Dodge Grand Caravan gets DogCars.com Best In Show nod
By Gina Spadafori
December 30, 2008
Over on our DogCars.com Web site, Keith Turner and I drive and review vans, SUVs, crossovers, wagons and hatchbacks for how well they work for dog-lovers. For the second year now, we’ve taken time at the end of the year to review our reviews and notes and pick a Best In Show DogCar of the year.
This year, it’s the Dodge Grand Caravan (along with its cousins, the Chrysler Town and Country and Volkswagen Routan).
When I started reviewing vehicles a couple years back, I was surprised at how little attention car companies gave to pets. I mean, seriously, here they are going on about having 100 cup-holders and child-seat anchors when more households have dogs than have children. Hello?
The first time I bought my own new car, I remember getting berated by the salesman because I decided I wasn’t interested in a particular small station wagon because the seats didn’t fold flat. He asked what difference it made, and I told him fold-flat seats were important to me as a dog-owner.
“You’re kidding,” he said. “You’re going to make a car-buying decision because of your dog?”
It actually got worse from there, as he insulted me as I walked off the lot, commenting on my weight and what he supposed to be my marital status. I kid you not! I was so angry that I tracked down the owner of the dealership and made a personal complaint. And then I complained to the manufacturer as well.
Now, I’ve never had that bad a car-buying experience since, but it remained true that car companies didn’t pay much attention to the dog-owning demographic until quite recently. Heck, I remember that Honda was actually surprised to have us name the Honda Element as the first DogCars.com Best In Show DogCar of the Year, because they were pitching the Element to surfer/snowboarder dudes. They had no idea that Elements were all over the parking lots of just about any dog-sport event.
They were so thrilled to find out, however, that they immediately built an ad campaign around the award. We loved it!
In 30 years I’ve only had a dog-unfriendly car for once in my life, and that one was only here a few months. Everything else has been a wagon or a van, and in choosing this year’s DogCars.com Best In Show DogCar of the Year, it was little bit of a back to the future moment for me.
So why is the Dodge Grand Caravan deja vu all over again for me? Because my own DogCar is a 1998 Plymouth Voyager (named “Forrest Green”), which I bought new and have driven most all its miles with dogs in the car. Glad to see that despite all their business problems, Chrysler is still doing OK by dog-owners.
We picked winners in eight different categories, including:
- Best Overall/Best Minivan: The Dodge Grand Caravan
- Best Compact: Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix
- Best Green Vehicle: Toyota Highlander Hybrid
- Best Small SUV: Ford Escape / Mercury Mariner / Mazda Tribute and Mitsubishi Outlander (tie)
- Best Midsize SUV: Honda Pilot, Suzuki XL-7, Hyundai Santa Fe (tie)
- Best Wagon: Subaru Forester and Volvo XC70 (tie)
- Best Luxury SUV: BMW X5 and Acura MDX (tie)
- Other tailwaggers: Ford Flex and Mini Cooper Clubman
Head on over to DogCars.com to find out more. And check out our winners from last year, too.
Just wondering why the Element is not on there.
Comment by nancy freedman-smith — December 30, 2008 @ 6:07 am
I shopped for my last car with my dog in mind. I rejected one selection just because the back was much too high for my Lab to jump up into easily. The salesman was also “Um. The dog? You’re going to pass on this because of the dog?”
But once he realized that I was a serious buyer and had dog-based requirements, he asked what I needed and helped me find what I wanted. He thought I was a little nuts, I’m sure, but he got his sale and I got my car.
Comment by mikken — December 30, 2008 @ 7:54 am
The Element was our last year’s Best In Show, and in our extended write-up on DogCars.com we still give it an enthusiastic paws-up.
We’re trying to spread the love, and the changes Chrysler made to the Dodge Caravan (plus its competitive price and decent fuel economy) tipped the decision in its favor.
You can’t beat the Element as a DogCar—I personally LOVE it. But some people need more room, and for those, we like the Grand Caravan.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 30, 2008 @ 8:41 am
once he realized that I was a serious buyer and had dog-based requirements, he asked what I needed and helped me find what I wanted. He thought I was a little nuts, I’m sure, but he got his sale and I got my car.
Comment by mikken — December 30, 2008 @ 7:54 am
Progress! And it only took 25 years. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 30, 2008 @ 8:42 am
And speaking of the Element … my friends Patti and Joe bought one a couple months ago. Joe’s holiday project was to build a platform — for crates on top, gear below.
Check out the pics!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 30, 2008 @ 9:20 am
I used the dogcars.com reviews when shoppint for my Pontiac Vibe, and I was really glad ot see it mentioned on the list- it’s WONDERFUL. It has anchors in the back that work really well for seat belts, and I can fit two collie-sized crates in it with the seats down. It’s also rated to tow (overseas, anyway- the tow requirements/liability is different here in the US is my understanding) a very tiny trailer, so I’m looking at getting a tiny cargo trailer to pull behind it, which will enable me to fit everything I could ever need for a weekend at a show in there. :P
Comment by Cait — December 30, 2008 @ 10:21 am
With a small dog, I have, sadly(?), the same personal interest in a car that will conveniently accommodate retrievers or collies that I have in cars that have enough headroom and legroom for people over six feet tall. Not that I’m dissing the importance of those things; just that it’s not what I need to find when I’m shopping for a car.
What I would like, when I eventually have to buy a new car, is the ability to turn off the passenger-side airbag, so that I can have my little fourteen-pounder in the front with me, when it’s just the two of us in the car. She wears a seatbelt, she’s quiet and well-behaved, and doesn’t stress out in the back. But we’d both like it if I could, safely, have her up front with me.
Comment by Lis — December 30, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
Lis-my co-workers 2006 (07?) Honda Civic has that capability. Nice little car too.
Comment by Lori — December 30, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
Noted! Thanks.:)
Comment by Lis — December 30, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Lis, so does my Vibe, which is a 2005.
Comment by Cait — December 30, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
Might check out the Honda Fit, which was on our Best list last year. I really liked it.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 30, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
My 96 Caravan was the best, best dog vehicle I ever had. It was totaled in an accident when a teenager flipped her father’s SUV on a mountain road and skidded into me on her roof — she walked away unscathed, my passenger nearly died, and I had numerous relatively minor injuries, although the air bag impact to my right arm kept me from being able to type for a month, which kind of sucks when you write for a living and no, the voice recognition software of the day was no substitute for a right hand.
I love my 1998 Honda Odyssey but I still miss that old Caravan.
Comment by Christie Keith — December 30, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
I hate airbags period, having lost teeth and gotten a cracked septum thanks to one. The impact from the airbag hitting my face was far greater than the impact of the car hitting a large rock when I encountered black ice and went off the road at 25 mph. I was wearing a seatbelt, however. How can something that deploys with such force, cause damage to a child, and kill a small dog be a legally required “safety” device?
Comment by Anne T — December 30, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
We rented a Caravan for a trip earlier this year. It was a brand new, shiny red vehicle that we were very, very sad to take back to Enterprise. If I had any valid excuse to keep a vehicle that big around, I would absolutely get one.
It handled well, got good mileage, and comfortably fit three people, two medium sized dogs in their crates, camping gear, and a load of stuff that we were bringing back for a friend that had moved from PA to IN the previous year. This was not a small load, but we managed to pack it in there and still had room left over.
I will note that the carpeting in the vehicle seemed to attract Sheltie hair like the plague. It was impervious to English shepherd hair, however.
I’ve been looking at the Forester for my next vehicle. Good to know it’s got a thumbs-up as well.
Comment by EMoon — December 30, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Well, the airbag thing is a mixed blessing. My passenger was severely injured, almost killed, because he DIDN’T have one, but all my injuries were caused by the airbag. However, if I’d hit not the airbag but the steering wheel, wouldn’t it have been worse?
Comment by Christie Keith — December 30, 2008 @ 4:26 pm