Hi again, another post from me. Apologies
Next year I need to get rid of my Suzuki Kei Works and invest in something more ‘family friendly’.
My wife said she wants us to get a car with a rear sliding door. I am aware that there are many cars that offer this feature. Many of the cars that have this design are kei cars but I have noticed that many of them have the smallest of boot space. If someone is sitting in the back (let’s say my child in their car seat) and you open the boot, there is literally about 30cm of space to put things. You couldn’t fit one backpack in their. So I think Kei Cars with slide doors are out.
Also I will be using the car to drive around 30-40 minutes to work each day so not looking for a huge Nissan El grand or people carrier.
One car I know of is the Mazda Premacy. It is like a Mazda 3 but wagon style with a slide door.
Anything else that’s not a people carrier or tiny kei car?
7 comments
Sounds like you’re looking for a mini-MPV. The first one that comes to mind is the Toyota Porte/Sienta. They’re both based on the Vitz so they’re compact. The Porte only has one sliding door on the passenger side while the Sienta has them on both.
If you want a family car that isn’t too big, have you considered a Toyota Noah/Esquire/Voxy? They’re minivans but they’re still compact enough to get a 5xx license plate. They have small engines and good fuel economy and can fit into tight parking spaces, but can still haul a whole family.
1. You should get a roof rack and a shell for your car so you can store more space up top.
2. Honda Odyssey, Toyota Estima, Toyota Sienta, Honda Freed are the smaller-style sliding door cars/vans.
Heard good things about the Toyota sienta.
Suzuki solio?
Honda Freed.
It’s our next car. Not too big, but big enough for a full family and lots of storage space.
I was actually interested in a Toyota Sienta before, but then I rented one from Narita and drove it to Niigata, it was like a like accelerating a kei car off the stop line with 2 adults and a small child and our luggage. Looked it up later and found out the engine was like 20% less powerful than the Freed for the same size. I currently have a Freed Spike (1st gen Freed, no ultimate rear seats, in the 2nd gen they call this config the Freed+).
A lot of this will come down to three things, your usage, your budget, and what you are comfortable with. Looking just at Toyota’s you would have the following options.
Roomy – holds 4 adults, not a lot of space in the boot but is fine if you are hauling 2 adults plus kid(s). I have this and it is convenient size wise for driving daily. Fits in a Kei car space in most parking lots and can do a u-turn on most roads, not really comfortable on expressways or over 100kph. I have two kids and I can still manage a Costco run.
Sienta – hauls 7 people, but no real boot space with that many people. Most likely the next car for our family as the kids get bigger and we may need to haul in-laws as they get older. Harder to park and larger turning radius, more comfortable on expressways. Not really any more powerful than the turbo Roomy.
Voxy – nice if you need this size but honestly I don’t want to unless I need it. Starting to get too costly unless you need it this size.
Alphard – Yanki mobile, honestly an annoying ugly vehicle. Can you see I’m biased. For people who need mobile love hotels, make sure you add the curtains.
HiAce – for people who don’t know when to stop having kids or need a better mobile love hotel. Make sure you get the mag wheels.