QOTD: Do the New Chevrolet Tahoe Grande's Sliding Doors Make It a Van or an SUV?

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Would a minivan with all-wheel drive, added ground clearance, and wheel arch cladding ever stand a chance of being called an SUV?

It’s not so far-fetched. There was a time when the Subaru Outback was perceived as nothing more than a wagon, but times changed.

What about the other way around: does the Chevrolet Tahoe Grande’s sliding doors necessitate a minivan designation for America’s top-selling full-size SUV? In other words, is a full-size SUV with sliding doors no longer an SUV?

No, the Chevrolet Tahoe Grande isn’t a real thing. It’s a rendering completed by TTAC’s own Matt Posky, merging a Tahoe with a Dodge Grand Caravan, after a discussion about sliding doors in TTAC’s Slack virtual HQ. Why have these profoundly practical design elements been forced into limited use by only a handful of new vehicle nameplates?

What if sliding doors made an appearance on a full-size SUV like the Chevrolet Tahoe, or a smaller utility vehicle like the Mazda CX-9? Wouldn’t the gargantuan entry port have a wonderful effect on accessing the third row? Why not extend the wonders of the sliding door concept to smaller crossovers like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, enabling greater second row access with some allowance for easily reaching into the deeper recesses of the cargo bay?

Naturally, the other key benefit of sliding doors would remain: parking lot door dings from children (and adults) hastily opening front-hinged doors cease.

We don’t know if there’s any chance of practical minivan cues being applied to SUVs and crossovers. Scratch that. We know there’s essentially no chance of practical minivan cues being applied to SUVs and crossovers. And it seems likely that automakers are operating under the belief that, for example, a Chevrolet Tahoe with sliding doors would be labelled by consumers as a minivan.

So now it’s up to you. Can TTAC’s B&B respond to this QOTD in such a manner as to inform automakers that, no, a full-size SUV with sliding doors would just be a more flexible full-size SUV?

Or is an SUV with sliding doors just a minivan?

[Illustration: Matt Posky; Images: General Motors, FCA, Honda, Land Rover]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.

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  • THX1136 THX1136 on Sep 15, 2017

    We've been socialized into equating sliding side doors = minivan. Could they work as per the "concept" picture, absolutely. Who cares what the public calls it? More important is would the public BUY it?

  • JessV JessV on Feb 24, 2018

    I was so excited to find this article and then disappointed when I realized the picture wasn't real. I have a Mazda5, which has been a perfect car for my small family. I love the sliding doors, the folding down third row, and how easy it is to drive in the city (so easy to parallel park!) I know we'll need to replace it in a few years and there's nothing out there like it anymore. My husband works for GM now, so we should probably get a GM car, but they offer nothing with sliding doors. Very frustrating.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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