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"Porte" is the French word
for
"door".
Choosing a French word as the name of the car is quite interesting. It
makes
you wonder if it is a copy of Peugeot 1007. The French car is the first
hatchback gambling on electric powered sliding doors. Toyota might be inspired by it and decided to
build its own version. The development started later than 1007, but
while
Peugeot / Pininfarina was troubled by the technical difficulties of
making the
doors meeting safety regulations, the Japanese worked more smoothly and
eventually launched the car only 2 months later than 1007.
Both cars are all about
electric-powered sliding doors. The
French car has two of them, one on each side. The Japanese car with a
French
name has only one such door at the passenger side while the driver
access via a
conventionally hinged door. The power sliding door is a merit for
congested
cities like Tokyo.
When you park the car in tight spaces, you don't need to worry about
locking up
yourself in the car, because the sliding door take virtually no space
to open.
So the only constrain is your big belly.
You might ask why the
French
need twin-sliding doors while
the Japanese need only one. The answer is: the Japanese car wants to
cut costs. Power
sliding doors are not cheap – this explain why Peugeot 1007 is
seriously
overpriced. To save one door could save hundreds of dollars, or tens of
thousands of yen. So how can the driver get out of the car in tight
parking
space? The answer is through the passenger side door. This is easy in
the
Porte, as it has a flat floor free of transmission tunnel, or so-called
"walkthrough capability". The door opening is very large – some
1165mm tall and 1020mm wide. The front passenger seat is mounted on
rails. It
can slide back and forth for 750mm. Slide it to the rearmost position
allows
the driver to get out easily. Slide it to the frontmost position eases
rear
passenger access.
The Porte has a spacious
cabin,
thanks to the exaggerate
height of 1720mm – an Opel Meriva is nearly 100mm lower than it ! it
has a long
wheelbase and width to match the Opel multi-activity vehicle, so it is
a class bigger than 1007. As you expect, there are a lot of storage
cubbies and
thoughtful features in the colorful cabin. The seating arrangement is
reasonably
flexible, what a pity the rear seat can only flip up but not fold flat.
Moreover, the tailgate aperture is small. While
it is a good people carrier, it is not as impressive as a cargo loader.
As you would have
guessed, this car is not designed to go
fast or corner flat. It is underpowered (biggest engine is the familiar
1.5
VVT-i) and automatic only. Its tall body and comfy suspension setting
work
against handling. This car is all about doors. Everything else is not
important. It is sad that our motor industry has developed to this
stage – cars
are no longer cars, they are doors, they are music box, they are living
rooms…
Fortunately, the majority of car buying public still prefer
conventional cars.
This mean Porte is only a niche in the Japanese market. |
