Dog van

[springer-spaniel]

I drive a new berlingo its great and has got me through some tough terrain. They do an xtr+ model which has better ground clearance and a limited slip diff as well as better tyres and under belly protection. Not sure if its worth 12.5plus vat like. I got my 62reg enterprise with no miles for 8.7plus vat. Great van and I'm getting a good 50mpg on mixed consumption. Hope that helps

[Rothievale]

I've had a lot of vans, vauxhall combo, Citroen berlingo, ford escort, vw caddy. By far the best for build quality and reliability was the vw caddy. The worst was the Citroen by far because of its build quality. The ford escort sits very low so was not good for tracks

[t jack]

I've had a lot of vans, vauxhall combo, Citroen berlingo, ford escort, vw caddy. By far the best for build quality and reliability was the vw caddy. The worst was the Citroen by far because of its build quality. The ford escort sits very low so was not good for tracks

The modern Berlingo's/Partners are a lot better, but the VW Caddy is IMHO still the benchmark for small vans, but they are a quarter of the price dearer, as for escort vans, your showing your age now Helen

[vicky payne]

I LOVE MY VW CADDY!
It's more to buy and more to service but it is relaible and I get about 50mpg out of it. It's not great on slippery mud, but no 2wd small van is. Ground clearance is ok, no worse than a car and we've managed some pretty hairy farm tracks.
You can fit one of the common trans k9 boxes in it (ignore the website which recommends the pro version at twice the price, the nice salesman said i'd be fine with the smaller one) and leaves plenty of room behind that for other gear. It drives like a car, even long motorway trips are quite pleasant.

[Joe1961]

I recently bought a Peugeot partner, that has been kitted out with ply boxes. Its great nice and comfy for me and the dogs, plenty of storage. I can get all the dogs I have in and room to spare, the middle bit is a great place to sit and have brew and something to eat.

Joe

[Suz]

The New Doblo is well worth looking at, really good load space and not too bad to buy price wise and running costs. if not try and find one of the previous models with the JTD engine, bit more basic as a car but the engine is superb and will run and run.
I drive this most of these types of vehicle work regularly from 07 plate to brand new, and out of them all the Doblo rates highly on space, purchase price and running costs.
There is also New Renault Kangoo which has a diesel engine option and these are reasoanbly cheap now as they have stopped bringing the cars to UK. Parts etc are all still avaialble with no problem.

Depending how big you want the little Qubo is also good but probably only for one dog, 2 maybe 3 with the seats down. RFL is £30 per year and economy up to 60mpg.

Would also recommend looking for one with ESP, might sound daft but have a this and will see why, wouldn't want my dogs in the second one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCmB0UVdx8E

Just my opinion but hope it helps.

Suz

[t jack]

The trouble with Doblos is there worth about a tenner used Why i dont know, but the used ones go for nothing?

[Suz]

lol def true with the old shape, new shape seems to be holding up a bit better, but go for an ex demo or nearly new one and can get a bargain lol.
Also worth looking out for High roof, get even more space then.

Also the Qubo is the car version, the fiorino is the van

[Rothievale]

I've had a lot of vans, vauxhall combo, Citroen berlingo, ford escort, vw caddy. By far the best for build quality and reliability was the vw caddy. The worst was the Citroen by far because of its build quality. The ford escort sits very low so was not good for tracks

The modern Berlingo's/Partners are a lot better, but the VW Caddy is IMHO still the benchmark for small vans, but they are a quarter of the price dearer, as for escort vans, your showing your age now Helen

Ha ha, that was when I was single and had a heap of dogs that I had to take with me everywhere!

All depends on what you want to spend, the berlingo I was talking about was indeed the older one.

[t jack]

Another thing to consider is max payload as a lot of these vans are classed as light commercial goods (over 2t) therefore you have reduced speed restrictions on motorways etc you can only do 60 mph, some of the smaller car derived vans like the fiesta or 207 wont have these restrictions and if you dont need the room of the bigger vans might be worth considering?