It's All About the Wheel Wells
It can be hard to determine what the cargo capacity figures from manufacturer's
web sites really mean to you.
For example, The Toyota Matrix is a small car, but the feature that gives it dog car potential is the generous 38 3/4 inches between the wheel wells. Sure, that's not enough for two crates side by side, even special SUV crates, but it IS big enough to allow you to squeeze in a 3 foot deep wire crate with a side opening door. With that configuration, you actually CAN manage to get two large crates into the back of the Matrix!
I recently went to our local Toyota dealer to check out the older RAV4s (pre-2006) , mainly to determine whether they should go on my used car shopping list. Auto sites sometimes suggest the RAV4 as an alternative to the Matrix, noting that they have a bit more cargo space. But there's cargo space and there's cargo space. With only 35 inches between the wheel wells, it looks like two large crates just won't fit.
Cargo capacity is all relative!
For example, The Toyota Matrix is a small car, but the feature that gives it dog car potential is the generous 38 3/4 inches between the wheel wells. Sure, that's not enough for two crates side by side, even special SUV crates, but it IS big enough to allow you to squeeze in a 3 foot deep wire crate with a side opening door. With that configuration, you actually CAN manage to get two large crates into the back of the Matrix!
I recently went to our local Toyota dealer to check out the older RAV4s (pre-2006) , mainly to determine whether they should go on my used car shopping list. Auto sites sometimes suggest the RAV4 as an alternative to the Matrix, noting that they have a bit more cargo space. But there's cargo space and there's cargo space. With only 35 inches between the wheel wells, it looks like two large crates just won't fit.
Cargo capacity is all relative!
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