Can I Have Some Suggestions Please

SallyUK

jeannieblue wrote: »

Land cruiser.

What dog??? I'm more interested in the dog than the car

Hi Jeannieblue

It's a Bernese Mountain Dog! lol

Salx

goldspanners

try looking at autotrader,ebay and pistonheads,watch out for the scams from abroad offering to send you the car when they get your money,never do this!
pistonheads is fairly common for this scam,but it does have cars with realistic prices rather than owners on autotrader thinking thier car is worth more than it really is.

Fleago

Hi SallyUK,

We've got 3 large breed dogs and have a Skoda Octavia Estate, which they can all fit into at the one time. They're not as large as Bernese in terms of bulk (not as much hair for a start! :rotfl: ) but the boys are certainly as tall as a Bernese. The beauty of the Skoda is that you get loads of features even on a base model, plus very good build quality and good fuel consumption etc. Can't recommend the Octavia Estate highly enough.

AdrianHi

Skoda Octavia Estate is a great option and very hard to ignore, but lets be honest lacking in style. Not everyone is bothered about this but "I have a gorgeous 05 Mazda 3 2.0 Sport Saloon and I absolutely love it. " tells me this is a consideration here.
I am puzzled as to why you are not out there buying a Mazda 6 estate. You can get a 1 to 2 year old with the much improved diesel engine if diesel is what you want for the money you have. It is also a good point and price in their life to buy.
My wife loves her Mazda 6 hatchback and they are not unreasonably expensive to maintain. We've had it since new, now 4.5 years and 51,000 miles old with one bill for power steering hydraulic pipe at £280 which is a design fault fixed in the newer cars. After that servicing costs no different from Ford, Vauxhall, Honda etc.
Autotrader, pistonheades.co.uk, ebay, and even the Mazda dealer network for this price and age of car all places to look.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Before you leap into a mazda 6 diesel, go onto honestjohn and have a look around the backroom in the technical questions section you will find at least 2 volumes on the mazda 6 diesel problems, similar to the ford system.

Only a small percentage go wrong apparently, but you should know from the outset, and then choose accordingly.

Agree with harvebobbles, won't go far wrong with a honda accord estate.
Another very fine large estate is the avensis.

These japanese branded, but made well in Britain are very reliable vehicles, the dealers tend to be up to the mark too.
Nothing wrong with getting a good indepedent to do routine maintenance to help keep the costs down.
(toyota charge less to service the aygo, than peugeot to do the 107, and they are the same car)

AdrianHi

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Before you leap into a mazda 6 diesel, go onto honestjohn and have a look around the backroom in the technical questions section you will find at least 2 volumes on the mazda 6 diesel problems, similar to the ford system.

My investigations on this suggested the newer diesel engine which came with the "facelifted" Mazda 6 does not suffer from the same problems, hence my "much improved diesel" comment before. Also the older diesel fuel consumption was not that good and comes a far to bigger a price premium even in the used market so was not worth it when new, which is why we went for the 2.0 petrol.

gilbert_and_sullivan

AdrianHi wrote: »

My investigations on this suggested the newer diesel engine which came with the "facelifted" Mazda 6 does not suffer from the same problems, hence my "much improved diesel" comment before. Also the older diesel fuel consumption was not that good and comes a far to bigger a price premium even in the used market so was not worth it when new, which is why we went for the 2.0 petrol.

You probably have done the right thing Adrian, but of course our glorious leaders have thrown a spanner in the works with the backdating of VED, which is generally a lot higher on the petrol versions.

Its now very much a calculator job with a little input from mystic meg to forsee what the taxation dept will do next.

TBH for a good dog carrier and a generally robust vehicle, a pre 01 volvo estate with a good old fashioned vw lump makes more sense all the time, and run it on strained chip shop oil for ultimate thumbing of the nose at the system.

AdrianHi

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

You probably have done the right thing Adrian, but of course our glorious leaders have thrown a spanner in the works with the backdating of VED, which is generally a lot higher on the petrol versions.
...

It will rise up to the £260 mark on a 2.0 petrol Mazda 6 in the next few years, no big deal from £185 in the context of the total cost of ownership and fuel price rises. The used car market is over-reacting to this anyway, £2500 to £3500 premiums on diesel vs. petrol on a 2001/2002 BMW 530i / 530d, it was around the same cash differential when the cars were new. Does not make sense. I might snap up a 530i later in the year and run it into the ground if the prices drop further. Very cheap for the type of car it is.

Fleago

AdrianHi wrote: »

Skoda Octavia Estate is a great option and very hard to ignore, but lets be honest lacking in style. Not everyone is bothered about this but "I have a gorgeous 05 Mazda 3 2.0 Sport Saloon and I absolutely love it. " tells me this is a consideration here.

I know that it's as ugly as sin!! :rotfl: D'you think I'd be driving such a thing if I didn't have three very large dogs?!!

The trouble is, OP is getting a tall, space taking-up pooch. The problem with the boot space in many more stylish estates is the floor sits too high up to allow the dog/dogs to comfortably stand up. Plus, stylishness on the rear end of the car, very sloping back end etc, further restricts the space available for mutts.

Heaven knows, I spent enough time traipsing round car show rooms trying to get something stylish and extremely large-dog friendly. And, as you can see, failed. :rotfl: However, given that I've had to turn into a large-dog-mobile driving person, and renounce the inner Bugatti Veyron coveting me, the Skoda is as good as it gets for me.

Plus, the OP could always get the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing VRS go fasty one!

AdrianHi

Fleago wrote: »

I know that it's as ugly as sin!! :rotfl: D'you think I'd be driving such a thing if I didn't have three very large dogs?!!

The trouble is, OP is getting a tall, space taking-up pooch. The problem with the boot space in many more stylish estates is the floor sits too high up to allow the dog/dogs to comfortably stand up. Plus, stylishness on the rear end of the car, very sloping back end etc, further restricts the space available for mutts.

Heaven knows, I spent enough time traipsing round car show rooms trying to get something stylish and extremely large-dog friendly. And, as you can see, failed. :rotfl: However, given that I've had to turn into a large-dog-mobile driving person, and renounce the inner Bugatti Veyron coveting me, the Skoda is as good as it gets for me.

Plus, the OP could always get the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing VRS go fasty one!

I'd have said plain rather than ugly, but your the owner not me
My mother in law and sister in law both have Fabia's 6 and 7 years old, 80,000 and 60,000 miles on them. Fairly decent to ride in, OK to drive, cheap and never go wrong. Have to say I have respect for the little fellas / girls.

If you are giving up on stylish, for tall doggies, what about Citroen Berlingo / Renault Kangoo or is that going too far? :rotfl: