Is the door handle the most-operated mechanism of a car? The steering wheel and accelerator pedal are the most used from a total-time-in-use standpoint, but in individual and complete use-cycles, the door handle has gotta be up there, right? You’re grabbing it every time you get inside the car, after all. (The least-used mechanism, hopefully, is the trunk release – as in, the one that’s inside the trunk.)
With all that handle-grabbing going on, chances are you’ve developed some preferences over the years. I’m old, so I’m still quite partial to the classic thumb-button variety as seen in the top graphic. This design just makes sense. You wrap your fingers over the handle from the top, which is instinctive, and your thumb naturally falls over the thumb button (as long as you’re grabbing the driver-side door handle with your left hand, and the passenger-side with your right, that is). You can press the button and open the door, or not press it and yank on the handle to confirm the door is well shut.
I’m also fond of another, far more modern thumbable design, the Tesla Model 3’s flush-fit, pop-out solution:
Now, it is slightly suboptimal that the thumby bit isn’t under the main pull-y part, which would allow for more natural operation, but having the handle turn down instead of up wouldn’t be nearly as pleasing to look at. I get it.
I’m much less fond of Tesla’s other pop-out handles, these mofos right here:
Trick, yes, but needlessly complex, and they are inoperable if the car is 100% dead (including the 12v battery), and they can freeze over etc. So, no thank you. Moving on …
At this point, you’re probably imagining three or four door-handle types, which feels like all of them. Hardly! Feast your eyes on the cornucopia of handle styles capably curated by one Jason Torchinsky, whom you may know:
And here’s more hot Torch action, as JT presents some choice spottings from the The Amelia Concours d`Elegance in 2023:
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See? The world of door handles is vast and full of bangers, so naming the Greatest Of All Time will be no easy task. But we believe in you! So tell us:
What Is The GOAT Door Handle Design?
Top graphic image: depositphotos.com
I really like class 8 when well executed. Sleek and integrated. However, class 11 has got to be the GOAT. I LOVE how they were integrated in to the trim on the last Lincoln Continental.
I’m not sure if it counts as 10 or 11, but I always liked the “beer tap” handles on my 90’s Cutlass coupe. Sure, they felt flimsy. And froze shut all the time. But they looked cool.
Original 300SL.
1983 Ferrari Mondial is textbook 9 (and shared with many other cars including the previous and subsequent models). Haven’t broken a nail yet!
Grew up in classic VWs, so, in my mind, the generic door (and frunk) handle is type 3.
I currently have both type 7 and 11. I prefer the 11, as I have replaced a couple 7-type handles which broke on other people’s cars. The 11 is a tough design which, when frozen, can be pushed slightly in to free it without worrying about it shattering
edit: forgot to mention the Subaru XT which was a 7, except completely flush with a lower flap so it didn’t catch the airflow. I always opened mine gingerly as I never quite trusted the material strength of them—but they didn’t break on me
When I was younger, I’d have said Class 3, but as I’ve gotten older and joint creakiness has crept in, I have to say Class 11 is the GOAT.
Woo, another one for the #PullOutGang
The Tesla engineering team actually proposed a non-electric handle to Elon Musk, but he didn’t know how to pull out.
Hard to pull out when it’s too mangled to get in there in the first place. (We’re talking about hands, obviously.)
I have a vote for the worst. Class 7, when poorly implemented (see: Prizm and Corolla circa 2000), likes to break off in your hand. I had a friend rip a passenger door handle off the car in college. My dad was convinced we must have been roughhousing until, a few months later, he went to drive the car and the driver’s door handle came off in his hand.
I mentioned having replaced a couple type 7s. One was definitely on a Corolla. Pretty cheap & relatively easy, though.
Certainly not my most favorite door handle, but it was by far the weirdest one I’ve ever seen on any vehicle.
As a kid, my parents borrowed our neighbor’s 1978 Dodge motorhome. The door entering into the back had an actual door knob. Just like the type on a bathroom door. Had a center key lock too.
It worked great until my grandfather who was driving hit a tight apex and got too close to a rock wall when driving through the mountains of Colorado. With a loud bam, he knocked the handle clean off without scratching the side of motorhome. Handy as he was he put on a new one that he got from a hardware store.
Also we had a 76 AMC Hornet with the door handles that always made me think they belonged on a suitcase.
While maybe not the most practical, as a kid I was always enthralled with the Chevy Beretta’s door handles (quite the hot rod I know). I suppose those would be considered an rotated type 7?
I really like 3, this might be due to growing up and my dad having a 57 bel air but I always like the style of those type door handles and the button press always seems to work. I also like the flush look of 10 (though I owned a Javelin for a little while so might be a bias). 7’s on the other hand which are on my 89 firebird and my dad’s 77 suck so bad the linkage starts to fall of it is annoying but that might be a GM thing vs other brands.
11 as already stated by everyone here seems to be the most reliable and just works.
The class 7 on fox body mustangs also seems to be a weak point. I’m willing to bet that design is fundamentally more prone to failure than many others. It’s also not very ergonomic even when working properly. Long live the class 11 for me as well.
I think from a UX standpoint the pull out, class 11, I think older Subarus do a better job than some newer cars, much more sleek.
Where do we place Ferrari? Pull out? swing out?
that Ferrari feels like a Class 10
That’s from an 2nd gen Impreza, the Legacy had a class 7 until the 5th gen
I guess most cars really did go to an 11 these days
Class 11 is the most perfect doorhandle for a car ever created. every modern car should use it. Class 7 is also acceptable, but it never feels as strong as 11, theres always this feeling that it may break if you yank it too hard. Flush-fit electronic doorhandles can die in a hole deeper than the Mariana Trench.
Agreed. Everyone should be pulling out.
I’m a fan of #7. It is flush mounted for the smooth panel lines and aerodynamics that manufacturers keep chasing with these electronic pop-outs but still has simplicity and satisfying mechanical feedback. Bonus points for my kids not being able to use them as climbing handles when they were little.
The downside is you can’t stand on them whilst lashing down something inappropriately large on the roof 😉
They also make terrible attachment points for your ratchet straps to hold down said inappropriately large item.
Real ones choose Class 4. Mechanical, easy to figure out, and not unattractive, either.
#11 easily. So many of the others are cool, but for ease of use, simplicity and working in any condition I don’t think anything tops it.
#11 for sure. Especially ones with enough room to fit your hand in there when wearing bulky gloves.
The push button style on old cars were cool, some of them were art pieces in themselves.
I always thought the AMC flap style ere weird and awkward looking.
When I was a kid, I thought the ones built into the B pillar on the Chevy Berretta were cool, I guess that’s handle-less.
I’m pretty sure the model 3 pop out style were originally designed by Dave Kindig, the hot rod builder.
MG A!
😀
C3 Corvette for sure. Not the ’68 with the weird button, but the ones after that. Not the most practical design, but what’s practical about a Corvette?
I have a strong distaste for taking something simple and making it complex.
#11 is by far the best handle out there. It is mechanical and can be grabbed from above or below and you simply pull it. When you pull it successfully the door opens with it. A brilliant design all around.
Simple and functional.
I always liked the MGB pull handle, so I’m going with that 🙂
I’m a simple, boring person who likes the ease and simplicity of style #11.
I will say though, as the owner of a style #12, they do feel almost magical in operation.
Welcome to the #PullOutGang.
The GOAT handle design is the one that aligns with the philosophy of my 20s
The Pull Out handle feels the best, and thus is the best.
The handles on my w126 Mercedes, in particular, are most excellent. I do love pulling out on my 39 year old weekend fun machine.
With the bonus that the thunk of the handles on a 126 sounds & feels more solid than closing the whole door of the majority of shitboxes I’ve owned.
My personal bank vault on wheels.
Funny thing is, When I bought my car, I got stuck with a VALET key, so I HAVE to use the interior trunk handle to open the trunk, until I can get a proper key made.
I assumed he meant the glow in the dark escape handle inside the trunk, not the trunk release in the passenger cabin.
Either way it sucks for me.