I'd rethink the Volvo. I'm sure there are many happy owners, but the ones we have at work break....A LOT! When they do, they also disappear for a long time.
The new shape Mazda 6 is a looker and a Skoda Octavia estate is worthy of consideration. From my experience of them over the last few days, I can confirm they seem very well built indeed.
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I'm afraid you are all answering the question from a human viewpoint. That is wrong:L it should be from a canine viewpoint as the Op has a dog..
So : tough seats, a view out of the window and effective and easy entry is required.
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I'm afraid you are all answering the question from a human viewpoint. That is wrong:L it should be from a canine viewpoint as the Op has a dog..
So the dog's paying for it?? :-)
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So : tough seats a view out of the window and effective and easy entry is required.
In which case, the C5 Tourer would win by a country mile thanks to the button in the boot to raise/lower the boot level on demand...
That's got to be a winner for getting a big dog into the boot with minimum fuss!
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Surely an Alfa 159 Sportwagon is a contender? Good for doggie too.
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For outright space you cannot beat a Merc E-Class estate. You can pick up a decent 3 year old diesel for £16 - £18k and get it serviced independently to keep running costs to a minumum.
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We run a 10 yr old petrol V70 auto and a 5 yo C5 2.2hdi. Both estates.
Both are comfortable but the Volvo (pre-Ford) has been 100% reliable and has just passed 100k.
Some friends recently bought a 5yo Volvo D5. Seemed to be every bit as solid.
They ran the previous one for over 200k miles!
Reading the cbcb and forums regularly, both have potential problems.
But both have good access for elderly and less-than-sober passengers,
are comfortable on long runs in the front and in the back - for us 8 or 9 hours across Europe -
and have cruise.
The C5 just has the edge on load space, being about 10 cm wider internally and a little taller.
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On Sunday we saw a beautifully behaved dog sitting in a car with all windows open.
The owner had considerately placed rugs on the passenger seat and the back seat to avoid damage, smells and hairs.
And the dog sat? On the driver's seat - which was unprotected.
A good dog is clever than many drivers so let it choose the car.. after all it probably owns the lives of its owners.. it gets fed , exercised and looked after, healthcare etc and all at no cost...#
# to it: which shows how clever dogs are.
Edited by madf on 19/08/2009 at 14:03
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Volvo, all the way, its so underated, don't take any notice of the doom merchants, i've run an S60 D5 SE geartronic for 18 months and its been totally reliable and the best car i've ever had drives like a dream and returns 44 mpg forget the french crap go volvo.
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My V70 is the least reliable car I've ever owned (apart from the SVX and its gearbox).
I've had problems with the electrics, faulty seat belts, trim falling off, etc. Latest is one of the brackets which holds the brake and clutch pedal has broken.
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To be fair, I've had both experiences with Volvo. I had a 2001 V70 when it was 3 years old and it was a PITA.
Then I had a 2005 S80 at 3 years old and it was nearly perfect, although much lower mileage than the V70 was.
Sometimes Volvo hit the mark, but not always IMO. Better than the French? Maybe, but then you really pay for it in running costs. Buying at about 3-4 years old with Volvo can be really expensive in terms of depreciation. They're still really pricey at that age thanks to Volvo dealers artificially holding the prices up, after that point (when they get to the age where main dealers lose interest) they tend to free-fall in value, in my very painful experience!
The XC versions tend to hold up better to depreciation at year 3, especially the XC90.
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">> Volvo all the way its so underated don't take any notice of the doom merchants i've run an S60 D5 SE geartronic for 18 months and its been totally reliable and the best car i've ever had drives like a dream and returns 44 mpg forget the french crap go volvo."
My experience with Volvos has been approx ten years, many different cars and many thousands of miles. Since 2006, they have been useless. Don't know why, but they are so unreliable they are being replaced on the fleet.
(My 'French' car has been faultless in two and a half years ;) )
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Anyone who plans to won a car for years should ignore comments about faultless usage - if the car was bought new and sold in less than three years.
As anyone who has owned older cars knows, problems occur when large mileage and age show up weaknesses...
(Like corrosion in electrical connections, suspension rust etc.)
See Mercedes built between 1997 to 2003 as an example.. best avoided...
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Lee, We have a similar problem in that we are going from one dog to two and have started (dog) agility classes. My current 3 series boot is not large enough. I recently had a 2006 Nissan X-trail for a while and given that its 'footprint' is very similar to the 3 series the boot really was usefully bigger.
The only slight downside, from a dog point of view, is the higer floor to jump into.
Regards,
Alan.
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I run a 2000MY V70 Classic which is over 220,000 miles now... it's still in the main dealer network for servicing (costs about £150 - £200 per service), has Volvo Assistance for recovery and doesn't give me any problems that anything else wouldn't.
Have a look for something that is well looked after; get it checked for the spec as sometimes they can be a bit all over the place (the main dealer can confirm the spec if you talk to the service department and give them the registration number or VIN if it's come off of a private plate) as they had trim levels but loads of option packs.
The V70 is good because there are some dog friendly accessories avaiable; I've got a spare set of gates that go across the tailgate apeture so that when you open the boot the dog stays in... also useful for if you've parked up somewhere and want the dog to stay in whilst you sort things out. Some of them have a retractable net that goes up from the back of the seats up to the roof, both with the seats up and down.
Parents regularily take 2x Golden Retrivers in the boot of their V70s, and have done so for many years. Even lifting the arthritic one in and out wasn't too bad.
IIRC earlier ones had a black plastic bit that is a bit more claw resitant than a colour coded bumper top (like I have on my V70... or in theory I have...)
I think that every car may have a problem at some point or another, but get it checked out thoroughly and go from there.
Manual D5's are a tax class down from the Autos, so that might be worth thinking about
Hope that helps,
Ed
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V70s are good. I've had two of them. In my opinion Mondeo estates are better but you say you don't want one, so fair enough.
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Morning all, cheers for all the comments, really, really useful. I put my money down on a car yesterday.
Decided against the V70 - absolutely loved the car but two things put me off - economy would be low for such a big heavy car and the salesman tried to sell me a warranty _before_ I'd bought the car and put the fear of god into me for the bills I might end up with. I'm just a humble bloke who works for the council so haven't got much £££ to throw at £160 door locks should they fail :-)
For similar reasons I didn't look at the 5 series touring.
PU - had a look at the CRV/x-trail but at my budget it would have been older and the interior didn't suit me, would agree also with almac's comment about boot size and usefulness.
Skoda superb - went into a showroom and looked - clever gigantic boot/hatch in new one but older ones just boot - no good for dog.
C5 - again I like these, but the software updates on the C4 have ruined it for me - interior lights turn off after 7 seconds, no use when un/loading at night lots of silly niggles down to idiots fiddling with car software so.....no citroen for me in the foreseeable. I posted a rant a while back in technical on this.
So in the end, and after MLC's advice I've gone for an 06 Octavia Elegance TDi Estate. I always liked our Fabia and the Octavia seems to do the same thing - great to drive, nice place to sit (although sadly a long, long way from the leather V70) and practical. Big mpg is very appealing too.
Having not gone for the more expensive car, I'm keeping the MX5 - can't see that it'll lose all that much money if I sell it next year rather than now, or indeed whether I sell it at all.
This blows a sizeable hole in my reasoning for swapping the cars in the first place as I still have two automotive mouths to feed, but it's sunny out and seems to shame not to have the car for the high days and holidays :-)
Thanks again
Lee
Footnote :
Interesting conversation with the sales manager at a volvo dealership after I'd test driven a V70 there - after the test drive, parked up next to a V50 which had its tailgate open. Realised its boot was a good size, and dogwise not far off the v70. The sales manager dismissed the car as "cr*p, look at the build quality compared to the V70 -{ slams doors on both cars to demonstrate }- no where near the quality of the V70". Might be the case and I know he was trying to keep me on the V70, but it was a fair bit cheaper and made me realise I don't need a supertanker to fit the hound :)
{edit reason} grocer's apostrophe, must be tired
Edited by Citroënian {P} on 22/08/2009 at 11:11
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Hope you enjoy your Octavia, and glad you kept the MX5. A friend has an Octavia estate and rates it very highly.
I was going to suggest (knowing neither your budget or annual mileage) an Outback estate. Dogs love 'em! There is a 55plate for sale privately in my area...immaculate both inside and out, and looks like it has only 20k on the clock. When I contacted the seller it actually has 117k on the clock. He is now asking £3495 but would negotiate. A bargain for someone, providing you do not cover huge distances and are prepared to keep it for a few years. I speak from experience when saying that selling Legacy/Outback estates privately is hard work!!
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Good choice C, i look at Octavia's with favourable eyes too, though i tend to fancy petrol sport 4x4 versions meself.
MLC's observations here and in the patrol car thread has made me rethink Volvo's too, previously a S60R had been pencilled in along with a couple of others when the ageing MB bites the dust.
I suppose my own experience of old school 1,2,7 and 9 series Volvo's had given me that rosy view, similar to MB's of old.
Good place the BR for finding things out the less painful way, and i find you have to keep abreast of things in order to avoid costly and disappointing mistakes.
Haven't we all dropped some clangers before the 'net though.
Hope the dog's happy in it's new home.
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Glad to have been some help. I hope the Octavia gives sterling service.
We've had two more Volvo failures in the last few days. Yet another air-con failure on one and total electrical failure on another. Can't wait to see the back of them.
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We've had two more Volvo failures in the last few days. Yet another air-con failure on one and total electrical failure on another. Can't wait to see the back of them.
Hi MLC. Prob' said this before, but Father was in the MET' and I recall him saying something along the lines that the Austin Westminsters had the heaters disconnected at one point until it was found out that they didn't run properly like that. Air con indeed!!
Cheers......MD
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I spend 12hrs a day in the cars, sat in body armour and trousers out of the Victorian age. Without aircon, it can become very unpleasant...(the fan alone doesn't penetrate the body armour)
Around 13 years ago, the job paid EXTRA to disable/remove the air con from patrol cars. They decided that cars fitted with aircon were far too extravagant for mere uniform officers :)
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