PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO. (media.mysanantonio.com)
In the market for a new vehicle and love to take your dogs with you?
2010 Honda Element caters to dog lovers
Web Posted: 03/26/2010 12:00 CDT, www.mysanantonio.com
G. Chambers Williams III
My only regret with this past week’s test vehicle was that I didn’t have a dog to take along with me.
The vehicle was the 2010 Honda Element EX with the new Dog Friendly package (a $995 option), designed to allow your pooch(es) to ride along with you in relative comfort and safety.
I thought about borrowing a dog from my son, who has five, but my five cats voted down that idea unanimously.
When I introduced them to the interior of the Dog Friendly Element, the most persnickety one, a gray longhair named Lady (who rules the other four), gave me a look that clearly said, “This car smells like a big, stinky dumb dog.”
None of them seemed to be up for a ride so they went back into the house, where, of course, they all promptly went back to sleep.
But if I’d had a dog, as eager as most of them are to go for a road trip, I’m not sure he or she would have been content to ride in the nylon kennel (cage) that takes up the bulk of the cargo compartment.
Most of the dogs I’ve ever had in my car wanted to ride shotgun, at least if they couldn’t be in my lap. Just keeping them in the back seat was difficult enough.
The Element’s Dog Friendly package is a pretty good idea, nonetheless. With 39 percent of U.S. households owning dogs and the canine population totaling about 74.8 million, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, there is no shortage of four-legged passengers for our vehicles.
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