Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger1057
1 year old lab is fully grown and quite big I need more space
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I have two Deerhounds. They are massive, so I am limited on car choices.
I just placed an order for an XC90 (3 year lease) I currently have a VW Touareg and the boot is probably too small for the dogs. It works, but it's tight.
I have looked seriously at all of the big SUVs for dog space and here's what I think:
Volvo XC90 - fantastic. It's a dog Palace. Just never use the 3rd row seats (fine with me) and put a bit of VetBed in the back and you are golden. My 2 are going to love it.
BMW X5: Rubbish. Very high loading lip (split tailgate) for dogs to jump onto and not a very big boot anyway.
Range Rover Velar: Technically, its about the same size as my Touareg. Just looks awkward and cramped to me. Very high loading lip as well. This was a shame as I really wanted to order one of these with the D300 engine. Not enough dog space though.
Touareg: Had two, want something different. Works well for big dogs.
GL/MLE: Had two of these as well, so didn't look. Maybe the new model could be my next car in three year's time though.
Audi Q7: Pretty good. Similar to XC90 - with 3rd row down it's OK. Only had a quick look.
Having said all this, you have a single lab and even the biggest of them isn't a "big" dog. So any of the above cars will be fine. Air suspension is a good option for dogs though, as you can drop the loading lip by a couple of inches. You would definitely need this option if you bought a Velar as the lip on the boot is very awkward.
If I were you. I would go and have a look at the Velar. It's a lovely car and surprisingly affordable on lease. There are reports of reliability issues with the internal screens amongst other things. Still - it's a super car but can get eye waveringly expensive if you add lots of options. Still, for one lab it would work fine.
On the spec, I have done a complete 180 degree turn over the last two weeks. My initial thinking was that I needed a V6 3.0 diesel in whatever car I bought. Just for the grunt of it. I haven't driven a 4 cylinder engine for over 20 years until I recently did some test drives. The Range Rover 240 Diesel impressed me, even after having driven the D300 which was my preference. Then I drove the Volvo 2 litre petrol and diesel engines and was impressed with them as well.
I ended up ordering a D5 R-Design Pro with the Xenium pack and smartphone integration. So I traded engine power for options, which I may regret. That combo has everything I want. I just need to learn to try drive it smoother than the V6's. But I have motorcycles for when I want to go fast, so it should be fine.