diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 965af870a..76d9b0471 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: gdalraster
 Title: Bindings to 'GDAL'
-Version: 2.5.0.9014
+Version: 2.5.0.9015
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Chris", "Toney", email = "jctoney@gmail.com",
             role = c("aut", "cre"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0001-5734-6510")),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d73ab3708..414eada5c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-# gdalraster 2.5.0.9014 (dev)
+# gdalraster 2.5.0.9015 (dev)
+
+* class `GDALVector`: lint/cleanup class constructors, also addressing [Rcpp 1471 comment](https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/pull/1471#issuecomment-4225783579) (2026-04-12)
 
 * suppress warning messages in the `show()` method for `GDALRaster` and `GDALVector` (e.g., if no spatial reference is defined) (2026-04-03)
 
diff --git a/src/gdalvector.cpp b/src/gdalvector.cpp
index c47486b69..c9c6cbfc7 100644
--- a/src/gdalvector.cpp
+++ b/src/gdalvector.cpp
@@ -49,37 +49,48 @@ GDALVector::GDALVector()
 }
 
 GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn)
-        : GDALVector(dsn, "", true, Rcpp::CharacterVector::create(), "", "") {}
+        : GDALVector(dsn, "", true, R_NilValue, "", "") {}
 
 GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn,
                        const std::string &layer)
-        : GDALVector(dsn, layer, true, Rcpp::CharacterVector::create(), "",
-                     "") {}
+        : GDALVector(dsn, layer, true, R_NilValue, "", "") {}
 
 GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn,
                        const std::string &layer, bool read_only)
-        : GDALVector(dsn, layer, read_only, Rcpp::CharacterVector::create(), "",
-                     "") {}
+        : GDALVector(dsn, layer, read_only, R_NilValue, "", "") {}
 
 GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn,
                        const std::string &layer, bool read_only,
                        const Rcpp::CharacterVector &open_options)
         : GDALVector(dsn, layer, read_only, open_options, "", "") {}
 
+GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn,
+                       const std::string &layer, bool read_only,
+                       const Rcpp::Nullable<Rcpp::CharacterVector>
+                           &open_options,
+                       const std::string &spatial_filter)
+        : GDALVector(dsn, layer, read_only, open_options, spatial_filter, "") {}
+
 GDALVector::GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn,
                        const std::string &layer, bool read_only,
                        const Rcpp::Nullable<Rcpp::CharacterVector>
                            &open_options,
                        const std::string &spatial_filter,
-                       const std::string &dialect = "")
-        : m_layer_name(layer), m_dialect(dialect),
-          m_open_options(open_options.isNotNull() ?
-                         open_options : Rcpp::CharacterVector::create()),
-          m_spatial_filter(spatial_filter),
-          m_ignored_fields(Rcpp::CharacterVector::create()),
-          m_hDataset(nullptr), m_eAccess(GA_ReadOnly), m_hLayer(nullptr) {
+                       const std::string &dialect) {
 
     m_dsn = Rcpp::as<std::string>(check_gdal_filename(dsn));
+    m_layer_name = layer;
+
+    if (open_options.isNotNull())
+        m_open_options = Rcpp::CharacterVector(open_options);
+    else
+        m_open_options = Rcpp::CharacterVector::create();
+
+    m_spatial_filter = spatial_filter;
+    m_dialect = dialect;
+
+    m_ignored_fields = Rcpp::CharacterVector::create();
+
     open(read_only);
     setFieldNames_();
 }
diff --git a/src/gdalvector.h b/src/gdalvector.h
index a5377e396..b916ddf86 100644
--- a/src/gdalvector.h
+++ b/src/gdalvector.h
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ class GDALVector {
                bool read_only);
     GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn, const std::string &layer,
                bool read_only, const Rcpp::CharacterVector &open_options);
+    GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn, const std::string &layer,
+               bool read_only,
+               const Rcpp::Nullable<Rcpp::CharacterVector> &open_options,
+               const std::string &spatial_filter);
     GDALVector(const Rcpp::CharacterVector &dsn, const std::string &layer,
                bool read_only,
                const Rcpp::Nullable<Rcpp::CharacterVector> &open_options,
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-GDALVector-class.R b/tests/testthat/test-GDALVector-class.R
index 16bc54294..cd2fa2d5c 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-GDALVector-class.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-GDALVector-class.R
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ test_that("class constructors work", {
     expect_equal(lyr$getFeatureCount(), 40)
     lyr$close()
 
-    # add dialect
+    # add empty dialect
     expect_no_error(lyr <- new(GDALVector, dsn, sql, read_only = TRUE,
                                open_options = NULL,
                                spatial_filter = bbox_to_wkt(bb),
@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ test_that("class constructors work", {
     expect_equal(lyr$getFeatureCount(), 40)
     lyr$close()
 
+    # OGRSQL instead of native dialect
+    expect_no_error(lyr <- new(GDALVector, dsn, sql, read_only = TRUE,
+                               open_options = NULL,
+                               spatial_filter = "",
+                               dialect = "OGRSQL"))
+    expect_equal(lyr$m_dialect, "OGRSQL")
+    expect_equal(lyr$getFeatureCount(), 61)
+    lyr$close()
+
     # invalid layer name
     expect_error(lyr <- new(GDALVector, dsn, "invalid_layer_name"))
 
@@ -1073,6 +1082,7 @@ test_that("feature write methods work", {
                                open_options = NULL, spatial_filter = "",
                                dialect = "SQLITE"))
     lyr$returnGeomAs <- "WKT"
+    expect_equal(lyr$m_dialect, "SQLITE")
     expect_no_error(f <- lyr$getFeature(test1_fid))
     expect_equal(f$id, feat1$id)
     expect_true(g_equals(f$geom, feat1$geom))