The Waku Waku Gate: The sexiest rear hatch ever!

Honda teases the upcoming StepWGN model change with plenty of teaser pictures, but one stood out among the rest… The waku waku gate.

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One view and you will say… Meh… It’s a swing door… My grandparent’s car has one, it’s not a big deal… Yes, it’s not, but look below.ww_ph2

See on the rear hatch above? There’s a cutaway near the lock latch. Yes, Honda new StepWGN will have a dual swing and lift rear hatch.

The inclusion was not just for complexity and being different sake. For us Asians, genetics isn’t too kind on our height, we are great at maths, but most of the time Asians are shorter than average Caucasians or Negroids (damn you politics… Congoids) Opening a lifting hatch is easy, thanks to the gas pistons, but what about closing it down? Shorter people will have a hard time taking that hatch holder (that black area right next to the lock latch). With a swing door, you just open and push/pull the door back to close, rather than have to jump over the hatch holder above.

Sure there is an alternative for closing a lift hatch like with the help of a motorized unit like on some top grade people mover like the Alphard or Elgrand. But it adds cost and complexity actually. What happened if the motor fails? On a swing door, at worst you only need to add oil on the hinge. This is why I like Honda. They add stuff not to increase complexity, but to increase usability without the necessary complexity.

One more news worthy addition of all… The new StepWGN will debut Honda first mass produced Turbo charged engine. A new 1.5L turbo, which have performance comparable (or even exceed) to Honda old 2.0L engine.

The car will debut next month, April 2015.

Okay… So… Where is my Freed replacement Honda!?

Source:

New Honda Freed teaser site