You say it like it's a bad thing, but the rear exit is very useful for quickly getting to station concourses from the hangar (added to which a small pad means there is less hangar space to traverse anyway)...
Does the Dolphin run cool? I heard it has exceptional temperature control when scooping, but can't remember if it was on the good side or the bad side... the Krait Phantom runs very cool which is another reason I loved it. And it allows the luxury of all the modules, while the DBX is definitely constrained for internals making one have to choose carefully if one wants repair limpets etc.
The Dolphin doesn’t run particularly cool in the way the Phantom does but it is almost immune to overheat so that triggering the next hyper jump while still scooping is not likely to lead to exploration curtailing damage.
Yes, we'll I'm still only in my third month with the game so I'm not so bored yet as to want to spend a lot of time with engineering... and I do want to stay ion the field. I'm sure I will get there, just not today.
Okay, so some super-noob questions:
1) Materials. How to attain when I need? I took my SRV out once and it was guiding me toward some kind of sparkly rocks. I'm obviously meant to find them but could not pick up with the scoop (unless it requires more than simply deploying it and driving into the rock).
Target and shoot the rocks with the turret guns then target and scoop the fragments produced, with the stuff attached to geysers etc shoot it then scoop up once it is detached.
2) I can not refuel the SRV in the field, yes? Short of a refinery or somesuch.
When you have harvested materials like Sulpher and others you will be able to refine them in the SRV to refuel it, given the right materials you can refine a super fuel that will give much better range.
3) I have been collecting my samples on foot and using the scan button on the sampling tool. Should I be using the SRV? I've only had it out twice and I'm fearful of running out of fuel or not being able to get it back in the ship (I had trouble once). I've seen people skimming the surface in their ships looking for bio, is this really a viable method? I've read you need to use different altitudes for different flora.
You can only sample bios on foot you use the ship or SRV to get from location to location and spot things.
4) How brutal is the game reading sample availability? If I find one on foot, the second and third aren't gonna be on the other side of the planet, are they? If I find one in an area is it safe to assume that if I spend sufficient time I'll find the others in the same area?
Samples have to be taken at a minimum separation distance depending on the type of bi that separation could be as little as 150m (reasonable on foot) to 800 or a 1000m (best done from the ship).
You can usually find all the samples in the blue region shown during mapping the planet, but sometimes a flit to another blue region provides easier searching.
5) I have an SRV hanger because I saw it in someone's build. Uhhh, what do I do with it? lol
It is where your SRV lives aboard the ship.
6) Geologic events (geysers etc)... just eye candy?
No.
Nor are they just Codex ticks.
Some or more of them will have various crystals or pebbles attached to them which when harvested as above by the SRV provide useful raw materials for synthesis or engineering.
7) Ditto "artifical structures", minor wreckages, etc. Tried to land next to one last nught but couldn't do so. Is there a benefit to finding them, other than sheer glee?
Some will have manufactured materials or encoded data you can acquire there might also be logs telling stories or giving hints.
They can also be traps with hidden guards waiting to shoot you.
I'm sure I'll have more. Apologies in advance.
Don’t apologise.
My current exploration ship is a Hauler, more than enough jump range as I am not out towards the rim and as I have a Carrier nearby I don’t need slots for the repair kit, I am bio sampling as well but it’s small footprint means I can comfortably manage without the SRV.
I also have a Krait Phantom and a DBX with various versions of an explorer build, my AspX is gathering dust somewhere but I think it is in just a just a general duties build.
or both of them... 
