What car do we need?

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

We currently have a Focus CMax and a BMW something or other. We need two cars - can't do public transport for work or car share. Paying on PCP - around £250 for one and £350 for the other.

The CMax looks like it is going to be too small for holidays with BastardPup as he turns into BastardDog - we have struggled to fit everything into CMax as it is without him and his kit. BMW is just daft and I can't drive it.

What do you recommend? He's a smooth Collie btw. I am happy to have the smaller car so DH can have a Pupmobile...

We have a new model mondeo and it's very spacious, especially if you went for the estate option

Um... if you can’t fit things in a c-max you need a large estate car, or a van tbh.

What about a roof box for holidays if that is the only time you need more space

+1 for the roof box suggestion.

I think we will need a roof box but not sure if we can get one on the CMax due to sunroof.

As for fitting stuff in, for a week's holiday we have two big bags which take up most of the boot, plus walking boots/coats etc. Less space than I'd expected.

The Passat Estate has about as much boot space as anything, I think.

Massive amounts of usable boot space means you can store suitcases, still have some room for a pup and the back seats are generous too.

I looked at it but went for the Tiguan as I didn't need quite so much space.

Do you have to put the dog in the boot? Ours sits on the backseat with a seatbelt connector that hooks onto his harness.

I have two dogs Retriever and Lab. Cars we've had are all estates: BMW 5 series, Mercedes C220, Mondeo, VW Passat and Golf. 4X4 Rav4, BMW X3, Ford Kuga.
A lot of cars, but DH is a car dealer so we swap cars frequently. 🙄

We have a Mitsubishi pajero. YellowDog can’t jump in and out of the boot any more though so he has a ramp, but OldGirl can jump it easily and SatanDog (retired greyhound) steps in as if it’s a doorstep.

Has roofbars for a box if needed, and the rear seat (and 3rd row) fold flat to turn it into transit van mode if all dogs are in together (or for Ikea runs)

Shite on fuel consumption though, but the wireless phone charger built into the dash is my favorite thing ever - I never have a phone charger with me

www.roofbox.co.uk does box+bars kits for the C-Max stated as suitable for those with the panoramic roof - not that the view of the underside of the box will be that panoramic!

Looking up the specs I'm surprised at the boot capacity of the C-Max, it's quite a bit less than some considerably smaller cars. Using more smaller bags (rather than two big bags) can maybe make better use of space.

That roofbox link is great.

DH wants a new car but the BMW is his boy racer. I have said I'm happy to switch to a smaller car and he can have an estate. He is wavering!

I just bought the box for our car from that link a couple of weeks ago and the service was fantastic - the box and bars arrived the next day, and everything fitted first time. Took about an hour to get set-up for the first time. It's advised you get really good quality bars and go a bit cheaper on the box rather than the other way around as the bars make the biggest difference to wind noise and even the mid-range boxes are good quality and reliable.

The reason for buying a box? - same as yours, getting dog and holiday kit (camping in our case) into the car wasn't working. Our staffy probably isn't far off the same size as a collie, and she does like to make use of most (if not all) of the width of the back seats so using the split-fold wasn't working out for us. The box just gives that extra space needed, particularity for light and bulky stuff.

.. just don't leave home with the box locked for the journey and the box keys sitting on the kitchen table at home.. didn't happen to us but it did happen to someone else on the campsite last week (we had the same make of box and he was desperately checking if someone had a key that matched his - no one did :(