I appreciate that. There are no extra charges for driving diesel vehicles where I live; indeed diesel fuel is far cheaper than petrol, so it is actually of financial benefit to choose a diesel. I was just replying to the part of your comment I quoted, that "virtually all" are diesel. If there are levies being applied to diesel vehicles in the country you live in, then that will encourage more sales of petrol versions of the same vehicles, such as my old barge.
Cooper has no problem jumping into the Suburban or the Subaru. With Tilly, we tell her to put her paws up and then we lift her back end up, so it really is not a problem even though she can't normally jump in by herself.
I have a Vauxhall Astra estate - plenty big enough for 2, not very stylish. It IS diesel, but they do petrol too. I'll be diesel 'til I die - love it.
We have a Citroen C4 Grand Picassa and a ramp for a big 43kg English Black Lab. and a black rehomed rescued Greyhound, plenty of room, even more with back seats down. The ramp we bought recently as he would not always jump up and lifting was awkward and heavy!
We have a Volvo XC60, Homer has plenty of space in the boot, there's enough space for two dogs although may be a bit high for an older dog to jump in. It like a tardis how it absorbs stuff.
Now we're a three-and-three-quarter dog family, it looks like we have a new vehicle in our future. We have our eyes on the Citroen Jumpy (I think it's called a Dispatch in the UK?). It's a nine-seater MPV which should be plenty of space for the gang and all their crap belongings.
You’ve officially reached crazy dog mam status when you have that many you need a van to transport them
Ours is a Skoda Superb estate. It fits three big dogs comfortably for short journeys and two for long journeys. We have a boot buddy and crate with Vet bed in the back, it’s great. We have our cars on lease for two years - £285 a month, everything covered including tyres, servicing, maintenance, tax etc. We get the next one next month, same car same colour. No faffing with selling the old car.
The cleaning will be extensive before changeover day! We’ve been so careful to have no scrapes or scratches on the bumper with the dogs getting in and our, then I went and pranged it on a parked taxi, humph! .
I had a similar thread somewhere. I've just bought a Skoda Fabia Estate, one of the smaller and cheaper estates around. I'm really pleased with it, Inky jumps in the back and there would definitely be enough room for 2 dogs. The man in the showroom thought I was a little odd as I was only really interested in the boot area!