A rear door rather than a lift gate is so much nicer, but rarely seen. The only SUV that I can think of with a door is the Land Rover Defender.
I looked at a Bronco on a dealer lot and what struck me was how high the rack was - not good for lifting kayaks. Outbacks are a good 6 inches lower. I thought the Outback’s rails were useless but the way the bars move it should be possible to attach saddles to the cross bars or replace the bars with something bolted down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qs279kbkYY
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I got the Outback because the Forester was 3" taller than the Outback, and the 2004 Forester I was replacing.
Agreed. The Mini Clubman has two doors in back and a nice long flat roof, but of course it isn’t an SUV. Oh, and I mean long compared to my regular Mini, by the way…
https://www.drive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/All-New-MINI-Clubman-reviewed-894x529.jpg
It looks like my 2000 GC, Just love that jeep…
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The previous generation of the Chevy Traverse had an optional spoiler. Not a very fuel efficient option.
The other thing that I don’t like about the spoiler is that you can’t put a bike rack on the lift gate. Not as much of an issue now that we are back to doing car shuttles, but it is still a pain. I guess there would be room on the roof for the bike and the boat. I was planning to put on a hitch and getting a hitch bike rack, but those are also a pain if you need to open the lift gate.
I can find no positive for the spoilers that are a plague on sports people who buy SUVs to transport their sports equipment. I had a trailer hitch mount Thule bike rack that hinged horizontally so that the lift gate could be opened. Someone gave it to me for repair. It had a cracked weld. I never ended up using it and eventually scrapped it but it was a clever design. I transport my bikes inside the Forester.
The all-steel Thule hitch probably weighed sixty pounds and probably cost more than a decent bike.
Jeeps (not their SUVs) don’t have a liftgate, they have doors, and you can put the bike rack on the spare tire, just like I do with my LR Discovery 1 (also doesn’t have a liftgate, has a door).
The nice thing about a door is that you never have to worry about the liftgate hitting the kayaks, spoiler or not.
I once had a first generation S10 Blazer that I had an optional spoiler that you could install or uninstall yourself but that was like 38 years ago so I guess we haven’t progressed that much…
Subaru salesperson says spoiler isn’t removable but I haven’t consulted a body shop yet. Older RAV4s had doors, newer ones don’t. Full size Jeep is a possibility in spite of low Consumer Report ratings. Searching for a Bronco Sport for a test drive, it’s two-way liftgate may be the answer.
To grayhawk, who is probably around my age, I bought a Toyota HiLux pickup in 1972 and it was the best money I ever spent. 265,000 miles of commuting, road trips, hauling materials and firewood and canoes and kayaks before I retired it. It’s probably still out there somewhere.
I know it is not an SUV but with gas heading to $6.00 per gallon I’m glad I bought the KIA Soul and not the SUV I was tempted to buy. We live up on the great lakes and the Soul with snow tires has been getting me around really great. No stupid spoiler on the lift gate, the antenna screws right out for loading. I have no problem doing 60MPH with two full size canoes on top. The lift gate is manual so I can open it and let it go up about 2/3 of the way if I need in there. Most of the time I have the rear seat folded flush and just use the back doors. Had it 5 years and it has been a good little car.
I might add being a lower roof height makes putting boats on and off easy.
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I love my Bronco Sport. Gate lifts with the boats on top (but I have to duck a little so I don’t hit it). But the best part is the rear window opens!
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Man, I WISH!!! I had a 96 Chevy Tahoe with the split rear doors and I loved them! I don’t know why they ever did away with them, because they’re far more useful than the lifting hatchback style. Easy to use no matter what your height, no clearance issues if you have something overhanging from the roof, and no worries about a piston failing and causing the door to not stay up. The only benefit of the hatchback really is when it’s raining.
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bud 16415: I’ve been told that the Cooper-BMW Mini Clubman sort-of station wagon has barn doors. I haven’t seen one close up to verify. They’re sort of tiny. Our aging 2012 RAV4 has a swinging door with the spare tire on the outside which makes for convenience and room for the bikes in addition to the boats on the roof, but it’s getting due for replacement and new RAVs don’t have that configuration.
The Bronco Sport looks like the solution. Thank you SLJ for the pictures. Getting out of the rain with the liftgate up is something I really want. At 5’6" I may fit under it. Off to the Ford dealer today!
I did look at the mini clubman the other day when I was searching the net. I knew mini cooper made them that way still but I didn’t know about the clubman model. I’m starting to see more mini coopers and also fiats around here lately. There must be a dealer around. I’m now on my 3rd kia car and when they first came out they were really garbage but have turned into great cars IMO. I’m now 66 and when I bought the first one I paused signing the paperwork and the dealer asked me what was wrong? I told him for some reason I just felt my dad kicking me square in the backside.
I agree people are just wanting something practical and sometimes old school without all the frills. It amazes me with these roof rails all the complexity they go to. My soul had 4 little plastic caps I pulled out and there were 4 tapped holes. It couldn’t have been any simpler than that.
Funny how our fathers expressed their wisdom. I’m 76. During the OPEC strongarm on oil in the 70s I advocated for smaller cars. My father asked the sobering question, relative to driving a subcompact among semis, “How many miles a gallon is your life worth?”. Same question today with self driving cars and soon, semi trucks. Size matters.
As far as I can figure it out, the lame excuses for roof racks on most cars and SUVs today are related to squeezing everything the manufacturers can out of their vehicles to meet fuel mileage CAFE standards. They don’t want the mileage affected by racks or buyers putting anything on the roof lest the vehicles not comply with posted mileage figures,
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Back during the OPEC embargo, my Dad sold his Pontiac Parisienne for a '74 Volvo because of the fuel economy. Yes, it was a much smaller car but three years later, my Mum got t-boned while driving it, hit on the driver’s side (someone drove through a stop sign). The only thing that saved her life was the side-impact beam in the driver’s door, a safety feature that Parisienne did have. Size does not make a car safer.
This discussion makes feel like I am going to keep my simple, old school, non-computerised, rear-doored, diesel LR Disco 1 for a few years longer.
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I used to own a 4Runner. Loved the vehicle; hated that spoiler.
If you’re handy, they can be removed, you can cut out a spot for the center tail light, and install one.
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