Sliding door groove

S

sea_munky

Member
Why do you suppose Mazda doesn't try to hide the sliding door groove under the window? Do you suppose Mazda wants to actually show off/advertise its sliding doors?

Or is it a cost effectiveness thing? Or a design thing?

I love the doors but wish they would make the door groove less conspicuous. The car would look sleeker with a smoother body panel. And when people DO see the doors slide open, there's the "Whoah...COOL!" factor.


Cheers
 
I think it's more sticking with a reliable design and cost

sea_munky said:
Why do you suppose Mazda doesn't try to hide the sliding door groove under the window? Do you suppose Mazda wants to actually show off/advertise its sliding doors?

Or is it a cost effectiveness thing? Or a design thing?

I love the doors but wish they would make the door groove less conspicuous. The car would look sleeker with a smoother body panel. And when people DO see the doors slide open, there's the "Whoah...COOL!" factor.


Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes I think it's more about sticking with something simple and keeping costs down. Even the "mighty" Honda has had issues with sliding doors (alignment, mechanism etc.) on it's newest odyssey so IMO KISS applies here. For the weight and size of the door, as well as the amount of times kids (like mine) abuse them, I think KISS is paramount to reliability. :)

FYI We've had ours for 3.5 years now and no issues after ~21,000cycles. (3.5 * 365 * avg 8 open/close cycles per trip * 2 kids)

I personally don't think the groove looks bad. The designers undoubtedly took it into consideration when they worked out the character lines.
 
The groove is wide enough for me to reach the rail with my fingers and cloth to wipe away dirt and apply grease.. without removing the panel. It is functional. Japanese designers seem to get feedback from the mechanics in the field.
 
Just saw an MPV (not sure what year) but it had the groove right below the window. Seems like Mazda could easily adapt this design for the 5.

I agree. The designers took the groove into account and it doesn't look THAT bad. But it would look better all nice and smooth. I wonder if the location of the groove requires much more redesign or costs more or if it's just a matter of "hey! let's move the groove up 8 inches so it's not so noticeable."
 
maybe its a matter of weight balance on that door which requires to position the rear sliding hinge in the middle of the door instead of 8" higher?
 
maybe its a matter of weight balance on that door which requires to position the rear sliding hinge in the middle of the door instead of 8" higher?
Click to expand...

that's a good possibility. i don't know much behind the designing/engineering aspect about it. is that a sports car with sliding doors in your avatar pic, nehvada?
 
Yeah I agree

nehvada said:
maybe its a matter of weight balance on that door which requires to position the rear sliding hinge in the middle of the door instead of 8" higher?
Click to expand...

The weight/dimensions/position of the 5's rear door is different than the MPV. My guess is that if they position the track wrong it could lead to binding and/or poor balance and increased effort sliding it open/closed. I for one think they did a nice job with it. My 4 year old can open and close the 5's rear doors quite easily. SO easy in fact that I have the child lock engaged :)
 
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