jacksonian

I'll second that. I like the barn door but I wish the rear side windows and/or rear window rolled down like some of the old Land Cruisers or Sequioias.

SilverLady

I assume you are aware that those rear side windows do pop open a bit? I did it once to see how it worked and that was it.

CVsIS250

I would be nice if these were able to be controled by a button of some sort instead of having to crawl back to open them.
CV

Salvator

T'would be easy to do... My BMW 325Ci has pop out rear windows... push the button and they slowly open... silly thing is, you have to push a button for each window, and you have to HOLD the buttons (instead of one touch, like they open) to get the windows to close (apparently legal issues / pinched fingers caused the last concession)... I doubt seriously we will open the ones in the GX very often, and I am not looking forward to the first time my 6 year old opens one, doesn't tell me, and it ends up staying open in a rainstorm...

jacksonian

Yeah, pop-out doesn't really help much. The dogs would love to stick their noses out the window if it would roll down, even halfway would be great. I know I've seen it on old Land Cruisers.

loflin

Actually powered pop-outs are great (maybe not for dog noses, though), had them on a minivan 10+ years ago. Good for letting a car vent when parked in the heat, without much risk for a sudden rain shower (like the sunroof would be) and not much risk for someone getting in (it's not near any of the door lock buttons). And then leaving them open for the first minute or two of drive off with front windows open, moves all the hot air out. We loved them on that car. Having manual ones (that, btw, you basically have to drop the 3rd row seats from the stow postion to get to) is really not very useful.

slavik

I love the way the door is done right now.

Here some reasons why:

1. I put my windsurfing boards on the roof rack. If GX had lift gate - the door couldn't be open fully because my boards and masts would be in the way - this is exactly the problem I had with my old RX300. (if you carry long 2x4 lumber on top of the RX330 - try opening your lift gate door and see what happens) . Try putting pairs of skies on your roof rack if you have lift gate but then watch your spoiler or window or skies are damaged when you auto open the your favorite lift gate.

2. Side open door allows easy access to the roof (where I carry stuff from time to time) - Just step into the back door and you have easy access.

3. Lift gate is fine for grocery shopping - but there are plenty of cars on the market which do exactly that - I use my car to carry large bulk items on the roof - and lift gate is not a good fit for it. Every car on the market has lift gate door - I'm glad there is a diversity on the market and my favorite car is the one with a side opening door.

4. I was constantly bumping my head on the lift door when I had my old RX300.

So if you don't like the door - buy an RX330 and any other SUV on the market but please don't spoil it for the people (like myself) who bought the car only because of the side opening door.

Rx900

OMG. I know the real reason why Lexus MIGHT have decided to make the rear door this way. I would never have thought of this, until I got the 4Runner.

The GX is a very tall SUV. That means that if the rear door were to be a liftgate, it would POSSIBLY hit some of our garage door frames. On the first day of my 4Runner, i hit the wood frame, the one outside my garage door and I almost thought i scratched it. That's one reason. Another reason I think is that the door, since it is kinda big, MIGHT be heavy. The 4Runner's rear door is sooo heavy, that I started slamming the odyssey's liftgate, which is very light and got used to the 4Runner's heavy liftgate. .

sayadil

i would not agree coz i think LX is pretty big as well.. but the door opens just like the 4 Runner... i think since the car has been designed with asian market in mind for yrs... the door opens on the side .. coz thats a trend in asian markets... like mitsubishi's Pajero (known as montero in US) or issusu SUVS or Suzuki Vitaras... they all seem to open sideways...

Rx900

well i know that other cars like the Pajero (I am aware of this name because this is the vehicle commonly known in the philippines) open sideways, but i just thought it would be an idea. Yes the LX does have half the door open up, but at least it isn't heavy. Just a food for thought.

I also noticed, that the new FJ Cruiser has a better openning side rear door. It opens from right to left. Ours, from left to right, was originally designed for Japan (right hand side driving).

The G Man

If the GX was equiped with a lift gate, some people might need a ladder to close it. Maybe if it has a power lift gate.

BobsGX

I'm sure the redesigned GX will have a standard power liftgate. When the current GX was designed in 2000, power liftgates weren't common if they were even available. So I imagine when they were designing the GX, due to the height of the GX, some owners would have had to jump up to grab the handle to pull the liftgate down. So they went with the barn door. The least of 2 evils.

bgsntth

The rear bumper also makes a nice changing platform in dirt/sandy parking lots.

Another reason I like the barn door. I just packed my wife off with a monster Thule Cargo bin on top and bike rack hanging off the rear door. Even with bikes on the rack and bin on top, she can still open the barn door to get in the back. Try that with a hatch.

Don't worry, I told my wife to do this an infrequently as possible, so as not to bend the hinges; but she can leave the bike rack on the door for the duration of her 3 week trip with the kids. I do not have a tow hitch, so the door mounted rack was the only option.

Enigma869

When I went shopping for a new Lexus back in 2004, I opted to purchase the LX over the GX just because I thought the swinging barn door was such a horrendous design for Lexus to have put on the GX (or any vehicle for that matter). They could create the nicest vehicle on the planet and if it had the dopey swinging barn door, they wouldn't be selling one to me!

John from Boston

lexguynj

A little off topic (I am not a fan of the swing out door too), the rear of the GX470 looks great. You can't really say that for most cars, but something about the tall / rear design makes the GX look great and different from all the others.