When you're stuck sucking hind titty, you take whatever morsels drop your way. With Ford's U.S. market share evaporating like dog pee on a hot sidewalk, the Blue Oval Boyz are proud of each and every obscure award they receive. And so… Fox Business reports FoMoCo has been named the "Pet Friendliest Automaker" for 2008. DogCatRadio.com (DCR) gave Ford the nodding dog for its "wide range of models that offer safety, comfort and easy entry access for pets." As part of its evaluative process, DCR analyzed an undetermined number of vehicles' economy, price and (no, I didn't make this up) "creature comforts." What vehicle wowed the pet patrol? The so-beneath-the-consumer-radar-it-Hertz Taurus X. "We feel the Taurus X is not too big, not too small," DCR CEO Adrian Martenez explained, Goldilocks-wise. "It handles well, has plenty of power, great visibility all around and offers four-legged passengers as well as their humans a comfortable ride." So pets prefer vehicles that emphasize ride comfort over handling. Who knew?
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Quite a few Crown Vic K-9 units out there… now I know the reason.
“So pets prefer vehicles that emphasize ride comfort over handling. Who knew?”
Well—my Basset Hound Beau seems more at ease (less heavy panting) in our Lincoln MKX vs our former ride—BMW X5. So perhaps there is some validity to the above posit :)
Whatever happened to “Dogs love trucks?” Anybody remember those old Nissan ads?
My folks are retired now and travel often with their three dogs and sometimes a 4th when family is in town. Their prefered dog wagon (no pun intended) is my father’s half-ton Silverado with a camper shell on the back. They’ve even laid down an old mattress pad and blankets.
My parents’ dogs are always quite happy in the back of the Volvo 750 diesel wagon…and they’re 160lbs landseer dogs!
My cats are unhappy regardless of the car we drive, but they certainly like the ride of the VW golf better than that of the Jeep wrangler (i.e. less puking).
I like the cars in which our Lab can reach the pedals with ease, makes it nice for us to trade off driving on long trips. :)
In a somewhat related note, Geico is now covering vetinary bills for pets injured in an auto accident.
People love their pets, I think Ford might be on to something. I call for more ads on Animal Planet!
I read recently that Honda’s Element had won the award for best vehicle for dogs. I guess the cat lobby is too strong in the “all animal” category and prefers the scratching post surfaces in the Ford.
so-beneath-the-consumer-radar-it-Hertz
That is a truly glorious pun, as it works on so many levels. Just please don’t use it with too much frequency….
I give it two raised hind legs.
I guess my two Boxers missed this report. They didn’t like riding in the family’s 2007 Ford Freestyle because they found it too hard to get into (and out of) the third-row seat. They greatly prefer the SWB Dodge Caravan that replaced the Freestyle in the family fleet.