bd5400

And somehow tens of thousands of people in the U.S. have managed to survive with a swinging rear door on their GXs. What's your point? The swinging rear door works and is preferred by some people. There's absolutely no value in trying to argue that he's wrong for preferring it or wrong for having a garage where the swinging door works better than a lifting hatch.

bbqsoup

Today I took my 9 year old to school and I asked her to put her backpack in the back. She opened the door, put it in, closed it and excitedly said, "I like this door better than you last car". I had a Pathfinder before this and she was never able to reach it.

The reardoor is now 9-year old approved!

tecman

lol, cute

davidc1

I really like the swinging door. For garage height reason plus I think it will last longer this way. Plus there is a pop up rear window.

ROSCOGX470

I agree, and wouldn't allow it to be a deal breaker anyway.

vlad_a

When my youngest just hit 3, he'd pop the auto lift tailgate in our RX by pushing the button on the lid.
So, there's that, auto lift tailgates - 3-year-old approved!
It's just so freaking convenient! I really can't get myself to get over the door on the GX.

BradTank

This is a thread about people not liking the rear hatch, so expect some debate.

I don't why people get butt hurt over someone saying there's a feature they don't like on their GX, people act someone is insulting their kids or something.

I love my GX, it's my 2nd one, but the swinging door is a dumb feature. It even opens on the "wrong side" for the American market. People polled here don't like it by well over 2 to 1, same with the forum over with the 1st Gen GX, and the Lexus dealer says its something people constantly complain about and they keep trying to get Lexus to change it.

If you like it because your kid can open it, great, but people can have other opinions as well.

Coulter

I'm also in the camp that thinks the barn door is a dumb holdover that Lexus knows people will overlook and is trying to simply cut costs on it rather than adapt it to the American market. At least they finally made it so the glass hatch can open.

As pointed out earlier, the swinging door was for a spare tire to be mounted on the Prado models that you can't even do on the Lexus model.
And it's for cars that drive on the left side of the road, so even if you want to make the case for a swinging barn door, at least put the hinges on the other side for the American market. They wouldn't dare sell the Prado that way in their markets that opened the opposite way.

If the barn door was a good idea and something people actually wanted, you would see all the other CUV's and SUVs with it also. People (mostly) hate it, and I'm sure all the focus groups and polls say the same thing. Of all the engineering challenges with designing modern cars, redesigning how the rear cargo opens is about the easiest to figure out. They could easily change it, they just want to pad their margins a bit more with this vehicle.

jaleels

The real reason why they have the rear door is cost-cutting and laziness. Toyota has done a lot of ridiculous things in the past with their models. The first generation Lexus GX had a cassette player. Who in their right mind would put a cassette player in a 2004 vehicle. I remember seeing a review of the 2009 Lexus GX and the reviewer stated that the only vehicle in the world with a cassette player was the Lexus GX.

JT4

Two different Lexus dealers, the one where we bought our RX from almost three years ago, and the dealer where we had purchased our other two from both said that if the GX had a standard rear door they would sell more of them.

Both said that usually when a GX deal falls through it's due to the rear door.. One dealer said that some people don't like it not only because of the way it opens, but also because it doesn't open from the remote. I understand why it doesn't open from the remote, but I can also understand why some people feel that way.

bd5400

It's one thing to debate the merits of the swinging rear door, it's another thing to try to tell someone they're wrong for preferring it, which is what you were doing with your post. He posted about how the rear swinging door works for him and his garage layout and you responded with an assertion that 99% of SUVs have a traditional lift gate and most people prefer it. That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that for the poster and his garage layout the rear swinging door is a better feature than a lift gate.

Not to mention the fact that he's hardly the only person with a parking spot that works better for a swinging rear door than a lift gate. Anyone who backs up to a wall will have an easier time getting regular items out of the back than with a lift gate.

NewB2Lexus

I did not understand the reaction either but did not want to get involved in a pointless debate. The door works for me better for 2 reason:

1. Limited top clearance in our garage would not allow it to open. The Mercedes ML hatch DOES open because it is not as tall as the GX, the GX would hit the garage door / ceiling.
2. When I load up the cargo tray with boxes I would not be able to access the trunk unless I crawl underneath the door. I can still open the swinging door enough to have limited access to the trunk or I can pop the window.

What works for me might not work for others and I am not planning to replace the GX within the foreseeable future anyways. If someone doesn't like the door buy something else instead of getting all worked up!

BradTank

This was what I was referring to:


The sentence in bold is was what I was referring to (most homes and garages) and why I said it was wrong and showed a picture to illustrate that even on an SUV larger than the GX, the upward swinging door is not an issue with height.
Not that a person couldn't prefer the swinging door instead.

The idea that MOST garages you have to go outside to open the rear hatch if you have a normal SUV (except on the GX) is just flat out wrong. Car designers know people park these things in garages and know that would be a huge annoyance if you had to pull outside every time in order to open it.

Again, people have different preferences on this, but I see people making some pretty lame reasons why it's better to the point where they're just making stuff up that isn't true. If someone said they prefer a rear hatch to not swing up because they are short and have trouble reaching it when it opens, I wouldn't argue with that. It's a valid reason for some people.


But the reason why Lexus has it on there is cost savings, and the overwhelming consensus is most people dislike it to the point some even buy a different SUV over it. It's not for me as I'm on my 2nd one.

Here's a Tahoe/Suburban to once again show you can open upward swinging rear door in a conventional garage. If Chevy can figure this out on their largest SUV, surely Lexus can also.

Coulter

The people that seemed to be getting all worked up are the ones that for some reason feel insulted that not everyone likes every feature of the GX.

But I love hearing why a door designed to hold a spare tire that's no longer there and one that opens the wrong way for our market is somehow superior.

One other feature that's annoying about is if you park an incline, you have to engage that locking mechanism every time, otherwise it closes on you. My drive way has a slope, so I can't just open the tailgate and load something because it keeps shutting on me. Just extra steps for a poor design.

NewB2Lexus

You cant be serious !

Our garage is a completely average size garage, its size and characteristics are pretty much the same as many other homes I have visited in most southern states and some northern ones. While the picture is over 10 years old the hatch of the SUV CAN be opened inside the garage and you have about an inch left before it hits the door and the frame. This is the ONLY SUV I could EVER open while inside, for all others I have to put a piece of styrofoam between the hatch and the door/frame to avoid damaging the paint.

Now if you have a barn or a car shop attached to your home it is probably fine but I can tell you with 100% certainty that you would not be able to open the GX's hatch has it been opening upwards! I know for a fact because even smaller SUVs don't open including the 4Runner. I am still not sure how was I wrong!