TAILGATE or BARNDOORS

TAILGATE or BARNDOORS


  • Total voters
    38
  • Poll closed .

patbarn

New Member
Hi All.
In 48 hours I'm going to order a SWB Kombi 204TSi DSG in Bamboo Green.

Simple Question open for discussion:

TAILGATE or BARNDOORS?
 
Depends upon your intended main use.
In town (read cramped spaces) as a working van = barn doors
Everything else = tailgate
:thumbsup:
 
We went tailgate really only because of the option to have a 4 bike rack without a towbar. If there were a better 4 bike rack option for barn doors I'd have probably gone that route simple because of how much space is needed to open the tailgate (I have to move the van off the drive to open it). The difference in visibility seemed a moot point with a rack on the back. Horses for courses.
 
Depends what you use the van for i guess but as Paul says i have always found tailgate to be the best.
 
I've never heard of anyone converting their tailgate to barndoors, but many going the other way
 
I've had barn doors on all our other vans, simply because the manufacture (Vauxhall) didn't have tailgates as an option at the time we purchased.
Buying into the VW brand was a huge decision because as a small business it's hard to justify the prices compared to other manufactures.
However, we justified this with 2 main reasons. First, I ordered a Kombi, so the vehicle is now multipurpose for my work and family life, and secondly the tailgate option meant that we can actually use this feature to shelter under whist working. This is a huge leap forward for us as a mobile business, because we'd sometimes have to cancel or re-schedule certain jobs because of the British weather, and now we don't.
So from a work/business prospective the tailgate option gives us far more flexibility.
 
Tailgate for me too. Great to shelter under when it’s peeing down and your loading half the contents of Tesco into the back on a Saturday morning!
 
I've had both......T5 had barn doors.......T6 has tailgate. Pro's and cons for both but all round, I'd have another tailgate.
 
For a camper it's a tailgate, extra shelter, tents are sold that combine with the tailgate for extra living space.

For a work van it's a Barn door. Open easily in areas tight on space, a forklift can easily drop a pallet on the back.

Sadly my camper currently has barndoors. It's a shame but I shall make it work.
 
I've had both and prefer barn doors, for a number of reasons.
1. I can open one a small amount to get stuff out without emptying all the heat out of the van.
2. Easier to open and shut. The tail gate requires a good shove and after a long dirty journey means you have to press the crap hard into your paint. I try to reach the vw badge to push against but it doesn't always work.
3. You need less clearance behind to open up with barns.

I take the point about the shelter though.
 
One comment about people saying the tailgate offers extra shelter... it's true BUT .. beware closing the tailgate - the number plate recess fills with water and soaks you if you;re standing in the wrong place (as I found out to my cost) :oops:
 
I've got barn doors for work van and tailgate for camper van, works for me
 
Love the tailgate, you don't need much extra room behind to open. Brilliant as a shelter and mine is really easy to close, not sure why people are struggling with them, maybe they have stiffer struts or maybe need to man up a bit :whistle:

I previously had Barn doors with a rear spoiler and if someone closes the wrong door first, the spoiler gets damaged. Also barn doors can be dangerous in strong winds.
 
Barn doors. You can limit what people can see when opening the door and dogs don’t try and shoot out when opening.
 
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