Best cars for dog owners

If you’re looking for maximum dog-carrying ability without maximum expenditure, the Dacia Jogger is difficult to ignore. It starts from less than £19,000.

There’s loads of room inside, with a whopping 1807 litres of boot space when the rearmost seats are folded down. The wide-opening tailgate and relatively low loading height also make life easier when you’re trying to persuade the big fella into the back. It’s particularly good if your dog isn’t your only passenger — the Jogger can carry up to seven people, although you’ll obviously sacrifice some boot space when all three rows are in use.

It’s not luxurious, nor is the TCe 110 entry-level engine very powerful. That’s slightly problematic because while the Hybrid 155 version is considerably punchier and gets an automatic gearbox, but it costs from £23,330. Hmmm.

Still, the Dacia Jogger is cheap, practical and unfussy, therefore a great car for dog owners, pound-for-pound. Epic puns.

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If your idea of the perfect dog car involves a huge, square boot, sliding doors and enough interior space to lose a Pomeranian in, you want a Citroën Berlingo.

It’s essentially a van with windows and a slightly nicer interior — albeit still one with the sort of wipe down feel you want from a working dog wagon. There’s a huge amount of usable space behind the rear seats, while the boxy shape means it doesn’t waste precious cargo inches on swooping rooflines or fashionable design.

The sliding rear doors are particularly useful if you regularly load your dog into the cabin in cramped places — busy car parks and such. And because the floor is low and flat, even older or less-mobile dogs shouldn’t have too much trouble climbing in.

There are two body lengths available, so you can choose how much space you need, plus there’s also the electric Citroën e-Berlingo. That’s the best one — quicker and smoother — but it’s a lot more expensive, starting at £30,990 compared with £25,305 for the cheapest combustion-engined Berlingo.

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The Ford Puma proves that you don’t necessarily need a massive SUV to make a cracking dog car. In fact, one of its cleverest features is hiding underneath the boot floor.

It’s called the MegaBox and it gives you an additional 80 litres of storage space beneath the boot floor. It’s waterproof, has a drain plug and can be hosed clean. In other words, Ford has basically created somewhere brilliant for muddy dog-related rubbish. The Puma’s main boot is a useful 456 litres in total, so there’s plenty of room for the usual collection of leads, blankets, toys and whatever else your dog definitely needs for a ten-minute trip to the park.

It’s also a much more manageable proposition than some of the big SUVs on this list and it’s the most fun-to-drive car here. The relatively compact dimensions and raised SUV-style driving position make it easy to place and park, yet somehow it’s as dynamic as a small hatchback.

And if you fancy going electric, the Ford Puma Gen-E keeps the same basic formula, adding a bigger rear GigaBox and a frunk for even more storage.

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The big-booted SEAT Leon Estate feels like a proper family wagon but at far less money. Its 620-litre boot is plenty big enough for most dogs, althugh be aware that the e-Hybrid PHEV versions are reduced to 470 litres in order for the battery pack to be housed under the floor.

Decent rear legroom means it doesn’t feel cramped with four passengers plus the dog, yet despite its interior space, it still feels compact enough to drive and park easily around town.

As well as the PHEV, there's a choice of petrol engines with and without mild hybrid assistance — the capable and economical diesels are no longer available to buy new.

It’s worth noting that if you want this sort of car but with a little more visual and dynamic flair, there’s also the CUPRA Leon Estate. It has the same boot sizes, but adds considerably more performance choice, including a 333PS all-wheel drive version that will dart from 0-62mph in just 4.8 seconds.

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If 'maximum estate car' is your brief, then here it is. The Škoda Superb Estate is huge, with a boot that’s nearly twice the size of a Volkswagen Golf hatchback's, plus a massive tailgate to access it. It’s basically a dog mansion — a huge, square and highly usable space, as opposed to a nominally massive boot compromised by an awkward shape.

There’s plenty of room for passengers, too, making the Superb Estate a great choice if your dog is merely one member of a particularly large family. It’s comfortable, refined and available with a choice of petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid power. The Virtual Pedal option is worth having, meaning you can wave your foot under the back bumper to open the tailgate without touching it. Handy if you’ve got the dog under your arm and hands full of poo bags.

The Superb Estate iV PHEV is worth considering if most of your journeys are short, although it does lose boot space compared with the petrol and diesel versions — 510 litres versus 690. It’s not cheap, but it does feel luxurious in its own unfussy way.

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We’ve waited this long to compare one of the cars to a type of dog, so forgive us, but the Volkswagen Tiguan is a Labrador — dependable, useful, always ready to get on with things, and a few clever tricks. Sorry.

The rear bench slides back and forwards, so you can prioritise legroom or boot space depending on what — or who — you’re carrying. There’s an electric tailgate, plus a hands-free Easy Open system on higher-priced models — that’s VW’s name for Škoda’s Virtual Pedal. Those upmarket Tiguans can also have adaptive suspension, a head-up display and even massaging front seats.

The Volkswagen Tiguan isn’t enormous by modern SUV standards, but there’s plenty of room inside and, importantly, the boot is a nice square shape with a flat floor.

As with all VWs, there’s plenty of power choice — petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid options. The 150PS diesel is particularly suited to long-distance driving, while the 272PS eHybrid is the interesting one if you want high performance with the ability to do shorter trips on electric power.

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There's something very appealing about choosing a BMW 5 Series Touring as your dog car. It’s much more interesting than the average big SUV and much more entertaining to drive.

With rear-wheel drive available and a range of powerful engines, the 5 Series Touring is arguably a BMW in the old-school mould. Except with loads of modern tech and an interior that effortlessly blends futuristic lighting with user-friendliness. The current range includes mild and plug-in hybrid petrols, with the range-topping BMW M5 Touring turns the whole concept up to eleven with 727PS and all-wheel drive.

None of that comes at the expense of practicality. The rear seats split 40:20:40, so you can carry something long through the middle while still having passengers in the back.

If you're ready to go fully electric, that's also an option with the near-identical looking BMW i5 Touring.

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The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is superb at carrying dogs. The  boot floor is very low, the doors are huge and there's an enormous amount of room behind the front seats. Getting a large or elderly dog into this is much easier than clambering into the back of an SUV.

The sliding rear doors are another big win. You can open them in a tight car park without smacking the next car, while they're particularly handy if you're wrestling a reluctant dog into position. It's quiet, too, which should make journeys more relaxing for nervous dogs.

The really fun bit, though, is that it doesn't feel like a boring commercial vehicle to look at, be in or drive. The colourful interior, upright driving position and acres of glass make it feel more like a funky piece of furniture that happens to move.

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There’s something nice and retro about choosing a Volvo V60 estate as your dog car. No need for a towering SUV or a van with windows. Just a handsome estate with a boot that looks like it was designed specifically for the dogs. In a good way.

For instance, you can specify a useful little dog gate, which can divide the load area to stop your hound wandering into the passenger compartment. Aside from that, the cabin is beautifully finished without being showy, the seats are superb and there’s that wonderfully calm, airy, Scandinavian feel. Notable convenience features include rear seats that fold almost completely flat at the touch of a button, a powered tailgate, a low loading lip for accessing the boot floor.

And then there’s the fact that V60 still feels like a lovely car. It’s comfortable, quiet and surprisingly relaxing to drive, but without the slightly cumbersome feeling you get from some enormous SUVs.

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The Land Rover Discovery is the ultimate SUV for every aspect of life — it’s a luxury car, an off-roader, a people carrier and a dog wagon all in one.

The best bit for dog owners is the way the Discovery handles its seats. The second and third rows can be folded in different combinations, so you can carry seven people one minute, then fold away the third row and give the dog a huge load area, or create a mixture of seats and luggage space.

There’s also an electrically operated split tailgate, with the lower section creating a useful little bench. Perfect for the dog to stand on while it shakes half a field over your trousers. The air suspension can also lower the car to make getting in and out easier for pets.

It’s also expensive, thirsty and absolutely enormous. But if you have a big family, a big dog and a tendency to drive into places sensible cars fear to tread, few vehicles make more sense than the Land Rover Discovery.

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