That's a very good point about rear-hinged doors. Never thought of that. I've seen Honda Element and some other cars have that rear-hinged doors and the setup didn't feel quite right but never able to figure out why.
My dad's first car (which he bought in 1960) also had suicide doors in the rear; that was a Moskvitch 400, which in turn was practically the same design as Opel Kadett model 1938 - the Soviets took the design, toolings and machinery from occupied Germany after WWII.