> I rarely exit my van thru the passenger-side door--
> preferring, instead, to make a graceful exit out the slider...
> I don't even like to *enter* (read climb) into the passenger
> seat, again the sliding door is preferred.
> I foolishly assumed everyone did this as well

I always used my sliding side door as well, since to fit both my van and
my Golf in my backyard parking space, the van had to real tight up
against the fence, so the driver's door won't open anyways.

One big drawback though is that my 2 dogs (combined weight of 170 lbs.)
associate the sound of the sliding door with going to the park.  So if
you are going out to the van without the intention of taking the dogs
with you, the sliding door is not an option.  Although I always use the
sliding door whenever I'm in a parking lot, since the front doors have
to swing pretty wide, so to prevent from dinging someone's car.  Also,
you don't have to lock it with the key, which bugs me about the driver's
door!

Now, if I would just find a way of not smashing into the rear view
mirror everytime I crawl from the kitchen area into the driver's seat,
I'd be happy.

Cheers,
Keith Adams
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1986 Vanagon GL Westfalia "Roxy"