The new cars with more doors than seats

Earlier this month Toyota revealed the GR Corolla ‘Morizo Edition’, a lightweight version of its new hot hatch with only two seats – but, confusingly, the same five doors as the standard model.

While building a two-seat, five-door car might appear counterintuitive, the niche GR Corolla variant will join a surprisingly long list of cars on sale in Australia with more doors than seats – more than 30 with the Toyota included.

It’s a diverse list too, spanning everything from family SUVs and $300,000 luxury cars to utes and vans of all shapes and sizes.

The Toyota GR Corolla two-seater – known as the Morizo Edition overseas – is the only hot hatch or sedan currently on sale in Australia with two seats, but four or five doors.

But until recently, it was joined by the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R – another five-door hot hatch with a rear seat delete in the name of weight savings – plus the equally hardcore Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm and Jaguar XE SV Project 8 four-doors (though the latter was left-hand-drive only, and not road legal in Australia).

While not five-door vehicles, the recent 2019 Mini JCW GP and 2016 Abarth 695 Biposto hot hatches pair three doors with two seats – and therefore qualify for this list. The outgoing Honda Civic Type R was a five-door, four-seater.

Performance cars with rear seat deletes are not uncommon – think most high-end, GT or CS-badged Porsches and BMWs – but it’s rare for these to be offered with more than two doors.

Only two ‘mainstream’ passenger cars or SUVs without any luxury or performance skew remain on sale in Australia: the new Honda HR-V small SUV, and the Suzuki Ignis GLX city car (but not the base GL model).

The Honda falls foul of an Australian Design Rule requiring every second-row seat with an adult seatbelt to be fitted with a top tether point for securing a child seat.

HR-V models sold in other markets without this mandatory regulation can be sold with five seats – but not in Australia, where Honda has elected to simply remove the centre headrest and seatbelt, and market the vehicle as a four-seater, rather than invest in a new rear seat assembly with a centre top tether point.

By contrast, the Suzuki Ignis GLX was designed to be a four-seater from the outset, without the Honda’s seat-sized space between the outer pews – though, oddly, the base Ignis GL is fitted with five seats.

Unlike mainstream model, four seats in five-door vehicles are not uncommon among luxury cars.

Five-door luxury vehicles that currently offer a four-seat layout as standard equipment – though with the possible availability of a five-seat variant – include the Porsche Cayenne Coupe, Porsche Taycan and Lexus LX Ultra Luxury.

However, four seats are available across various Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini (Urus), Porsche, and Range Rover models, among other brands.

While not a high-end car, premium small car brand Mini’s Clubman wagon features two side-hinged rear doors in place of a top-hinged tailgate – making it a six-door five-seater.

The majority of light commercial vehicles with more doors than seats are vans, with two or three front-row seats and four, five or six (with a ‘barn door’ option) doors.

These include the Fiat Ducato, Ford Transit (full-size) and Transit Custom, Hyundai Staria Load, LDV Deliver 9, G10 and V80, Mercedes-Benz Vito and Sprinter, Peugeot Partner, Expert and Boxer, Renault Kangoo, Trafic and Master, Toyota HiAce, and Volkswagen Caddy, Transporter and Crafter.

Meanwhile, two-seat extra-cab utes with rear-hinged rear doors – rather than simply an extended body, with static sheet metal behind the front doors – are also included, namely the Isuzu D-Max and its twin under the skin, the Mazda BT-50.

The Toyota LandCruiser 78 Series Troopcarrier – with two seats and three (or four) door openings – also qualifies for this list.

Are there any cars we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.