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Well I have been and had a look and going back tomorrow with my dog crates but I suspect if they don't fit, I may have to have a rethink on what to get. I love Nissans but what other Make, model (not utes or vans) would you suggest for reliability/ easy to maintain and economical on fuel (I may have to go people mover yet) and fit us in? It seems that the modern wagons have gone for low rider back for aerodynamics but means it is lessened the versatility.
If a wagon is not going to suit your purposes and you don't want a van or ute, perhaps a small SUV/Crossover such as a Toyota RAV 4 or similar may suit yout needs. However, even then, if you have a need to fit the crates in with the rear seats upright (to carry more than 2 people in the vehicle) most of these vehicles may struggle to fill this requirement.
People movers such as the Nissan Pressage, Toyota Ipsum or Mazda Premacy are possibilities.
Actually it is mostly me on my own. So the rear seats do not need to remain upright. However, in the Avenir the rear seats where you sit lift up behind the front seat and the back folds forward making the surface flat this is not always the case I have found out (the Avenir has spoilt me). So any others that do do this? Because folding down is great but being flat is even better. We noticed even in an Odyssy today that the rear seats (behind the front seats only moved forward but not folded down. Sorry to be a nuisance.
Ok, I went and had another look at the Primera and I am still not sure. My current car as I mentioned is a 1997 Nissan Avenir (1800cc) with 246,000km and even though nearly 18 years old I am now having second thoughts about it. All I was after was a little more power but maybe compromising on the space is not what I want. Is it so bad keeping a car of this age and mileage (I have owned it 8.5 years and it has been pretty much trouble free)?
At nearly 250,000km, it's getting up there in the mileage, so probably time to think about a change. If it's still going well, there's no urgency though.