Door handles don't need to be boring and bland. Here's ten amazingly-designed door handles our readers think are the pinnacle of automotive design and techno-wizardry. In fact, they're so well-designed, they're actually sexy. Who knew?
This is "Answers of the Day" - a feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's "Question of the Day" and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
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10.) BMW Z1
Suggested By: Death By Cornbread
Why These Handles Are Awesome: Technically, there are no actual handles on this car. The Z1 instead featured a push-button system that when pressed would lower the window into the door while simultaneously dropping the door into the sill. When retracted, the high sills necessitated by the design made it possible to drive the car and stay relatively safe. Not legal in the US for this exact reason, the Z1 still has one of the coolest methods for car entry and exit we've ever seen.
9.) Chevrolet Corvette C6/ Cadillac XLR/ Cadillac CTS Coupe
Suggested By: Buickboy92
Why These Handles Are Awesome: Hidden in the flanks of the car, the electronically operated C6/XLR/CTS Coupe handles are awesome. Just a light tap is all you need to have the doors automatically pop open for you, and grant you access to two of the coolest cars to roll off the GM assembly line in recent memory... and the XLR.
8.) TVR Tuscan
Suggested By: bill.cutshall
Why These Handles Are Awesome: Always good for a game of 'Find The Door Handle,' the Tuscan cleverly hides its handles in button form under the rear view mirrors. This keeps the side profile clean, the stylists happy, and passengers confused. A winning combination all around.
Photo credit: Beano!, flickr
7.) Fiat Barchetta
Suggested By: yannjules
Why These Handles Are Awesome: The Fiat Barchetta has some of the prettiest door pulls we've seen, hands down. Beautiful Italian styling makes for handles that are certainly the best-looking, if not the most useful. Delicate in appearance, they seem to appear out of nothingness when prompted by the small push button release.
6.) Mazda Miata
Suggested By: Never_Trust_a_Fiat
Why These Handles Are Awesome: It seemed like every other response was extolling the beauty of the first-gen Miata door handle. Resembling the handle from an Alfa Romeo Spider, the Miata handle is both simple in design and operation. It drew some flak for its one-fingered operation, and was redesigned in future iterations of the car, but the original is still the best looking.
5.) C3 Corvette
Suggested By: P161911 probably shouldn't have
Why These Handles Are Awesome: The C6 mentioned earlier owes its cool opening mechanism to the example set by it's great-grandfather, the C3. Just a big chromed push button embedded in the top of the door, the C3's door button was known to get crazy hot when left parked in the sun, as more than one commenter made note of. The cause of a number of burnt fingers, (and bruised egos when trying to impress the ladies) the big button reminded its owner that it was still the gateway to a mean sports car.
4.) Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Suggested By: bugattatra
Why These Handles Are Awesome: There's that Italian flair for door handle design again. For a car as amazingly beautiful as the Daytona, the tiniest of door handles seem strangely appropriate. How better to not mess up the sides of the car with a cutout for a hand to fit in than to just move the handle up onto the chrome window trim. They're so well integrated into the design (much like the Volvo P1800's handles mentioned in another post) and if bugattatra hadn't pointed them out, I would have just assumed that the Daytona didn't have them.
3.) Nissan GT-R
Suggested By: DennyCraneDennyCraneDennyCrane
Why These Handles Are Awesome: You guys sure do have a thing for pop-out door handles. They're really cool though, so that's ok. The GT-R's look like the handles to a spaceship, no doubt thanks to their brushed aluminum finish and futuristic shape. It makes sense, what with the car being so technology-focused and ridiculously quick.
2.) Volvo 940
Suggested By: White Boxy Powah
Why These Handles Are Awesome: Swedish engineering is at its finest with the inside door handle of the Volvo 940. "Just grab it with two fingers and pull back," says TurboBrick, adding to the original comment. "Apparently unbeliavably complicated for a lot of folks." I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm "a lot of folks:" the first time I got in a friend's parents' 940 wagon many moons ago, I was totally confused as to how to get back out. It was frustrating then, but now I appreciate the brilliance of the Swedes' door handle design.
1.) Porsche Boxster Spyder
Suggested By: I-Roll
Why These Handles Are Awesome: Surprise! The last door handles also aren't actually handles at all. The Boxster Spyder's door-release-straps are brilliant in their simplicity, not to mention their weight savings. Yes, the car still has power windows, but the use of cloth straps to open the doors is a nice reminder of the car's on-track roots.