Wheni had the Nissan Micras i kept the rear seats down permantly, there was a front seat guard up. I transported 3 Boxers that way. Have to say they wete all good & lay down after a few mins

Ive upgraded to the Nissan Note - same thing, front seat guard, back seats permantly down. Love the Note.

I drive a small van. ("Great" you all say, "loads of room") Errmmm, No. the back is full of my stock. The only place for Muppet to ride is the front passanger seat. I put a seat belt harness on him & then a muzzle to stop him chewing whats left of my handbreak. When I first got him I fassiond a restraint from a doubler/split lead, by looping it round the back of the seat & bulk head (side of a cot) & clipping both ends to his coller. Not ideal i know, but it keped him in his seat untill i could buy a propper harness. (the alternative would have been either a dog on my lap on the way to the vets or a dog with no vacines.)

I've got a Corsa and use a Dog Bag which is like a soft crate and that sits on my back seat. It keeps all the hair, drool etc in and is easy to get in and out of the car if i need to. But being fabric it might not be any good for a chewer

Not a very good pic but to give you an idea

I have a Micra too and this is how mine travel. It works for my two but I would like something a bit more secure, hence upgrading to a bigger car this year so I can use a cage. If I was going to have this car permanently then I think I'd have bought a tailgate and inner guard for behind the driver/front passenger seats for more security. You can buy rubber mats to protect the car or something more specific like a Hatchbag - www.hatchbag.co.uk
With the rear seats down, it leaves two metal clips either side so I tether them to these with a lead. They have Ruffwear harnesses so they wear them, prior to that I had EzyDog harnesses which I liked because of the broad chest plate - I figured in an accident then it would bear the brunt of the force and hopefully spread it out.
Don't have a photo of my two in there but as you can see from this photo, there's actually quite a lot of room in there with the seats down (yes, that's a Leonberger in there!)

I have a ford ka and my very large labrador fits in the boot quite happily He just goes to sleep on there. For the little ones I put a crate on the back seats for them

Kyrlr - thanks for the link, i will have a browse later. Short white hairs get everywhere & they cling to car upholstery like superglue.

Always thought the Micra was a bit like Dr Who's tardis, for small car there was more room inside than you would think

One difference in the Note is its slightly higher at the rear. Not a problem for little Katie but big strong Harvey "can't" jump into it. Im sure the neighbours think im mad. Running down the road, turn & run back towards open hatchback & he either stops dead or gets his front paws up & looks stricken - "cant do it". *Then ive to struggle trying to lift his rear end into the car.*

This is a dog that could jump the height of a person, but get into the back of the new car - no...... Never mind, i will train him with foodie treats when weather gets warmer

Did you decide on a Focus? Girl i used to work with left her car in for service & she got Focus for the day. She was really impressed, said it was was very nippy & fast she has a 4. X 4 to accomodate her horsebox

I think so but I'm having a dilemma over the cage issue. The cage design I wanted, one company says it's too fiddly, one wants a LOT of money for it and the other was honest and told me I should just get an estate Trying to decide whether the foot or so extra length will be harder for me to park or not (since jumping from Micra to a hatchback Focus would be a big change already!). Or debating a tailgate and inner guard, with a Hatchbag, but it doesn't quite achieve the extra security I wanted!

We used to have a Landrover Freelander and the dogs travelled in a large crate with the back seats folded down to make room for it.

We downsized to a 3-door Toyota Corolla and got harnesses that clip in to the seat-belt clips. Felt this was safest place in a small car.

There was an article in a dog magazine recently about a vet involved in a serious car accident with 2 dogs in a small car and she travelled them like this. She said if they had been in the boot they would have been killed. Being in the middle is safest if strapped in.

I have a corolla and now that I have got a second dog I have been thinking about making a cushion to fill the well behind the front seats so that there is more room for the dogs to lie down.

In my last (smallish) car I used to put the seats down and the dogs had plenty of room. But after a bus ran into the back of me I have been reluctant to let my dogs be at the back of the car. Fortunately we were going very slowly and I had a tailgate guard and the dogs weren't injured.

Used to have a corsa with three dogs kept the back seats folded down and managed to get two cages in and had a dog guard behind the front seats. So glad when we changed to the CRV !