Scot

we have a 140lb English Mastiff that isn't allowed in anything except our jeep grand Cherokee which has a big metal gate thingy keeping her in the cargo area..... but all of her hair prevents us from using the jeep for anything but hauling her... so it is a pretty expensive dog hauler.....

so as a possible solution, based on looks and price.... a Kia Soul.... cheap and let the 140lb monster get it all hairy and who cares...

anyone have one? Anyone driven one? I haven't done much research but I am thinking a 1-2 year old version with 20k miles can't cost more than $12-14k or so..?

any experiences are appreciated. lol

vader1

My wife loves them because of the Hamster commercials. We have never owned one, but did look at them briefly. The interiors are nicer than you would think, at least in the top trim ones, I dunno about the strippos. They ride ok, but none are what you would call fast. When Kia/Hyundai paid a huge fine for lying about the MPG of their cars, the Soul was the car they inflated the MPG the most, but judging by your stable of cars, you don't care much about that anyway.

I would say for your described purpose it would be a decent choice and a used one would have taken most of the depreciation so, go for it.

Just as an FYI, some of those amazon dog seat cover things have a certain material that really kind of holds the hair but are still easy to vaccum clean. For a dog that big, you could probably get a couple and stitch them together to cover the cargo area with the seats folded down and you might have a nice way to protect the car and be easy to clean. If Mastiff hair is anything like Lab hair it is a b**ch to get out of cheap automotive carpet. Or you could go the Weathertech cargo mat route.

Marioshi

Buying a car for a dog, oy vey.

My brother has one of the aforementioned 1-2 year old Kia Souls. Besides having bad luck with getting run into (2 fender benders) he is pretty happy with it (then again he is 20).

His is the 2.0 version I believe, pretty zippy if you ask me. Also, he gets a check from KIA for the missing MPGs. Not sure if it would transfer to a 2nd hand buyer though. Overall it sounds like an odd reason to buy a car but I would say they seem well built and very reasonably priced.

zdave87

I'd rather see pics of C_Unit's ass.

marthafokker

With all that hair, wonder if you bought a human house for only the dog too...

Why not look into an used truck like a Taco with a camper shell?

S2020

instead of shelling out $10K for a car plus the taxes/insurance/depreciation/etc, can't you just pay someone to detail/clean your car once/week? I think you'll come out ahead.

derryck

I haul around 2 Dobermans and recently purchased 'their car'. I looked at Elements, Souls, etc. and ended buying a used 2007 MDX instead. The MDX has 115K on the clock when I bought it but it was in the same price range as the newer uglier vehicles I was looking at and I've owned several MDXs and they've always been great cars. I found one with black interior to hide their hair a bit but it's still a solid vehicle and shouldn't drop much more in value in case they want something new in a couple years. The MDX has navigation and the rear entertainment so they can watch whatever dogs watch...my only gripe is the poor gas mileage. Have you driven a Soul? Driving the Soul and Element quickly cured my desire for one of those.

d1rtyc4r

Sounds like you're looking for any excuse to buy a new car.

Just go buy it!

jimboslice

I drove a rental during a trip. I don't have a whole lot of experience in multiple cars like some of you guys do, but I can say with confidence that it was the worst car I've driven by a mile.

The transmission downshifts like two gears even if you only touch the throttle.

Interior plastics were garbage. Gauge cluster was nice though. Seats were comfy too.

The brakes were either off or on. There was no middle ground. It was almost like an on/off switch to me.

The steering had zero feedback. It was completely numb and had no wieght to it.

The body roll was nuts even for an econobox.

That's basically my interpretation of the Soul. I'm aware that its not a low slung sports car, and it's supposed to be cheap, but I think there are better options at that price.

Scot

we are taking one of these garbage cars for a ride tonight (the kia soul).... unfortunately at 140lbs, if the dog makes her way to a seating surface, there is a good chance her sharped claws will rip it.... so the idea of having a decent car detailed would also need stitched back together...

this is supposed to be a car that my wife could drive with the monster dog but also not be too horribly embarassed to park it at our house. I would prefer to find a 1984 Volvo station wagon and let the dog eat the back seats but.....

Monster dog is not allowed upstairs in our house or on any furniture... she deposits her hair everywhere on the 1st floor hardwood and carpet.... it's awesome... lol