As a rule, we like our cars with doors opened by hinge, a device in use since the start of the Ancient Egyptian era, approximately 5000 years ago. It’s simple, and it works. The door in question can be opened as swiftly as its user can pull or push it; the resultant aperture usually gapes sufficiently to afford easy entry or departure and it’s cheap to make.
But there is another way, and if you own a campervan, use a minibus or drive a van with a sideloading door, you‘ll be familiar with sliding panels that are entirely hinge-free. If you need a big, rectangular hole to access the interior of said vehicle, there’s no better solution. It might need a committed yank to open or close, and it might produce a rude mechanical clang when it hits the buffers, but it does the job and, crucially for vehicles with said large hole in the side, they can be opened easily in confined spaces.
Sliding doors for cars, though, are a real rarity. MPVs with rail-mounted rear doors are sometimes the exception, but you won’t be getting to the wheel by that means unless you fancy a comedy stumble between the front seats. Yet there’s a compelling logic to this door mechanism. As with a van, your sliding door can be big, along with the orifice behind it.
