Sliding door - what side and why?

[The Wibbler]

Here's a question that's been buggiing since joining the campervan community - why do some vans have the sliding door on the offside? It can't be because they are LHD imports, so what's the reason?

 

[Oceanis]

Driver can get out and open the sliding door without walking round the van, and easily open it fron the inside ... having an offside sliding door is only a bit of a disadvantage when parking on busy streets with kids or dogs .... car parks, camp sites, makes no difference, and you can park with the nearside hard against a wall and still have full access to the van.

 

[dubber36]

The California has an offside slider. I guess VW produce more left hand drive models so it is cheaper to make a right hand drive van with an offside slider than it is to make a handed set of furniture and trims.

 

[Oceanis]

The California has an offside slider. I guess VW produce more left hand drive models so it is cheaper to make a right hand drive van with an offside slider than it is to make a handed set of furniture and trims.

VWs home market is LHD (as is most of the world) ... so you are indeed right, the volumes aren't there to justify VW investing in a full RHD variant of the Beach/Ocean with a mirrored interior.

The people carrier and van market is different, they need to offer sliding doors on both sides for versatility so the sliding door position is configurable.

 

[The Wibbler]

So now i know!!