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MINI’s idea of a modern stationwagon body MINI called the MINI Clubman features a quirky rear suicide door on the right side of the car. While this asymmetrical design is fine for left hand drive countries, for right hand drive cars the door still remains on the right side of the car – it is not flipped to the other side.
There are right hand drive markets that are very important for MINI, the British market for instance. But the positioning of the suicide door on the right side of the car might prove to be a turn-off or rather a function that will rarely be used to most consumers there.
This is because it is inconvenient to keep moving the driver’s seat and opening the driver’s door so that the rear passengers can exit the car using the suicide door. The suicide door cannot be opened without it’s accompanying front door being opened first. It is also abit more dangerous as it opens onto the road instead of onto the pavement when you want to use it.
BMW MINI’s engineers did not develop an left-hand side suicide door for right hand drive markets as it was uneconomical to do so – the fuel filler on the left side of the car was in the way. Nevertheless, BMW MINI is still confident that despite this design characteristic that might turn off some potential buyers, there will be many others who will like it.
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new design gone bad…… XD
Why they don’t put the door at both side? A weird design!
why dont they stretch both front door, then eliminate the suicide door…
stupid design…
stretch the doors is not a good idea as well. Anyone who drive a 2 door car (especially a larger coupe) will tell you its a PITA to open the door and get out in tight parking spots. I used to drive a Camaro and I could never get in or out in a tight spot- doors just dont open wide enough.
They should have made twin suicide doors like the Rx8 and the Saturn Ion quad coupe.
Having the single suicide door on the right side of a RHD car is painfully a design oversight. Maybe BMW is hoping that it would be possible for small children to get out of the right side without moving the driver’s seat (as long as the driver is short on legs).
Britons had the same problem when the AMC Pacer was converted to RHD. The AMC’s passenger-side door on the LHD model is longer than the driver’s side door to aid access to the rear. Of course, when the flipped the car over to RHD the driver-side door is now longer.
Funny how it’s happened again :P.
learn from mazda . hahaha !
This clubman is truly – An answer to a question never asked. Creating a Blue Ocean for people who don’t swim.
How bout reclining the backseats and let the passengers roll in from the rear. That would be fun ha ha ha.
And I was so sure they would redesign the door for foreign markets. The heart’s just not there eh. The Mazda RX-8 is happily showing em how it’s done now :)