack has the whole back seat to himself. The cargo area holds his crate (xlrg), four suitcases, beach chairs, umbrellas and such, his suitcase and what not.
It is incredibly uncool (so I'm told) but it is wonderful for us.
Tina
i just had to put in that i love the *his* suitcase part! ha ha
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I have a Honda Element, it is just awesome with a dog. If you live in a region with cold winters, it really pays off big-time with the all-wheel-drive. Living in Alberta, we get big snow storms and my Element gets me where I need to go, and safely. It's extremely versatile with all the differnt seating arrangements, is great on gas (4 cylinder) and Kate absolutely loves it. She has a lot of room in the back and it works really well for her. The non-carpeted floor is definitely a big bonus, clean-ups are a breeze...
The only thing I would suggest if you were thinking of an Element is that if you are wanting an automatic, I would pass. I drive manual transmission and my Element has a lot of pep. The automatic I tried was lacking, very buzzy and just not as fun to drive as the manual transmission. This is most likely because Elements (both automatic and manual transmission) are 4 cylinders. It's tough to get a lot of pep out of a 4 cylinder vehicle with an automatic transmission, let alone one of the Element's size and shape. The 4 cylinder in the manual is just great though! If you are looking at getting an automatic vehcile - I'd defnitely look into a 6 cylinder vehicle(just my opinion). Big difference between 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder vehicles is obviously mileage. To give you an idea - I get about 600 km's to a single tank of gas in the Element, costs about $29 CDN to fill.
Good luck! And I would recommend taking Lucy car shopping with you! ;)
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WOW! Thanks for all the input! I will keep this all in mind as I start doing my research and test drives and all that. And once I get it narrowed down I definitely will be bringing Lucy with me...just to make sure! And maybe she can use her newfie charm to get the salesman (or saleswoman!) to give me a great deal.
Shelley
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After driving 3 minivans (2 dodge and 1 ford) when I needed a new vehicle I went for the GMC Yukon, it is very comfortable with cushy seats and every possible option - but the gas mileage is not good and the van actually had more storage room. Harley takes the back part with the third row of seats up for more room for him. Then my kids, in the back seat and the gear and suitcases go where? We make it work since the truck is wide there is alot of room on the seats and on top of the third row when they seats are in the up position.
My friend bought an element a few months ago and loves the fact that he can take the seats out and hose the truck out - I don't know how dirty it gets since all he does is drive back and forth to work and has just one little mini pincher that doesn't go in the car all that often but he could hose it down if he needed to.
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The Town and Country is nice with the seats that drop down into the floor. I rent one to take Cody to the Vet. because he can't get into the back of my Beetle anymore with his knee issues even with his ramp.
I'd think about buying one, but the mileage on the Beetle is in the 40s (it's a diesel) and I choke when I see the mileage on vans.
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I bought my vehicle to accomodate my dogs ::) and child :)(at the time we had two rottis)We have an Ford Eddie Bauer expedition. It has tonnes of room with easy to clean leather seats. If you fold down the 3rd row seats and the second row of seats you have room for 3 dogs easily. The second row splits so you can have two or one seat down-I need one of those seats as a car seat for my daughter. We travel to London about once a month a 2.5 hour drive and everyone is comfortable and has thier OWN spot.
Now it is not the best vehicle on gas ::) but we needed the space. It is higher up ,but you could get a ramp for pupper. I find now that Puck is getting older and he is unable to get in the back--unless I lift his butt up.If I let him in the side door and flip the second seat forward he can climb right in with no assistance needed right into the back.
It is a big vehicle but you get use to driving it. If you do get one get one with the backup warning thing--it beeps when you get close to something backing up. We got the heated and air conditioned seats---no more sweaty back in the summer...lol
Good Luck with finding a vehicle....let us know what you decide ;D
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I also bought my "truck" to accomadate the kids and dogs. I had a kia sedona minivan and i HATE it. I do foster care and with my 3 kids and 2 foster kids the kia was full all the time, you add my 2 double strollers and there was absolutely no room left. I just got a Ford Excursion and LOVE it. It is HUGE but with 5 kids and 3 LARGE dogs it is needed. It actually has seat belts for 9. I have 3 carseats in the rear seat and 2 carseats in the middle seat. Their is still plenty of room in the back to put my 2 double strollers AND my 3 dogs comfortably. I have to admit the gas mileage isn't the best BUT I needed the room. Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide on.
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THey also have the new FJ Cruiser for Toyota that is really neat. You can wash the back out of that one too. That will be my next car when i get a better paying job! HEhehe. thats funny that your newf likes to ride in the Bug. Fumble loves to ride in the backseat of my little chevy cobalt.. he is so content just laying across the back seat. the only downfall is he can't stick his head out the windows,but he sure does try! :)
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GLad to see that I am not the only one that has to get a new vehicle to fit the dog. Zig, my 8 week old newf, fits great into my Nissan Maxima right now...GIve it another 9 months or so. I really don't want to do go the van route, but it is so practical.
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We bought a jeep liberty for Elvis when he was a baby and now with 3 Newfs we looked at the FJ cruiser too! Totally fabulous vehicle. All the seats are water proof and the floor is rubber, so you can just hose down. Perfect for wet and muddy :P I drive a MINI and when I fold the seats down, all 3 of them cram themselves in for a ride.
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Well, we are currently big-paw less, but we drive a Nissan Pathfinder and love it. Izzy was also a big fan. The backseat was plenty big enough for his furry lumpy self, though his favorite spot was to lay in between the back and front seats on the floor. ::) Go figure.
But, the quick run down: Good gas mileage for an SUV (18MPG average, and I drive crazy mountain roads), very comfortable drive with lots of pep and very responsive steering. No mechanical problems thus far (we've only had it a year and it has 80k on it, bought used for a great price), attractive car, eays to maneuver as it's small outside but big inside, lots of storage in back, front, etc. Lots of leg room, and head room, seats 5 adults comfortably, carseats are easy to get into and out of (I don't need them, but I had to do it once) upholstery is low maintenance, great AC and heating, good sound system. And, not that most people would need this as a consideration, but if you are driving in snow this car ROCKS. I drove in snow up to the grill almost everyday for two months and only got stuck once.
Now for the doggy bits: The backseat can be a little difficult to maneuver into, but Iz got great at putting a paw onto to stepbar and hoisting himself in. Getting into the back hatch was very easy. COuld have easily fit two newfs in the back, but one was very comfy on the backseat. Cleaning inside was simple, and we kept an office mat (you know the plastic thing under office chairs to protect carpet) on the floor of the back trunk space for when he got messy/wet, etc.
Overall, I can't see myself driving anything else anymore. I'm in love.
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I LOVE my Jeep. It's been fantastic! But = as my Pup is Growing, and Growing, AND GROWING. Well, it's just not fitting these two Pyrs anymore. Rain is a really big girl. And Whisper will be even bigger when fully grown. I need a van! But these roads are rough in the winter times and my lane is like a river bottom so that's not going to get me up and down. They're too low to the ground.
Can't immagine myself ever getting rid of "Blue" (my faithful Jeep) but I'm going to have to find another vehicle for taking the Fur Kids out & about for Therapy Visits. I'll be checking out the dogcars.com this evening. You should have seen them sqeezed in together yesterday when we went for an outing! And that was with the back seat layed down! (& two wet Pyrs after a run on the Lake Shore.) LOL!
Gas up here is up to $3.49 pr gal. That's another 'thing'. :'( Although I try to be as conservative as possible.
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Fido Friendly Magazine has a section where they talk about vehicles that are great for dogs. One of the cars looked at was the Dodge Nitro. I got to ride in one a couple of weeks ago and it was nice. Lots of room inside for Big Paws. I liked it. Not sure on it's gas mileage though.
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We drive a Dodge 15 passenger van, I think that it's a 2002. It came with 4 rows of seats, but we've taken out and stored the rear 2 seats. That leaves plenty of room for 5 humans, 3 dogs and all of the additional stuff that comes with everyone. It's has a 1 ton capacity and tows an 8,000 lb travel trailer just fine. Freeway milage is around 15-17 mpg (but only about 6-8 mpg when towing...cough, choke!). Overall, it works really well for us. We considered a Suburban, but it didn't have the towing capacity that we needed. We also considered a 4 door truck, but we wanted the A/C to reach the back for the dogs while we traveled, so we ended up with the behemouth van. ::) ;D We'd like a smaller vehicle also for short trips around town.