Motoring Discussion > 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Lee from 1996 Replies: 31

 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Lee from 1996
When there is a car with 2 side doors and a boot, what would you call it?

I personally say 2 doors, but I know some people say 3 doors. I don't want explanations on how, if you can get into to the car through the boot, the boot is classed as a door.

I was just discussing with a work mate and he says 3 doors but I say 2
Last edited by: Lee from 1996 on Thu 16 May 13 at 08:45
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Fenlander
>>>When there is a car with 2 side doors and a boot, what would you call it?

Very little use to the family man?
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - L'escargot
Manufacturers call them 3 door, and surely they must be the definitive authority on the matter.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Bromptonaut
If it has a proper boot then it's a 2 or 4 door. Three or five door cars are hatchbacks with a folding rear seat.

Use of 3 or 5 door goes back to the early seventies. IIRC I first saw it used in test reports on the Renault 5 and Peugeot 104. The latter was one of the fist 'supermini' class cars with rear doors.

Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 16 May 13 at 09:06
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - L'escargot
>> Manufacturers call them 3 door, ..............

On second thoughts, a 3 door car has 2 passenger doors plus a hatch door at the back, and a 2 door car has 2 passenger doors plus a boot lid.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Londoner
Hatch or door?

When is a door not a door?
When it is on a (jam)jar.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Cliff Pope
Properly speaking only vans, minibuses and shooting brakes have doors at the back.
Anything else is a tailgate, a lid, or perhaps a trapdoor.
I think to be considered a door it has to be something you yourself would climb through to enter the car.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - sherlock47
Surely most vans have 2 doors at the rear, (forgetting sideloaders etc), but only one opening at the rear?

When did you last hear the term patio door? :)
Last edited by: pmh on Thu 16 May 13 at 09:23
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - WillDeBeest
Manufacturers call them 3 door, and surely they must be the definitive authority on the matter.

L'Es's answer to everything but it won't do here because it's a marketing matter, not an engineering one. We don't, I hope, adopt the dreadful habit of referring our cars without the definite article, as if they were characters in a story, but the manufacturers do: "When you let Saxo into your life..." or whatever.

A related question might be, if you take the view that doors are for people, is the area under a tailgate still a boot? That's what I call the load space in my estate car, and in the saloon.

Incidentally, Bromp, wasn't the 104 launched as a 4-door saloon, then relaunched in 1976 as a hatch - with a shortened 3-door version? The Renault 5 had been about for four years by then - although it took a couple more to get a second pair of doors.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - jc2
2 or 4=saloon;3 or 5=hatchback.
Last edited by: jc2 on Thu 16 May 13 at 10:01
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - WillDeBeest
Late edit May have misread Bromp on the 104 - referring to the rear passenger doors, not the hatch, I now think.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Bromptonaut
>> Late edit May have misread Bromp on the 104 - referring to the rear passenger
>> doors, not the hatch, I now think.

I'd forgotten that the 104 was originally a saloon. Remember reading road tests around referring to 3 door cars and being confused.......
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - bathtub tom
I assumed it's just economical use of words. 3 or 5-door immediately implies hatchback rather than saloon.

Like bidet's a shortened term for rear wash-wipe.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Boxsterboy
>> I'd forgotten that the 104 was originally a saloon. Remember reading road tests around referring
>> to 3 door cars and being confused.......
>>

The early Fiat 127s also had boots rather than hatches. I think the success of the R5 made both Peugeot and Fiat go away and re-engineer their saloons that looked like hatches into proper hatchbacks.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Alanovich
Ditto Alfasud.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Cliff Pope
>> or 5=hatchback.
>>


Or an estate car, perhaps with occasional seats in the back?
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - ToMoCo
Ha, I remember my BiL bought a new Escort some time after the Orion had been dropped.

He wanted an Escort hatch with 4 passenger doors so ordered a 4 door and got a saloon.

Luckily they had some sort of return for any reason you like withing 30 days offer and they swapped it for a new 5 door shortly after.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - jc2
An estate(with or without extra seats) is 2d or 4d Estate!
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Londoner
>> An estate(with or without extra seats) is 2d or 4d Estate!
>>
Except when it's a "Touring", "Shooting Brake", "Avant", "Sports Tourer" or some other poncey marketing-led title.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Armel Coussine
The inferno the other day in California with five dead indicates with great clarity that those stretched limos don't have enough doors.

Variants whose structure is too floppy to allow any more doors should be condemned and crushed. A rear compartment that can seat eight or ten whooping women needs four doors, two at the front and two at the rear. Or even six.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - L'escargot
>> Except when it's a "Touring", "Shooting Brake", "Avant", "Sports Tourer" or some other poncey marketing-led title.
>>
And what about the Triumph Roadster in the 1940s which had a dickey seat at the rear? How many doors would you call that?
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Oldgit
My pet aversion are hatchbacks with 3 doors, to be honest. Personally I think they look inferior to those with 5 doors although many (especially the youger brigade) disagree and reckon 3 doors look the bee's knees.
To me they are an inconvenience in so many ways.
Primarily, the two main doors are too big and open usually way past the front seats making exit and entry difficult especially if garaged or parked between two other vehicles.
I do wonder whether manufacurers beef up the hinges to allow for the extra weight of these larger doors?
And then there is the appearance,. Having just two doors means that thereis nothing to break up the mass of painted metal, I think that some cars, especially the now trendy white, look like converted vans, depending on make/model of course.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Londoner
>> >> Except when it's a "Touring", "Shooting Brake", "Avant", "Sports Tourer" or some other poncey
>> marketing-led title.
>> >>
>> And what about the Triumph Roadster in the 1940s which had a dickey seat
>> at the rear? How many doors would you call that?
>>
Since the whole idea was a load of bull, I'd call it a "Matador" :-)
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Zero

>> Since the whole idea was a load of bull, I'd call it a "Matador" :-)

Stolen from wiki



Murciélago (Spanish for "bat") was a Navarra fighting bull, whose name became popular after Volkswagen Group AG chose it to name the new Lamborghini model to honor the passion for bull-fighting the founder of the company, Ferruccio Lamborghini, was famous for. VAG's advertisement department went to considerable lengths to popularize this animal, otherwise very little known even to corrida fans.
According to the PR-specialists, the bull survived 24 sword strokes in an October 5, 1879 fight against Rafael "El Lagartijo" Molina Sanchez, at the Coso de los califas bullring in Córdoba, Spain. Its name means bat in Spanish.
The promotional story goes on to tell that Murciélago fought with such passion and spirit that the crowd called for his life to be spared, an honor which the torero bestowed. The bull, which came from the farm of Joaquin del Val de Navarra, was later presented as a gift to Don Antonio Miura. Together with his brother, Don Eduardo Miura, they brought Murciélago into the Miura line by siring him with 70 cows. Bulls from the Miura ranch, located near Seville, Spain, are known for being large and ferocious.
This storyline, however, largely contradicts to the history of Miura ranch, whose bulls first fought in corrida in 1849, 30 years prior to the "story of Murcielago". It is also doubtful that, after 24 deep stab wounds and the associated stress and blood loss, the animal could survive, let alone reproduce.
Many fans of both Lamborghini and bull-fighting were perplexed over the choice of the name, blaming the back then new German owner of Lamborghini of exploiting the bull-fighting theme without actually knowing much about it.

 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - movilogo
Does it really matter?

It is D+T formula where d = no of doors, t = no of tailgate (usually 1)


 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - WillDeBeest
By which standard a Mini Clubman is an abomination a five-door, but with two of the doors at the back.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Londoner
>> By which standard a Mini Clubman is an abomination a five-door, but with two of
>> the doors at the back.
>>
:-)

"The Abominable Clubman".

The BMW group's answer to the Skoda Yeti.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - WillDeBeest
In name only, Londers. The Yeti's rather stylish - in fact, I quite fancy one.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Londoner
>> In name only, Londers. The Yeti's rather stylish - in fact, I quite fancy one.
>>
Two down-to-earth guys at work (whose opinions I trust) each have the 2 litre 140 PS 4WD version and they are extremely pleased with them. (I remember the engine because it's the same as mine.)

One guy has done over 60k miles from new in his. Don't know the mileage of the other one. Both cars have been faultless.
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Dave_
>> By which standard a Mini Clubman is an abomination a five-door, but with two of
>> the doors at the back.

Which AT category would a Hyundai Veloster be in then? Four-door hatchback? ;)
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Sat 18 May 13 at 00:20
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Ted

What about Austin A40 Farina and first Range Rovers. 2 horizontal doors ?

Ted
 2 Door or 3 Door ... 4 Door or 5 Door? - Oldgit
>>
>> What about Austin A40 Farina and first Range Rovers. 2 horizontal doors ?
>>
>> Ted
>>

And recently, didn't one of the Toyota RAV4s have a horizontal door that did not quite open to 90 degrees much to the annoyance of its owners?
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