What are the pros and cons to sliding side doors vs the 60/40 split side doors?

I'll be purchasing/ordering a new E350 chateau soon. Have allready figured out that car dings are less likley with the sliding door. However, tha last time I used a sliding door was over 20 years ago. If I remember correctly, I don't think it was a reasonable effort for kids to open and clos it. Heck, many adults had problems with those particular doors. Have they changed much since then?

My current van has the split and hinged side door. With some effort my kids can open and close the doors themselves. My youngest is 8.

Those of you with sliding doors, Do you think my kids will be able to open and close it themselves? My wife refuses to go bact to opening and closing doors for our kids

Thanks!

 

The only negative I've ever had with sliding doors is if the track gets dirty, and, you couldn't get the door past wide rear tires. In the 70's van where all the rage, and 10"+ wide rear tires were mandatory, but the sliders wouldn't go past them. I have split doors now, and would prefer the slider. The kids can't open them into parked cars, the door latch mechanism is counterintuitive, you have to pull one lever and push the door. I'd prefer a power slider if I could get it, lots of vans have them, check into it on the full size ? Ken

 

My '90 E150 conversion van has 50/50 doors and would trade them for a slider in a heartbeat if I could... I curse those doors everytime I have to load something in a tight parking space...

Unfortunately, raised roof vans seem to only come with doors...

 

I have, like, 60/40 split doors. And they are a giant pain. In tight parking spots you try to open the bigger door a bit, so you can at least open the smaller door enough to squeeze out, I hate em. I too would opt for a slider, and take the little bit of inconvenience, Ken

 

Ok - so for nearly all situations, the sliding door is the better choice for adults and maby for kids. But, does anyone have any experiance with kids actually opening and closing the doors? Got to keep my wife happy too When she's not happy, aint nobody happy.

 

There's a technique, like everything else, pull the handle, give a shove out slightly and pull back. I would think a 5-6 year old and up would have no problems. I guarantee it's an easy as the split doors, not in muscle required, but I have to tell everyone in the back, adults and kids how to open the barn doors, everytime. Like I said it's counterintuitive, you have to pull the handle which doesn't look like a handle, and push the door. From the outside you do have to get some momentum going to shut the slider, especially if the nose is uphill. It is heavy, but both have positives, and negatives. 2 years ago one of my kids opened the split door, the wind caught it and we paid a $1200 repair job on the Honda fender the door hit. True, a front door can do the same, but usually adults sit up front. Good luck, Ken

 

At least you owned up to it... I watched a guy's kid open their SUV rear door into my three week old car and put a nice ding into it... He stood behind them gabbing to someone while his ife sat in the front seat blabbing on the cell phone... and then he threatened to hit me when I wanted him to pay for it....

I wonder how hard it would be to retro-fit one of those power sliding mechanisms that some of the new minivans have?

 

Yea I had to go in the store, and have them announce over the intercom that I was looking for the owner of a maroon Honda Accord, it was a little embarassing to say the least. But, imagine walking out of a store and seeing a huge dent in your new truck, you'd be heated, I would too.

I don't know how those power sliders work exactly, never been around one in operation. I would guess it would be tough to do, but, it won't be long til we'll see accessory manufacturers offering them as a kit ? Ken

 

Truthfully, one of two things will happen with the slider. 1. The kids will quickly realize that it is a hoot to slam the thing as hard as possible. 2. They will not use enough force to close the slider securely. Okay, 3. They will do fine. My kids are of the #1 version. I prefer it to having to re-open and then re-close the slider after a #2 event. Yes, I like the slider. It did take some getting used to after my split doors.
-cadjak

 

Having a slider in the previous van and lots of kids, I really missed it when we got the van with the split doors. Since I am now converting to dual wheels on the E-350, glad to have the split doors, a slider won't accommodate the wider fenders.

 

There used to be a kit, which had an extended arm, that would extended the space in between body and door so a guy could have wider wheels, maybe they're still around ? And, you are converting your van to duals ? Why ? Towing ? Looks ? Ken

 

Converting to dual wheels for safety. After a couple of years of hearing about rollovers and seeing the J turn videos, I finally decided that the $2000 to convert to duals was worth the price. While I feel the number one problem with rollovers is young drivers and passengers not being belted in, I also have an adult friend that rolled his E350 on black ice two years ago with only five on board (no deaths but substantial bodily injuries). Body shop is installing and painting the fenders next week. Tires are already mounted on the rims and adapters are sitting in the garage waiting for installation.

If any of you question whether you should or shouldn't convert your van, go to www.vanangels.com.

 

I am not trying to talk anyone into, or out of anything. But, there's always lawyers, or groups thereof, who are totally committed to a good cause, to 'help' the people, to 'protect' the people, to 'inform' the people. Of course all the lawyers work for free, right ? YEA, SURE THEY DO.

The NHTSA says the rollover rate is 3 time higher with 10 or more people on board, makes sense, the center of gravity becomes much higher. Does the 12 passenger van perform the exact same way ? Why not ? It's exactly the same van, with one less row of seats.

TV announcers are vultures, they are unemployed unless they find, or make-up news. A few years ago every 'deeply concerned' TV announcer on the planet was dutifully doing their part to save us from ourselves.

Does a suburban/trooper/bronco/excursion/ramcharger/samurai exhibit the same tendencies to roll over (hmmmm, Suzuki lost billions after consumer reports blackballed their samurai incorrectly, cu finally agreed to take back it's false claim) ? Is it possible that with 800 gazillion Ford vans sold that MORE people will die in them, because more people have been in them ?

Hey amigo, if you feel safer, know you're safer, any of the above, then by all means, please, do what you need to do to protect that safety. I personally like the dual wheel look on the van, it's tough looking. But is it a necessity ? I reserve judgment as I don't have enough info. I know lots of do-gooders have preached on the subject, but does the one who talks loudest and longest get to be right ?

I dunno, take care, good luck with your swap, Ken

 

You are 100% right!! The reason you hear about the 15 Passenger rolls is because there are 15 lawyers. And I agree that the short (non-extended) version is the same van so I should see rolls there also when loaded. Additionally, I would expect the crash resistance of the E-150 and E-250 to be the same as the E-350, but why are they only harping on the E-350? 15 Lawyers!

BUT . . . I also use my van for carrying my youth group. I normally drive without the rear seat in just because it gives more room. I never want to be the youth leader calling up saying that your son or daughter was killed in an accident. I few thousand dollars is worth that comfort.

AND . . . I like the look too. When it is complete I will be sure to write.

 

Oh I see, you're one of those 'responsible types', haha. Good for you, I haul soccer teams around, so I took out a row and made a 12 passenger. But I removed the seat behind the drivers seat, and it made a great area for soccer bags, blankets, gear, whatever. I also hooked a DVD/X-Box system into the panel just behind the drivers seat along with a inverter. The drop down TV is right behind my head so there's room to change DVD's, put in different games, etc. The other tv is on the passenger visor and the last is farther back on the ceiling, I got them cheap, they work great, it is a cool system, did it all myself. Ken