This is one of those subjects that gets everyone's attention. I had a coachman camper with a side door and no slide and I now own a lance 1181. In my humble opinion it was not that the slide was ever in the way but the argument for me would be which door is better for access on the road. I would go with the side door. OP, opinions aside it's what you can live with. If you don't want to be bothered with the slide so be it. If the slide doesn't bother you ditto... Many of us can not live without the slide and many can. Every opinion has been given in the 5 pages of this post.