to wonder why sliding doors on a car is a good thing?

[nomdemere]

I suppose if you're parked in a tight space, it's a bit easier to get in the back. Is that it? Is it that useful?

Just been reading some car threads where people seem keen to have sliding doors. I asked on one thread but no-one replied.

Because if you have a people carrier, they are large and wide with big doors. A sliding door is much easier to open in the average parking space (my kids are age 3 to 14 so I don't need to park in parent and child spaces).

Also much less chance of the kids banging the car door into the car next door. I love my sliding doors!

They are brilliant in car parks - on a car with normally-hinged doors, when trying to control a number of 4-7 year olds getting out of a car, you just know that at some point one of them is going to push the door fully open and smash it into the side of the lovely silver BMW next door. You can be really vigilant and careful 99.9% of the time but still by the end of a year it's happened once. Doesn't happen with a sliding door.

What sugarplum said. I'm v jealous of people with sliding doors, and there'd be no need for mumsnet parent and child parking space debates if they were more common.

Yes, it is easier to get in the back in a tight space.

But even more importantly, you know your kids aren't going to open their doors carelessly and bash the next door car.

Also very helpful when strapping children in to car seats.

We have one car with sliding doors and one without. Slidey door car is much more child-friendly.

i really want one my kids are a pita for i cants when it comes to seat belt removal (they are shop avoiders) and unless we have a child under 5 we cannot use the parent and child spaces so we are at the mercy of regular spaces and i can't fit myself through a regular door to detach the child without hitting the car next to me! (easily anyway)

also good for swinging your legs out if you're feeling a little rusty

You're beginning to convince me! Not really a problem for us yet, as we have child locks on the cars, so the kids can't open the doors from inside - so we always open the back door for them and shepherd them out. That probably won't last forever though.

Doesn't it feel a bit like you're in a minibus instead of a car?!

We have one and I have never had to worry about my careless kids swinging open doors into other people's cars (unlike the Range Rover driver whose small son did this to my car at the weekend and who failed to apologise).

I had sliding doors on my wish list for our last car. The car-fairy did not see fit to grant my wish

I used to have a Toyota Previa and if it didnt get through £80 of petrol a week on normal shopping/school runs etc I still would! It had 8 seats and sliding doors and I loved it! Forget Aston Martins etc, when I win the lottery I will be getting another one of those :o

Love sliding doors but they do seem to break easier especially the electronic ones which the garage informed me was a common problem (I could have just been unlucky and the garage could of been talking crap though).

My last 2 cars had them but I don't now. Miss them.

They are great when parked roadside and you need to fasten carseats/seat belts. There's no door opening into the road causing an obstruction worry. Or standing about for ages just waiting for a gap in traffic so you can get near the door.

Not 100% sure to prevent car park mishaps. I was leaning in the back door of my car helping DD with her seatbelt a couple of years ago, being very careful to keep the door a few inches away from that of a massive silver people carrier full of children in the next bay. All of a sudden one of the children slung back the sliding door, which came out by several inches and ran along the edge of my door, pushing me into my car and resulting in an 18 inch gash of my red paint all along their silver sliding door.

They are really good for getting babies in and out and as others have said you can't bash someone else's car with them.
I agree about Toyota Previa. We had them as hire cars on trips to Australia. They did feel a bit minibus ish but who cares.

Well so you can pull up at school/nursery/Tesco and have your passengers roll out like members of the Ateam of course! (hums theme tune for rest of day while driving my normal car with it's boring doors )

They are great for getting kids in and out in a tight space. I have a Peugeot 807 and really, all spaces are tight when we park as it is a bit wide.
Also great for getting kids into car seats if parked on a road as you can just stand right in as cars pass and don't have to have the door sticking out. This has been a godsend for me as we have no off road parking and live on a narrow street.
Of course, they are more likely to break and probably hugely expensive to fix (fingers crossed ours have been ok so far)
Only two downsides I can see...my DD has become an expert at pressing the open button with her foot while still in the car seat, if I'm not quick she would have her seatbelt off and be out in a flash once the car stopped! Suppose it's more down to the design of the car really but it would take her alot longer to shove open a heavy car door!
Secondly...they do come out a bit when they open and are quite forceful so standing right next to the car when someone is getting out can catch you by surprise or catch another car door!
Overall, I love them! :)

When I was a child, my elder brother had a convered Bedford van which had sliding doors. It was before seatbelts were ever thought of and we used to drive around happily with me and a friend sharing the bench front seat with DB and with the sliding doors latched open. No one seemed to think this was odd or dangerous, with hindsight it looks positively suicidal.

I have electric sliding doors and they are the best thing for bad weather or full hands ! If raining I can unlock and get the doors open to time perfectly with the kids scrambling into the car, fab for car parks too. Love them !

I would love sliding doors. We have a 7 seater with normal hinged doors and they're big, heavy and a pain in the backside!

I love ours. I don't think I could swap back to a car without them now - so much less stress when parking!

Also, much easier if you are trying to get in infant carrier in and out.

Another. One who misses sliding doors in current car.

I think they are fab and no you don't feel like a mini bus at all, I used to feel it was hight of technology cool beans.

Looking at a ford b mac at the moment huge pro is the sliding doors. Dd1 age 16 got almost nostalgic with longing for them too. She was 8 when we got rid of it.

Considering how people in car parks seem to think nothing of flinging their door open and bashing the next door car, I think sliding doors are a wonderful thing and every car should have them. Sadly my car doesn't.

I loved my sliding door on my old camper van. Ace for car parks