Unfortunately our old Labrador is starting to struggle getting in and out of the boot of the dog carrier so it may be time to change. I want a van but am getting resistance so what cars have nice low boot lips with flat loading bays? Budget up to around 10k, not sure I want to go down the Berlingo/etc route though.
Can you not get some kind of ramp? Lots of fold out steps and ramps available?
My old merc e-class is fairly low. Have you considered a ramp / plank of wood or some steps to help the dog get into the car?
Our V70 has a low boot threshold - similar to our Berlingo.
https://www.theramppeople.co.uk/loading-ramps/dog-ramps
But if you want a new car my old v60 was low'ish and flat.
My very old Citroen XM was the best with the suspension lowered - Maybe there are cars with modern air suspension or you can retrofit airbag replacement to your current car?
The Volvo EuCD and SPA1 platforms are low and flat. (V70, V60, new V60, V90)
Most estates are quite low, but I think the van based people carriers are lower - like the berlingo etc.
My Jaguar XF has a nice flat loading level - height wise it’s about right for me to sit on whilst I put shoes on. So it’s probably not lowest of the low.
Berlingo is the answer unfortunately, or it certainly was a couple of years ago when we had a similar dilemma. Its flat as well, which we found makes almost as much difference as the height.
We had a dog who was old and knackered, but also was not a fan of being picked up, so I made a ramp for him to get in and out of the car. Nothing fancy, just a piece of board with an old cut up door mat stapled onto it for grip.
Just got a Vauxhall Combo, partly for the same reason
Octavia estate, I have labs and when buying the car I was walking about measuring the bumper lip against my leg,some estates are about 3" higher than others
Most estates - Vovlo, but also all the VAG cars. Our old Leon was lowered suspension being the FR model so even lower than our new to us Fabia estate by a few mm.
You can also use this - you can choose how low you want your boot:
https://www.ridc.org.uk/features-reviews/out-and-about/choosing-car/car
yeah RICD is your best bet. A lot of 5/7 seaters will have an option to remove the back seats leading to a really low floor, but I think there would still be a lip on the boot.
if its just a dog carrier, why not sling something like this in the back for the dog to walk up?
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trogen-childrens-step-stool-yellow-80371520/
Cheers for the suggestions so far. My wife bought a ramp last week and, as I expected the dog point blank refuses to go up it!
Current car is a mk1 BMW X1 so not the highest but it has quite a drop in to the boot which I think she doesn’t like.
Been out and about today and tbh quite a few estates have high lips so no better. I’ll have a look at a newer Berlingo to see if it’s less hideous than the last one I drove. Might just buy a van then ask for forgiveness when I get home.
Been out and about today and tbh quite a few estates have high lips so no better.
Do remember that many 'posher' models of estate have a moveable boot floor - you can go from level with bumper to a bid drop. See any VAG car.
according to ridc your car is 70cm to ground, the best thing is a tourneo connect which is approx 50cm to the ground, lots of other van-based cars are pretty similar, so something like that is maybe your best bet
Do modern Citroens have a lip?
I've had a few old ones and there wasn't anything so crude as a "lip"...
SMax has no boot lip at all. In fact the boot floor is slightly higher than the tail gate sill.
I see the Octavia has been mentioned.
For an aging dog, it's a no. My greyhound is getting a bit creaky and the Octavia is just too much of a jump down on level ground. Getting in is fine. I'm using that as my excuse to get a van, coupled with the fact that in the event of a rear end shunt I want the hound to be further away from the rear of the vehicle.
Until the van arrives, I'm knocking together a ramp.
Bert says the Berlingo is easy to access and drive
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Try training the dog? Start off with the ramp flat on the floor, dog walks on ramp, gets a treat. Once dog is happy to walk over ramp put it on the bottom stair. Dog walks up ramp, gets a treat. Progress until dog walks up ramp into boot. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks and labs tend to be easy to train as they will do anything for food.
(apologies if this is like teaching you to suck eggs and you are a professional dog trainer!)
🙂
Just been out & measured my Leon estate boot.
63cm high or thereabouts with a flat boot floor & no lip
https://www.ridc.org.uk/features-reviews/out-and-about/car-search
This site has the data
I'm with dB, it's a lab, feed it and it'll do what you want it to.
Also, a new car for a (being brutal about it, temporary problem) seems a bit extreme. Although I did buy an estate when I got a dog, but needed a second car and it was at the beginning of owning her.
