Single Cab Shortbed Truck; Why Not?

914Driver said:

If that is a 300 six with a stick, I'll swap my Lightning for it. 

I've had two RCSB trucks. Both were 4th Gen Ram 1500s. Both were 2wd Hemi trucks. The first one was a 2010 1500 with the much-mailgned 545RFE transmission. I only had it for about a year before I traded in on a new Jeep Wrangler.

The second one was a 2015 1500 with the wonderful 8 speed ZF transmission. I had that one for about 3 years. I sold it to Vroom for $9k more than I paid for it.

Both were great trucks. The single cab was a limiting factor which is why I sold the 2010.

I've sorta been shopping single cab Silverados and F150s. Both are around the same price for a low trim level 4x4; the F150 with the Coyote and the Chevy with the TurboMax 2.7L turbo 4.

The cab isn't such an issue for us. I am 5' 7" 138lbs and my wife is 5' 3" 112lbs.

If I got one I'd want 4wd as we currently do some soft reading in the Outback.

I thought this was going to be a reference to this monstrosity-

Agree they look better, but where does the wife and dog go? My F150 extended cab/short bed is a compromise. It still sucks to part in urban areas but has the interior space.

My pickup truck experience -

1983 GMC S15 in college - RCSB
2002 Chevy 2500HD depot runner / tow rig - CCLB
2017 GMC 1500 Denali daily driver / family hauler / tow rig - CCSB

I think the fullsize RCSB looks great, especially lowered.  But I hated daily driving a regular cab truck, even back in college when I was way more tolerant of quirks.  It all came down to dry / secure storage.  In a regular cab, if you want something to stay dry / secure, then it's riding shotgun.  And that gets old quick.  Groceries in the passenger footwell.  Book bag in the passenger seat.  Guitar trying to attack you from the right on every right hand turn.  I had it for less than a year and hated it.  Sold it and bought my first EF Civic.  Crew cab fixes all of those things.  It gives another place for all the stuff that is dry and locked, but also not right next to you.  

The 2002 CCLB was a beast at what I used it for.  Being able to close the bed with 8' lumber was nice.  The long wheelbase made it super stable towing.  It held a ton of stuff.  Traveling to Nats was easy, with a bed full of tires and spares and the backseat holding tools and luggage.  But it SUCKED as a daily.  Like, don't even try to get a normal parking space.  Just drive directly to the back of the lot.  Parking garages - there are roughly 8 spaces per level that you could drive into / out of.  U-turns only worked if the divided highway was 4 lanes with a wide median.  The things that made it awesome for towing cross country made it suck as a daily commuter.  

The 2017 CCSB is pretty great.  It is WAY easier to live with as a DD than either of the other configurations.  And with the other improvements in chassis, suspension, and engine over the interveneing years, it's really pretty close to being as good at towing as the 2002 was.  For a 10k# enclosed, I'd still take my old truck.  For a 5k# open, it's a coin toss on handling and power, with the new truck winning based on integrated brakes, better ABS, stability control, etc.  

My first truck was a RCLB. I'm a hard pass on the regular cab. 

Make mine at least a super cab long bed and my preference is a crew cab long bed, not that you can buy those anymore. 

This was the best truck I ever had if you ignore the 8 mpg fuel economy. It did truck stuff better than any other truck I've owned. It was 245" long and I loved it. It would seat 7 and haul 8' lumber.