When my shep was less than a year old, she sat in the backseat of my Explorer (with my daughter). As she grew bigger (rayxi: she's big for a girl and needs to go on a diet - like me) and attended obedience classes the trainers highly recommended crate training. I'm glad we went that route. She LOVES her crate and treats it like a "den". The crate is big enough for her to stand up and turn around in. During thunderstorms she goes into it - probably gives her a feeling of security.

Riding in the Explorer (and now the X5) she's just contented to lie in the crate until the rest stop. The crate practically eliminates (not completely) the bits of fur flying around in the car.

I hope the E70's interior isn't any smaller than the E53's.