anyone regret getting a regular cab?

[Wildcat]

i have had a crew cab model for the last 10 years or so. kids are grown now and they drive their vehicles. sometimes wife goes with me. i will admit its nice to have the back seat for tons of lockable, dry storage. i have been thinking about getting a regular cab.

anyone here that went to a regular cab and regretted it?

 

[bigeyedfish]

I really liked having a regular cab before I had kids. I'll be stuck in a crew cab for at least 10 more years, but I could see myself switching back some day.

 

[MOAK]

Back in 87 I regretted getting a regular cab almost immediately. As a contractor I didn’t have a place to carry tools out of the weather. Nor a place for the kids to ride on the weekends. 4 years ago, again, I bought a regular cab Ranger. Regretted it immediately, I’m a 6 footer and with the seat back all the way, it was cramped. I now have a ‘24 crew cab. As full timers it’s great to have all that room, ( seat deleted and custom storage units ) to carry camera gear, rain gear, hiking gear, small fridge freezer, 13 gallon water tank, etc etc. The only downside is the length of the truck coming in at 23.5’.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Every time I jump in the wife’s Colorado ZR2 Crew Cab it feels small inside compared to my Crew Cab Ram. I can’t imagine a single cab. It’s nice to have the room even when I don’t need it.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

My father had a forest metallic green 1978 single cab w/ 8 foot bed Ford F150 (F100?) or Explorer (before they put than marque on a small SUV) ...great for 2 or 3 men and a load of lumber or sheetrock. Not so good for kids.

If my mother or sisters were riding on the bench seat, then my brother, me, the Beagles and the Brittany Spaniel would all have to ride in the back with whatever load of cordwood or groceries was also in the back. When the bed was empty, we were always told to sit with our backs to the back of the cab. And of course, it was always back roads. Rain or shine.

So, I for one was glad when extended cabs and crew cabs became more prevalent.

Truth be told, though, my first truck was a 90 or 91 GMT400 two tone blue and silver Chevy Cheyenne base model single cab, bench seat short bed. So, no better than my father's in terms of passenger space, and worse in terms of payload space. Certainly this was before I got married and all the stuff that comes with that.

Then came the 2 GMT400 big Blazers. Then the K2 k1500 "Double Cab" I'm in now. Love having a back seat for the dogs while me and Lady Beagle are in the front buckets. Kids are grown with kids of thier own - they can drive and they have cars.

I think I would only go single cab again if I had a weekend warrior, sort of for the pleasure of it, or if I somehow had a job where I would be hauling or towing all the time and it was just me and the Thunder Beagle.

But I'd probably want one of each

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Back in 87 I regretted getting a regular cab almost immediately. As a contractor I didn’t have a place to carry tools out of the weather. Nor a place for the kids to ride on the weekends. 4 years ago, again, I bought a regular cab Ranger. Regretted it immediately, I’m a 6 footer and with the seat back all the way, it was cramped. I now have a ‘24 crew cab. As full timers it’s great to have all that room, ( seat deleted and custom storage units ) to carry camera gear, rain gear, hiking gear, small fridge freezer, 13 gallon water tank, etc etc. The only downside is the length of the truck coming in at 23.5’.

In my single cab chevy I had a crossbox toolbox. Had a diamond deck one for my current truck before I got a Leer cap. Anything that would not fit in the box was covered or wrapped in a tarp

 

[carterd]

You could split the difference with a Ford Supercab.

 

[Transit720]

You could split the difference with a Ford Supercab.

agreed. I think Ford is bringing back the SuperCab F250/350 in 2026 for the XLT trim.

 

[NOPEC]

anyone here that went to a regular cab and regretted it?

I think regular cabs are realistically only practical with no kids and no pets. A few years ago, "we" (I use that term loosely..) got rid of our last large fiberglass slide in, the crew cab diesel one ton and much of the stuff we carted around for years. The plan was to attempt to build a very capable, light weight truck/camper combination, keeping everything as simple as possible, including using a completely unaltered truck. We are not hardened offroaders but we do occasionally push the limits. The camper lives pretty much full time on the truck.

For our truck, we chose a bone stock, regular cab, 3/4 ton GMC with a gas engine, boringly plain. Virtually no dodads. The 8 ft composite camper shell was built out to minimized "the systems" (and thus the weight) and was designed to push all of the components down to or near floor level to maximize stability. Considerable storage area was built in to makeup for the lost of truck cab space. We are currently at just under 8000 lbs loaded, including the two of us. This is 1500 lbs under our GVWR of 9500 lbs. After about 30K kilometers, this combination has proven to be really impressive. The biggest difference has been the 133'' WB which combined with the light weight, has resulted in a very nimble (OK, maybe a slight stretch...), fun to drive, fun to park and very capable back road rig.

Everything is a compromise. We had to cut back and change some of our stuff as well as, get use to the limited cab space. Definitely not for everyone but we are totally comfortable with it now and its unlikely we would return to a longer WB truck.

 

[topofpalomar]

We had a 2005 Chevy single cab diesel 4x4 and loved it. I removed the bed and installed a used utility bed and mounted our camper on it. It was a simple, no nonsense rig. I sold the whole setup to my neighbour in 2018 (he still has it) and bought a 2018 Ford Super Cab gas. The super cab is a great compromise over a crew cab and a regular cab. After removing the rear seats it's plenty for the two of us (and one cat). I do think single cabs looks cool. I always do a double-take when I see a single cab on the road.

 

[p nut]

A late model F150/F250 I was looking at had plenty of room behind the seats for storage. Seats even reclined enough for a nap.

I’d be 100% content with a regular cab.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Every time I jump in the wife’s Colorado ZR2 Crew Cab it feels small inside compared to my Crew Cab Ram

First time I've ever heard it called one of those...and the other thing called one of those...

 

[Wildcat]

thanks for the stories and pics. im a child of the 70’s and 80’s. i remember squeezing our family of 4 into dads f150.

since its just me most of the time, i was thinking about a ram 2500 hemi, regular cab, 8’ bed and adding a topper. the one that slopes up, for more head room. then building a sleeping and storage area in the rear.

 

[Trektor73]

I always love seeing them, and one of my favorite trucks was an old '05 Silverado 2500hd regular cab with a cap on it. The lack of cab space is an issue if you don't have a way of securing the bed, but it sounds like you'll be covered there. I do scour FB marketplace for a cool older regular cab quite frequently, but I don't think I'd give up the flexibility of my current crew cab for it.

 

[deserteagle56]

I'm old. I've owned a lot of pickups in my day and way back when, anything but a single cab was pretty much unknown. So I've had several single cab trucks. But after owning supercab and crew cab pickups I would never go back to a single cab. I pack too much crap with me that I want close at hand - I don't want to be digging stuff out of the bed. Much easier - handier - to open the back door and grab what you need.