Doors, doors, doors.
Can’t get enough of them, at least Detroit thinks you can’t because a bunch more are coming-and in places you haven’t seen them before.
While in town for the Chicago Auto Show last week GMC and Chevrolet said they’ll add a third door to full- and compact-size extended-cab pickup trucks for the 1996 model year.
Ford officials said a third door will be added to their new full-size F-Series extended-cab pickup this fall as well, and plans are being made to add a third door to the compact Ford Ranger truck in extended-cab form.
And Chrysler is mapping similar plans for its full-size Ram and midsize Dakota.
Extended cabs solve one of the problems of truck ownership, providing a rear seat for people or parcels. But you face the same problems with a front/rear-seat extended cab as you do with a two-door coupe, the front seats block access to and from the back. Because trucks usually stand taller than cars, rear-seat entry/exit is even more difficult.
A third door will make it easier for kids to hop in and out as well as for mom and dad to slip the groceries or luggage in the back.
Among the imports, the jury is still out on whether to add such a door. Toyota general manager Dave Illingworth, for example, says: “We’re not sure how a third door is going to work and if it will really be viable.”
Ford and Chrysler are mum on how their third door is going to work, but GMC and Chevy seemed eager to elaborate to prepare customers for the innovation.
Fred Cook, general sales manager for GMC truck division, said the full-size GMC Sierra and Chevy C/K pickups and compact GMC Sonoma and Chevy S-10 pickups will offer an optional side access panel, which looks like a door and acts like a door, but differs in that it has no exterior handle. It can be opened only when the door in front of it is opened first to expose a handle in the center door pillar. The optional third door will run about $400.
The side access panel will be behind the passenger’s door in the full-size trucks, behind the driver’s door in the compacts. The reason for the different locations, Cook said, is that most full-size truck owners have families accustomed to loading on the passenger side and most compact owners are single and want to load their “stuff” on the side they get in.
Mini-vans are getting the added door, too.
The Honda Odyssey mini-van that’s new for 1995 offers four hinged doors, two up front, two in back, rather than the more common two hinged doors up front and a slide open door along the passenger’s side.
When Chrysler brings out its next generation mini-vans in April, there will be two hinged doors up front, a slide open door along the passenger side, and an optional slide open door along the driver’s side.
When General Motors restyles its front-wheel-drive mini-vans for 1997-the Chevrolet Lumina, Pontiac Trans Sport and Oldsmobile Silhouette-there will be some noticeable changes, too.
Those vans will be offered in short- and long-wheelbase versions, compared to only short wheelbase now. The short-wheelbase models will offer two-hinged doors upfront and a sliding door on the passenger side that can be ordered with a power-open option.
The long-wheelbase versions will have two hinged doors up front, a slide open (power optional) on the passenger side, and a hinged door on the driver’s side.
On the Windstar, Ford has two hinged doors up front and a slide open door along the passenger side. But soon it plans to make the driver’s door longer than normal to extend further to the rear. Passengers will have access to the back seat through this “super door,” when the driver’s seat is flipped forward.
Why this configuration?
Windstar hides air/heat/fuel-line hardware in the body panel behind the driver’s door and it will take a major redesign to make way for a door behind the driver-sliding or hinged.
When the Windstar undergoes a major redesign in a few years, Ford folks say a second door behind the driver is one of the first things they’re going to look into because research proves it’s a “well desired” option.
The ABCs: Acura’s replacement for the Vigor sedan is the luxury automaker’s first conversion to alphanumeric designations that will find all Acura models referred to by letters and numbers. The new car is called the 2.5 TL (2.5-liter, 5-cylinder) or 3.2 TL (3.2-liter, V-6). The 2.5 also gets a vertical grille, the 3.2 a horizontal grille to differentiate the two.
Those new TL sedans due in April offer dual air bags, anti-lock brakes, air, AM/FM stereos with cassette (and compact disc for the 3.2), as well as traction control (optional on 2.5).
Richard Thomas, executive vice president of Honda and general manager of Acura, said research studies insist consumers favor alphanumerics to Integra or Legend names. It may take some doing to prove that to Legend owners.
“When you ask an Integra owner what he owns, he says an Acura, but when you ask a Legend owner what he owns, he says a Legend.”
Add one, drop one: Mitsubishi will drop its subcompact pickup after the 1996 model year and replace it with a compact sport-utility to compete against the Chevy Blazer and Ford Explorer for 1997. Mitsubishi sold 16,000 trucks last year, down from 30,000 in 1993.
Mitsubishi said that ’97 sport-utility will be priced in the $20,000 to $30,000 range versus $40,000 for its current and larger Montero. While the Big Three domestics are focusing on bringing more luxurious-and expensive-utilities to market, the Japanese are concentrating on the lower end to attract more first-time buyers.
The topper: Mitsubishi also said the convertible version ($20,000) of its Eclipse sport coupe will enter the market in the spring of 1996. That car will get a vinyl top initially. But keep in mind that Mitsubishi has a retractable hardtop 3000GT, so don’t rule out that treatment for Eclipse.
Chrysler’s cure: Chrysler priced its new Sebring coupe at $15,800 with 2-liter, 4 and $17,600 with 2.5-liter, V-6. Sebring is Chrysler’s version of the Dodge Avenger. Both are built at Mitsubishi’s Diamond-Star plant in Downstate.
Clever tag line for Sebring: “The cure for the common coupe.”
Dual air bags, ABS, automatic transmission and air conditioning will be standard.
Chrysler will offer a convertible version of Sebring called the JX in the spring of 1996. Avenger won’t get a drop top.
The I’s have it: Infiniti’s newest offering is the I30, which is built off the Nissan Maxima platform. It goes on sale in March and will start at about $30,000.
Infiniti says its entry-level model, the G20 sedan, will remain in the lineup through 1996, but it is studying whether to bring out a new entry-level model or have the I30 fill that role.
Infiniti also confirmed it will offer a luxury ($40,000 to $50,0000) sport-utility vehicle in the 1997 model year, but won’t say whether it will be built off the Pathfinder platform as most suspect.
Pedigreed: The new compact Tacoma truck from Toyota is the 6th generation of the vehicle since the automaker first brought out a pickup here in 1969. It’s being offered in two- and four-wheel-drive versions in regular and extended cab. A 2.4-liter, 142-horsepower, 4 is offered with 2WD, a 2.7-liter, 150-h.p., 4 with 4WD. It goes on sale next month.
No prices yet, but ABS is going to be an option to help keep the sticker price down. And there will be an air bag only on the driver’s side, another cost-saving move. It will be added in 1998.
Tag line: “Arrival of the fittest.”
Toyota will redesign the Land Cruiser this fall and shortly after the first of the year Toyota will bring out a restyled 4Runner sport-utility.
