Author Topic: On some of the small SUV (Read 6382 times)

airbalancer · « **on:** March 16, 2006, 08:24:52 am »

On some of the small SUV do the rear doors open the wrong way for North America
On the CRV , Rav4 and GV, they appear to have a single rear door the is hinged on the passenger side.
If you are parallel parked and had to put stuff in the back it appears it would be a pain walking around the rear door to place thing in it.
I think they should have hinged it on the driver side or have a lift trail gate( which would be a problem for the spare on the outside)

mrthompson · « **Reply #1 on:** March 16, 2006, 08:32:55 am »

wing · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2006, 08:39:22 am »

Yes, the person at the autoshow told us (when we asked) that it was so you didn't open the door into traffic. LOL I guess that is what they were told, but really it should open the other way.

Shnak · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:13:08 am »

I disagree wholeheartedly. I prefer it like it is because 99.99999999999999% of the time, it's the driver that opens the cargo door... and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to go to the other side of the door to open it when it works perfectly as it is. And besides, how often will you ned to load up large items while being parallel parked? Most of the time, it'll be small grocery bags or stuff like that, and the opening window is perfect for that.

That said, I wouldn't mind if the door opened from the other side... and I'd rather have it open like that than minivan-style because 1) it lowers the cargo floor a lot and 2) most of the time, it's a full-size spare. Only thing I don't like is that on most of the models I have driven with a side-opening rear door, the spare tire mount makes some noise... it happened on the GV I drove the other day (common complaint with the new model from what I read), and my CR-V was like that too.

mrthompson · « **Reply #4 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:22:52 am »

I disagree wholeheartedly. I prefer it like it is because 99.99999999999999% of the time, it's the driver that opens the cargo door... and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to go to the other side of the door to open it when it works perfectly as it is. And besides, how often will you ned to load up large items while being parallel parked? Most of the time, it'll be small grocery bags or stuff like that, and the opening window is perfect for that.

Imagine having to load something like a stroller. Would you rather load that from the street side or the sidewalk side?

wing · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:25:47 am »

I wonder if the GV you drove the tire was loose on the back? As far as opening windows, do all of them open?

If I'm loading groceries at the store, you don't want to wheel the cart to the driver side to load them, you can just grab them off the side walk.

Shnak · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:37:01 am »

No not all of them have an opening window (GV doesn't for sure, and I think the RAV4 doesn't either), and that's really too bad because they are very useful.

I guess I don't care too much about this as the few times I needed to load something in the cargo while being parallel parked, opening the window was all that I needed...

When I did groceries with the CR-V, we parked in a parking lot, so which side the rear door opened didn't matter much.

That said, if I lived downtown Ottawa, or in a city like Montreal where you have to parallel park most of the time, my position on this might be different... but as long as my SUV has an opening window, I really don't care which side opens... as long as it has that window.

So my preference for SUVs:
1) Right-side with opening window
2) Lift-up
3) Right-side without window (would have been Left-side without window, but that doesn't exist!

)

airbalancer · « **Reply #7 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:41:51 am »

if is a small person they may have a hard time lifting bags though the the window
I have never been one of these SUVs just what I have lseen

mrthompson · « **Reply #8 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:49:02 am »

My Cherokee had a lift-up rear hatch. It worked great. It gave a generous opening, was easy to open/close and provided some protection from the weather.

Bullet Blue · « **Reply #9 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:54:52 am »

"and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to go to the other side of the door to open it when it works perfectly as it is."

Wait, lemme get this straight... You consider it a pain in the ass to take an extra step to the other side of the door to open it?

Shnak · « **Reply #10 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:06:50 am »

well... you have to walk to the other side, and clear the way for the door swinging out. Like I said, it's not a big deal, but I'd rather have it like it is, as long as there a window opening. It just makes sense to have it opening from the driver's side IMO. I'm used to opening things with my right hand, and it'd be weird having to open the door using my left arm. It's just a matter of preference, but I like it like it is. If you're not happy, get something that lifts up.

Quote from: mrthompson on March 16, 2006, 09:49:02 am

My Cherokee had a lift-up rear hatch. It worked great. It gave a generous opening, was easy to open/close and provided some protection from the weather.

It doesn't provide very good dirt/mud/slush protection when you have to crawl under the vehicle to get to the rusted spare tire though...

Bullet Blue · « **Reply #11 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:14:37 am »

I don't care, I don't drive SUV's, I was just curious how it could be considered a "pain in the ass" is all.

mrthompson · « **Reply #12 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:15:48 am »

The spare tire was mounted in the cargo area...and no, it didn't use up much cargo space...not enough to bother me.

haris · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:30:37 am »

Quote from: airbalancer on March 16, 2006, 08:24:52 am

On some of the small SUV do the rear doors open the wrong way for North America
On the CRV , Rav4 and GV, they appear to have a single rear door the is hinged on the passenger side.
If you are parallel parked and had to put stuff in the back it appears it would be a pain walking around the rear door to place thing in it.
I think they should have hinged it on the driver side or have a lift trail gate( which would be a problem for the spare on the outside)

Yeah, the Japanese SUVs have trunk doors that open on the wrong side for left hand drive countries. It's one of those things they just never bothered changing because most people don't care enough, and in Honda's case some fanbois will actually claim that it's better this way

Shnak · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:32:15 am »

Most important thing for me is having a full-size spare tire... 2nd most imprtant thing is having a low cargo floor... 3rd most important thing is not having the spare tire hanging out under the vehicle... The best way to accomodate all of those things is having a swing open door with the tire attached to it. Flip-up window is a huge must too.

There aren't many vehicles equipped with lift gates that come with full-size spares under the cargo floor... and when a spare is in there, whether full-size or donut-size, it usually raises the cargo floor a lot.

But then again, look at what VW accomplished with its Golf (and Jetta)... full-size spare neatly hidden under the cargo floor, while still maintaining a very low cargo floor... if I can find a SUV that does this, it'd be the perfect solution. But until then, I'll take the swing door with window opening and full-size hanging out with a full cover.

Snowman · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:33:20 am »

Quote from: Shnak on March 16, 2006, 09:13:08 am

I disagree wholeheartedly. I prefer it like it is because 99.99999999999999% of the time, it's the driver that opens the cargo door... and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to go to the other side of the door to open it when it works perfectly as it is. And besides, how often will you ned to load up large items while being parallel parked? Most of the time, it'll be small grocery bags or stuff like that, and the opening window is perfect for that.

That said, I wouldn't mind if the door opened from the other side... and I'd rather have it open like that than minivan-style because 1) it lowers the cargo floor a lot and 2) most of the time, it's a full-size spare. Only thing I don't like is that on most of the models I have driven with a side-opening rear door, the spare tire mount makes some noise... it happened on the GV I drove the other day (common complaint with the new model from what I read), and my CR-V was like that too.

There is one in every crowd. On a vehicle that requires the rear door to have the spare on it the most logical place for the hinge would be on the left so the door can be opened safely from the right. In addition to the parallel parking problem, imagine having to pull over on a busy highway and exposing yourself to traffic when opening the rear door. Foolish.

Snowman · « **Reply #16 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:34:25 am »

Quote from: Shnak on March 16, 2006, 10:32:15 am

Most important thing for me is having a full-size spare tire... 2nd most imprtant thing is having a low cargo floor... 3rd most important thing is not having the spare tire hanging out under the vehicle... The best way to accomodate all of those things is having a swing open door with the tire attached to it. Flip-up window is a huge must too.

There aren't many vehicles equipped with lift gates that come with full-size spares under the cargo floor... and when a spare is in there, whether full-size or donut-size, it usually raises the cargo floor a lot.

But then again, look at what VW accomplished with its Golf (and Jetta)... full-size spare neatly hidden under the cargo floor, while still maintaining a very low cargo floor... if I can find a SUV that does this, it'd be the perfect solution. But until then, I'll take the swing door with window opening and full-size hanging out with a full cover.

My Toyota Highlander does.

bmorton · « **Reply #17 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:35:18 am »

Toyota's official line for the RAV4 is that it's so the door is easier to open for right-handed people. Seems more likely, though, that it's cheaper to build only one version of the vehicle for the whole world. The rear door on the North American-oriented FJ Cruiser opens to the left.

The door opening to the right on our RAV4 hasn't been much of an inconvenience. The swinging door itself is the bigger issue -- I prefer a hatch.

Shnak · « **Reply #18 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:48:30 am »

Quote from: Snowman on March 16, 2006, 10:33:20 am

In addition to the parallel parking problem, imagine having to pull over on a busy highway and exposing yourself to traffic when opening the rear door. Foolish.

That argument is just bogus as you stand right next to the handle when opening the door... it's not like you're standing 2ft away with your arm fully extended as though you're opening a box that might contain a bomb...

Quote from: Snowman on March 16, 2006, 10:34:25 am

My Toyota Highlander does.

I don't remember how low the cargo floor is on the Highlander, but I remember it being incredibly high on the previous RAV4. But if the cargo floor in the Highlander is indeed low, it really increases my liking of the Highlander. Too bad it'll be redesigned bigger, with a bigger price tag, very soon.

Quote from: bmorton on March 16, 2006, 10:35:18 am

Toyota's official line for the RAV4 is that it's so the door is easier to open for right-handed people. Seems more likely, though, that it's cheaper to build only one version of the vehicle for the whole world.

I know full well that the main reason behind this is because it is cheaper to only have one version... but it really is easier for right-handed people... I would probably get used to it if it opened from the other side, but it's perfectly fine as it is.

tenpenny · « **Reply #19 on:** March 16, 2006, 11:13:49 am »

I think the doors open the way they do because they are designed for right handed people - reaching out with your right hand to open the door, it works better if the hinges are on the right.