Estate for the hounds - Page 1 - Car Buying

Wednesday 30th August 2017

No - I'm not looking to buy half of Aberdeenshire. Rather that we have recently adopted 2 quite large and leggy ex-racing greyhounds and our previously adequate Mazda 3 is now pathetically inadequate. With that in mind, looking for an estate with a large loading area. It's mainly the missus going to be driving, so reliability is a must. Four-wheel drive would be a bonus as we live up in the North Pennines. Has to be a manual gearbox and preferably petrol (her indoors can't abide diesel). Max budget is around £8K. I have been considering something like a Subaru Legacy or Honda Accord, but what others should I be looking at? I have seen a couple of Jag X-Type estates with 4WD but I am unsure if they'd tick the reliability box.

steve-5snwi

9,625 posts

111 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

I would have said a saab 9-5 until you mentioned wanting 4x4, Saab did a 9-3 X which was essentially a jacked up plastic clad 9-3. I guess the Honda CRV is an option or even a Ford Kuga.

16,642 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

Not a 4wd, but we've got a 2011 Focus Estate and that accommodated our 2 retired racers without any issues .

16,642 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

steve-5snwi said:

I would have said a saab 9-5 until you mentioned wanting 4x4, Saab did a 9-3 X which was essentially a jacked up plastic clad 9-3. I guess the Honda CRV is an option or even a Ford Kuga.

Had a 9-3 estate which just about fitted the two dogs in, but wasn't overly roomy (when standing up, because of the slope of the rear hatch).
Plenty of room to relax though...

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

144 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

steve-5snwi said:

I would have said a saab 9-5 until you mentioned wanting 4x4, Saab did a 9-3 X which was essentially a jacked up plastic clad 9-3.

Only the petrols were 4wd, though - and the 4wd was available on non-stilts (petrol) 9-3s. I think they reckoned diesel torque would break the 4wd drivetrain...

16,642 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

TooMany2cvs said:

steve-5snwi said:

I would have said a saab 9-5 until you mentioned wanting 4x4, Saab did a 9-3 X which was essentially a jacked up plastic clad 9-3.

Only the petrols were 4wd, though - and the 4wd was available on non-stilts (petrol) 9-3s. I think they reckoned diesel torque would break the 4wd drivetrain...

IIRC it was a lack of budget to develop it for the diesel rather than not coping with the torque. The Turbo X had the Haldex system and it copes with the output of the v6, even when tweaked by Hirsch.

anonymous-user

72 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

Volvo XC70

No idea what they are like but they have lots of room and 4X4.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Dacia Duster but perhaps too small.

Volvo XC90 SUV

BMW X5

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Mercedes M Class

Land Rover Discovery

Skoda Yeti

Many of the large estates are rear wheel drive unfortunately.

S100HP

13,397 posts

185 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Volvo XC70

No idea what they are like but they have lots of room and 4X4.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

This is a good option. Liked mine.

Lunar Tick

Original Poster

112 posts

159 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

Thanks for the ideas guys. I have looked at a Duster, but while the boot is large in terms of height, the floor area isn't quite big enough. XC70 looks good but only seems to have diesel manual options.

juice

9,403 posts

300 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

A4 avant ? They do quattro petrols in these I think ?

439 posts

102 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Skoda Yeti

Yeti is hopeless for large dogs unfortunately. It's a nice tall, wide boot space, but not nearly deep enough.

16,642 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

juice said:

A4 avant ? They do quattro petrols in these I think ?

Not much headroom in the boot for tall dogs though - the rear hatch slopes a lot.

steve-5snwi

9,625 posts

111 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

TooMany2cvs said:

Only the petrols were 4wd, though - and the 4wd was available on non-stilts (petrol) 9-3s. I think they reckoned diesel torque would break the 4wd drivetrain...

The estate was 2.0t, the saloon no jacked up was the v6 x but i thought that was saloon only.

The diesel market has killed the medium/large estate market, its all diesel and not petrol powered. Anything else is automatic ...

TheVole

555 posts

171 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017

This has Subaru Outback/Forester written all over it, surely?

ZX10R NIN

29,503 posts

143 months