I think you misunderstand him. I think he means "front", the side of the handle facing the person and "back", the side of the handle facing the door.
No. Zaphod was right. I misremembered the direction of the handles. But my point remains that they are awkward.
Let me remind you of the Prius: 1000 small improvements added up to a very efficient car. You can bet that someone, somewhere, found every one one of those improvements 'not worth it.'
I took delivery of my Prius in January of 2004 and joined Prius Chat a few months later when I discovered it. I do not remember the sort of complaints about design choices that we're seeing (and I'm feeling) about the Model 3. A lot of people complained that the shape is ugly. (I agreed that it's ugly but I didn't care.) The nay-sayers claimed that the battery would not last. They were wrong. I was annoyed that the climate controls are on the MFD and you have to start the car to operate them (as opposed to turning a knob). (And I have the same sort of complaint with the Model 3.)
But the Prius was not stuffed to the gills with the sort of design choices that are supposed to make the Model 3 "like a spaceship" and actually just make it awkward to operate.
Yes, the Model 3 is very clean-looking inside. But honestly, I'd rather have controls and gauges where I can see and use them easily. Example: Some cars have switches on the driver's door to adjust the mirrors. The Model 3 has those knobs on the steering wheel, but you have to go to the relevant screen on the display in order for those knobs to actually adjust the mirrors. Everything is sleek and clean and pretty and awkward to actually use.