I am in the market for a new vehicle and I am looking at something that can be a family car, daily driver and dog hauler. I have one husky and plan to rescue a second. My current vehicle is a ford ranger pickup which is now a mess inside because of constantly transporting my husky in the cab. Now my wife and pretty much everyone else who sees my truck will not ride in it.

Any suggestions for a good vehicle

I love my FJ Cruiser for the dogs. It's got tie downs in the back that I can clip to their collars or harnesses. The back is an all rubber floor, so there's no dog hair stuck to carpet and if it gets really bad, I just hose it out and let it dry. Big down side is there's no windows for them to stick their head out. There's some clips that allow the back window to be cracked 4-8 inches, and I'm also looking to mod the rear windows to make them easily removable.

How many kids and how old are they? What kind of recreational activities are you involved in? How far do you drive daily, and how important is MPG?

We drive a Honda Element and a Buick Rendezvous both are really great and have a lot of extra space. The seats in both fold up easiliy so your seats aren't getting gross when the dogs are in there. The Element has plastic flooring which is great, the Rendezvous is bigger and is a lot more family friendly IMO.

We have a subaru impreza, its a bit small for a family car, but the new foresters are awesome and they get pretty good mpg.

I will say I love my 2012 Forester. Plenty of room for 2 dogs maybe 3 and they have a removal rubber mat for the back when they track mud in, pull it out and hose it off.

I just did this! But for a household w/out kids and 3 dogs.
I got the Honda CrV, I am partial to Honda so I will just tell you what I like about it so you can see the hihglights.
The rubber mat in the back end. The seats fold down 3/4 and 1/4, therefore they have never been on the seats. With the seats down they have the door windows. So depending on how many are in the back seat they may or may not have windows. I have 45-60lb dogs. They are okay for the back but love it when the seats are down. The rear cmera is a bonus cause someone is always crazy in the rear mirror during that intial trip out of the drive.

Could possibly be a little small with the whole family the dogs and luggage as in a trip or camping. But great for the dog park or going places with out the luggage. I have no problem putting them in w luggage for a long trip.

I also have a 2012 Forester. There are some things that I personally don't like about it, but it is a good size. Lots of cargo room when back seats are down, but still a small enough vehicle to fit in compact spaces if necessary.

I won't be keeping it when my lease is up though. I long for a Jeep Grand Cherokee, though the new re-launched Cherokees look nice, and more affordable!

I also have a honda element, would not say its a family car as it only has 4 seats but a Great 2 person and 2 husky owner car.

It's just me and hubby and our two shedheads. Hubby drives a Toyota Highlander and I drive a Nissan Pathfinder. For both of our cars, we can leave the bigger back seat folded down and we would have room for 3 adults and 3 huskies and gear. I *think two huskies could fit in the back space with the back seats folded up if you were just going to the park or something. That would leave the back seat open for 3 more passengers.

We upgraded from a 04 Lancer to one of the newer designed Escapes and you couldn't pay me to go back to my Lancer....

Loads more room for the sled heads, and we tend to take them everywhere with us... I also adore I can clip them both onto hooks in the back, and though they like to tangle themselves up... it makes for a much more reassuring ride for me knowing they are much more secure then they ever were in the compact.

It's decent on gas too, though I would have ideally loved to get something that wasn't dependent on gas at all... sadly the technology and long term affordability just isn't there in a car large enough for what we wanted now, and the ability to expand into in the future.

~Chris~

I have a 2008 Lexus IS350 that we manage to pile everyone in. It can get a bit cramped with two adults and 3 huskies, but we make it work. Lol

We also have a 2008 Land Rover LR2 that is the perfect size for us. The dogs have plenty of room and there is extra room for more people/kids in the back.

I wont be able to throw out specific model numbers, so please bear with me. If you want a nice reliable 5 passenger car I'd go for a Toyota Corolla. My dad had one for around 10 years and he was able to get something crazy like 300,000 miles out of it before selling it to some college kid iirc. It was also gas efficient (it got around 30-40 miles to a gallon I believe, and this was an old car). Currently he has another 5 passenger car, a Chevy HHR, and it is also working well; it's just not as great as a Corolla imo.

My experience with mini vans is minimal, although I would guess Ford is probably okay in that department (it's what my friend uses to commute everyday to college...) I do have plenty of experience with 12 or 15 passenger vans although you probably don't want something that big.

My experience comes from riding in different vehicles/asking my parents tons of questions about cars over the years...

I had a home daycare with 4 kids, 3 kids of my own and a really large lab so we got a Yukon XL..Love all the space. Now with the daycare closed I am in love with the FJ Cruiser and if we ever get a new vehicle that will be it...not sure if the hubby agrees though :-)

This will be a bit lengthy. I drive a chevy blazer my sister has virtually the same thing an olds bravada between us there are two huskies and a pit mix if we go anywhere together with the dogs. For now we hook my two in the back on the tie down brackets with some giant carabiners I got from menards by the traffic handles on their leashes and my sisters pittie gets put on the back seat and we tie the leash to the seat leg so she is secured, I can try posting a pic later. We both have leather seats so the interiors easier to clean imo, I dont think I have any fur on my seats the carpets collect it of course but those havent been an issue at all either. We have traveled once with the two of us, my nephew, and the three dogs about an hour and a half away to my grandmothers and it worked fine. We are running into the problem now of another baby coming soon which we will just have to travel seperate or my sisters pup will be left home because someone is usually there at least half the day, that is until I am able to get a different car which I think will end up being a minivan of some sort or maybe a trailblazer and I'll end up installing some tie down brackets myself and when the dogs are going we'll just remove or fold down the third row. The four door s-10's are nice as well pretty roomy in the back seat and you have the option of crates in the bed for the dogs then too, we dont have one but I went on a test drive a while ago and was in the back seat. Thats another option I've thought of.
My sisters boyfriend has a 04 or 06 trailblazer now but of course the dogs arent allowed in it, especially my shedding monsters, but its got plenty of room for the dogs with third row folded down and I actually think there would be enough room for me and the two car seats in the second row seats and I'm not by any means a small girl. The good thing about the trialblazer is that he doesnt seem to use any more gas then we do in our smaller suv's and it does have alot more room, but his seats are clothe and would be covered in fur.
I have had my two in my moms 04 jeep liberty and its just not possible to put the two in the back with the seats up so theres no way we could drive with three people and two dogs, she also doesnt have any tie downs for me to use.

Funny I was just thinking about this! What can anyone recommend as far as six dogs go? Abby and I frequently go to Michigan (4 hour drive) and I am looking into trading in my PT for something bigger here in a year or two. I am currently looking at Hondas, and thinking a mini van. Any models anyone thinks is the best/roomiest? I'm clueless when it comes to cars..

Megan- I like Jeep Wranglers... but with that many dogs (and for gas mileage purposes) I would recommend the Dodge Grand Caravan. It's nice that it has seating for 7, but all the back seats can completely fold down to be cargo room. Not to mention we all know how our huskies love those AC vents.

CavingSiberian wrote:

Megan- I like Jeep Wranglers... but with that many dogs (and for gas mileage purposes) I would recommend the Dodge Grand Caravan. It's nice that it has seating for 7, but all the back seats can completely fold down to be cargo room. Not to mention we all know how our huskies love those AC vents.

AHH this is exactly what I need! But.. how is the gas mileage? I was looking at the Honda Odyssey and it had like 25 MPG ish. But I REALLY want something like what you described, I have to take the back seats completely out of my cruiser which is a pain so I want something that can fold into the floor and be flat, and back AC vents would be lovely as there's a barrier and I'm trying to blast air back to the dogs and its extremely hard..

I had an 04 Jeep Cherokee and honestly, I wouldn't go back to it. It's good for 2-3 dogs, but other than that, it's too small. I worked at Davis Besse in OH (nuke plant) and I traveled from NE to OH with a Lhasa Apso and Kennedy. I had NO ROOM!!! It was ridiculous.

Right now, I am buying a SUPER cheap oldish Blazer. The back end alone is as big as my Jeep was LOL..

I have been playing around with getting Xterra.. I will be having 3-4 dogs in the future, closer to 4... Thinking of a dog friendly car is SO DIFFICULT!

It's looking like i'm going to get a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for me and the pup. 4-wheeling, open top.. I don't see how either of us could have more fun on the way to our destination.

For 6 dogs...that sounds like a full size truck with a camper shell to me.

YAY. Another sibe-loving Jeep driver. Shaqua just loves going for rides in the Jeep, even with the top down.

Megan I would maybe look at the Chrysler Town and Country vans. My boss has one and though I have only been in the front seat I know her seats fold down flat in the back and I've seen her put up to ten boxes of her dog treats in the van along with her larger dog and some agility stuff and the dog had enough room to roam still, and I love that the middle set of windows roll down like an suv. I dont know if you guys let the dogs roam or use tie downs but as far as I know there are no brackets to use for clipping the dogs. I think she gets between 20 and 25 mpg. Its a nice van and another I've thought of, I look at cars to much apparently! otherwise I would have to suggest something like an extended trailblazer if your comfortable with larger vehicles since a van will ride and sit similiar to your pt and the trailblazer is quite different they sit much higher.
Kelsey I drive a 97 blazer I picked up from a junk yard a few years ago, there great cars and are able to take a beating, I think the only real problem I have had is a general issue with the model the driver door starts to fall off basically the upper brackets lower pin whole slowly wears away, and once your gas gauge doesn't work plan on replacing the fuel pump I went to the wrong mechanic to get that replaced and didn't have a truck for over month got it back and it died the next day definitely go to a mechanic you know and trust, we have found something called Q bond to get a new bushing to stay in place and fill the hole in. They can be tempermental trucks sometimes but three of us have blazers in the family with out major issues. With that many dogs go for a four door I have had people argue it with me but they are larger. If ours wouldnt start playing or argueing we would have plenty of room for them to roam with just the larger seat down.