America has a pickup truck fever, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Pickup trucks account for about a fifth of auto sales in America, and of those trucks, more than four-fifths are equipped with four doors. Americans adore crew cab pickups, but I think the prime truck is more old-school than that. Here’s why regular cab diesel pickup trucks are still the best kind of truck.
I’ve had the privilege of driving all kinds of trucks throughout my life. I’ve driven everything from gargantuan GMC C6500 box trucks to old Ford F-700s. I’ve gotten to take a spin in an International DuraStar and used to own a vintage International 3800 school bus. Of course, I’ve also commanded a slew of pickup trucks, from every generation of the humble Ford Ranger to a mighty Ford F-450 dually.
One type of truck has long stood out as my absolute favorite. Regardless of whether I’m working or having fun, I have a great time with regular cab pickup trucks. It sounds silly because, let’s be honest, the majority of regular cab buyers today are fleets. Some folks are even questioning how successful the Slate truck is going to be because it’s a regular cab design. But I think it’s time to revisit the regular cab and consider what makes these trucks so great outside of fleet use.
Back To Basics
Early this summer, I tested the flagship of the Ford Super Duty lineup, a $111,310 F-350 Platinum Plus filled with leather, Alcantara, and the best seats I’ve experienced in any pickup truck. The Platinum Plus felt like a German luxury sedan with a bed on the back, dually rears, and a V8 turbodiesel engine strapped to the front. This was a truck for the person who wants to haul tens of thousands of pounds, but also wants a back massage while doing it.
Now, I just tested the exact opposite of the Platinum Plus. The F-250 Super Duty XL doesn’t have an ounce of leather in sight, and its stereo doesn’t Bang or Olufsen. You won’t find a dash of chrome, alloy wheels, or soft-touch anything in this truck. Even the steering wheel is a basic urethane affair. Don’t expect to find power seats or even a height-adjustable seat here. Oh, and carpet? Try rubber mats. If the Platinum Plus is like a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the XL is like the last U-Haul truck you rented.
The XL is delightfully and unapologetically basic. The door panels are masses of hard plastic, the paint is plain white, and you don’t even get running boards. The grille? That’s matte black. The XL is so old-school that it has regular halogen lights, with only auxiliary lights like the clearance lights being LED. I even love how the instrument cluster has physical dials and there isn’t a fancy cruise control here, either, but one that just drives a speed and that’s it. Shoot, the truck even has a physical key. You’re not going to lose this key on I-70 in Maryland!
Yet, beneath all of the basics is actually some pretty decent kit. This truck still has Ford’s suite of towing aids and perimeter cameras, automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, driving modes, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. Even cooler: what was under the hood.
This is Ford’s standard output 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel, which pumps out 475 horsepower and 1,050 lb-ft of torque compared to the 500 horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque of the High Output model. That’s still more than enough power for smoky burnouts and to haul a tractor up Mount Everest. My truck also sported the XL Off-Road package, a $995 option that piles on chunky 33-inch off-road tires, a locking rear differential, water fording vents, and skid plates. My truck also had a slick winch.
My loaner was more or less a work truck with just a few extras for fun off-roading. This is the kind of truck that you might see doing work with your local utility company or plowing parking lots. This is the kind of truck that, by 100,000 miles, it would normally have all kinds of scrapes and bumps from a hard life of getting the job done. Yet, I loved it.
What’s Great About Regular Cabs
Some of the benefits of a regular cab rig were pretty immediate to me. Heavy-duty pickup trucks can sometimes be a challenge as daily drivers because they don’t really fit in standard parking spaces. These trucks, especially dually crew cab trucks, spill out into the driving lane and make entry and exit harder for the vehicles that you park next to. That really wasn’t an issue here. Sure, the F-250 is a heavy-duty pickup with a big body and an eight-foot bed, but the two-door regular cab means that it mostly fits into a parking space. It’s also just narrow enough that everyone can get in and out of their vehicles without much fuss.
The truck’s smaller size also meant that it largely maneuvered like a half-ton pickup. Yes, I towered over pretty much anyone not in a lifted half-ton or in another heavy-duty pickup, but when it came to navigating parking lots or tighter areas, I was able to scoot the truck by.
The cab itself was also pretty dreamy. Typically, most of the trucks I drive have handy center consoles with drink holders and caverns deep enough to swallow whole motorcycle helmets. But this XL has Ford’s 40/20/40 bench seat, which is really two bucket seats plus a center seat that’s also a center console.
Fold the seat forward and you get two cupholders and an adjustable desk to eat lunch on or to do work on. Flip it back and the cab now carries a third person. My wife preferred to have the center seat flipped back so she could sit directly next to me when I drove the truck. This is how we used to roll around in my old Ford Ranger and her old Dodge Dakota, both of which had true benches.
In a way, the XL regular cab was a time machine like that. This truck felt like a continuation of the trucks from earlier in our lives. This truck reminded us of how trucks used to be, when regular cabs were the default and, if you lived in the country, a date with your love might have been driving the pickup out to the field so you two could hop in the bed and stare at the stars.
Don’t get me wrong here, I understand why crew cabs are dominating the truck market. Today’s trucks can carry the whole family or crew plus their big dog, all of their tools, and a colossal fifth wheel camper for the ride. The F-150 of today is the American equivalent of the family wagon from the 1970s, and heavy-duty trucks are designed to be the one vehicle you might ever need.
Yet, it was refreshing to go the opposite direction, ditching an entire row of seats and having a truck that couldn’t carry a whole family. The F-250 was business in the rear with a trailer hitch and a huge bed, and fun at the front with the still raucous Power Stroke. Perhaps my view of the world is skewed because I don’t have children. I’m responsible for two cute birds, a fleet of cars, and a loving wife, and that’s it. As of right now, the rear seats in my Japanese Kei cars, my SUVs, and my wagons gather more dust than butts. For me, a regular cab truck is all I want.
I also adore the look of regular cab trucks. I keep imagining the F-250 with a lower suspension, stylish wheels, and painted in something like Antimatter Blue. Toss in some mild window tint, and that right there is a great diesel street truck. This is part of why my dream truck remains the F-150 FP700. Yes, the 700 HP of that truck is addictive, but just look at it.
I even love the rare combination of a regular cab and a short bed, which gives off a real sporty look to go with the heavy hauling. Think of some of the most iconic trucks in history. Remember Marty McFly’s Toyota from the Back To The Future trilogy?
That slick brick of hotness was a single cab. So are your favorite classic Squarebody Chevy trucks, Old Body Style Fords, and the iconic Bigfoot monster truck. Regular cabs might not be the most popular, but it’s hard to deny how cool they look.
It’s not even just the simplicity of it all. I mean, the simplicity was great, but if given the choice and the income, I would totally buy a Platinum Plus dually with a regular cab. Give me all of the leather and other trimmings, but hold the extra seats. However, I know that I would be perhaps one of maybe dozens of buyers for a luxury regular cab truck.
Going with the regular cab can also save you some dough. My test truck here was $72,580 after destination, but it did have a whopping $24,490 in options. Still, that’s $40,000 cheaper than a Platinum Plus. The cheapest possible diesel truck from Ford is the F-250 XL regular cab with the standard output 6.7 Power Stroke diesel ($10,995) and no other option for $58,865 after a $2,195 destination fee.
Perfect For Backroad Stargazing
Don’t worry, if you were looking for a review on how this truck is to live with and how well a base model F-250 hauls across the country, that story is coming. For now, I just wanted to give some love to the regular cab.
I will repeat myself here: I get why crew cabs rule. They’re insanely versatile, great for families, and still get tons of work done. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a crew cab! My second favorite new truck is a crew cab.
But to my eye, the ultimate truck is still a regular cab, preferably with a diesel. A regular cab truck is a nod to the past while also looking awesome today. It’s a truck that’s all about work and play. Sure, you won’t feel like the queen of the road, but you won’t care when you flip back that bench seat, wrap an arm around your love, and roll down those country roads chasing the horizon.
So this is an academic exercise since I will not be buying a new vehicle until 2028, but I have priced out an F-350 XL version of this vehicle a few times in the recent past. The problem is that is comes out to $69,000 with seemingly few options besides the HO diesel. When I price out a Lariat Crew Cab it rings in a about $90,000. Oddly, the latter seems like a better deal.
One of the biggest issues with the regular cab is that you are limited to a 29 gallon fuel tank. The crew cab with an 8′ bed is 48 gallons. This makes a big difference, especially when towing heavy, which is what these things are built for.
I love my single cab short bed F150, the modern truck cabs are much bigger than those of the past, plus the seat backs are higher so there is no sun on the back of your neck. I’ve had 3 thru the years a 89, 98 & 18 that I got new. The 98 was my favorite, it had the best ergonomics although the 18 is close.
I love the regular can work truck, and I agree with you on so, so many things; except one: the diesel.
Between the price point at purchase, the fuel price premium, the fuel economy gap that has DRASTICALLY narrowed in the past 10 years, and the cost of ownership after the warranty period, gassers uphold the spirit of the work truck now. The new diesel truck is either company owned, or a rich man’s plaything.
I’ll spare you all the math; but I promise that my coworkers and I did the math on this when I sold new trucks. Unless you truly are towing VERY heavy VERY often, truck for truck, buying a diesel versus a gasser 2500 series truck will cost you around 25 grand more over 200,000 miles. That’s a BIIG difference
Myself I always preferred extended cabs (especially with suicide doors). My first vehicle was a 98 Dakota extended cab also had a 2000 F350 extended cab and my current 92 D250 is a extended cab so I might be a bit bias hah.
I totally understand the love for a basic 2 door bench seat pick up. But one of the advantages of keeping it simple is a comfortable price point. A $70,000 2 door pickup is the equivalent of going to a fine French Restaurant where they sell you Cocovan, a chicken breast with a slice of ham and cheese sauce, for $60 and Pom fritters, French fries and a $10 bottle of water. You can get that from the buffet for $20. Quit trying to sell me, I don’t mean you Mercedes, what I want for a 200% mark-up.
I’m not sure it is possible for me to agree with something 110%, but if so, I 110% agree with the statement that regular cabs are the best. Obviously, they look better and fit better in parking spots. The other major advantage I have found is superior visibility from the cab. It is much easier to see the sides and rear corners of a single cab truck vs a crew cab truck. Between the reduced length and superior visibility, maneuvering in tight spaces and reversing is much easier in a single cab truck. I currently own a single cab ’77 F250 and a crew cab 2021 F250; the ’77 is in many ways easier to drive (although, the ’21 is more efficient and infinitely more comfortable).
I recently considered trading my 2021 for a new XLT regular cab. Unfortunately, trucks have gotten stupid expensive in the last few years. A comparably equipped regular cab 2025 is over $10k more than I paid for my 2021. As much as I want a regular cab truck, I am not ready to spend $70k+ on a what is essentially a work truck.
The ONE issue I have with regular cabs is that if you do not have a cap/topper you can get a lot of sun on the back of your head and neck. That is mostly not an issue with tinted glass and head rests but most of the trucks I have had were pre-1991 headrest-less ones.
I would love a truck like you are describing minus the diesel and not in white but keep the long bed for sleeping in the back like you cannot do in most small box trucks today.
They do make louvers for the back windows of pickups
I have not seen any of those in decades. I still occasionally see the American flag/ eagle window film.
I like this truck, but if you’re not towing or hauling massive loads all the time, I would 100% skip the Diesel. We used to love them for power, fuel economy, and simplicity, but they’re far from simple these days, the MPG isn’t that much better (and Diesel fuel isn’t universally cheaper these days) and they’re the furthest thing from simple.
Don’t have much need for or interest in trucks anymore, but share your appreciation for the original configuration. Also appreciate your excellent writing.
Reading the comments here highlights the various names used for the different cab types too. I had to scratch my head at the king cab comment below (pretty sure that was a prioprietary name used by Nissan) and realized that’s an extended cab.
I am a product manager for an auto parts manufacturer and part of my job is cataloging the vehicle applications where there are standards for the aftermarket auto parts industry. Per the ACES standards, you have:
Standard Cab Pickup – what this article is about
Extended Cab Pickup – aka extended cab, king cab, supercab, etc. Some have rear doors, some don’t.
Crew Cab Pickup – i.e. four full size doors.
Extended Crew Cab Pickup – the Ram HD Mega Cab
Cab, cab-and-a-half, double cab. Simple.
Too bad there’s no F150 diesel
***anymore.
yes, of course, I was talking about 2025/2026 🙂
Not like the Lion V6 was a diesel you’d want anyway.
The thing not getting the love these days is the king cab. I see standard cabs for fleet and I see a zillion crew cabs. You don’t really see new king cabs these days. Having had two rangers with king cabs (’87 and ’92), they’re great when you need a bit of extra interior space and/or have to haul someone in a pinch, but don’t want to make it your daily family hauler.
*puts on flame suit*
The best truck is crew cab, 6.5ft bed. You can still easily carry 4x8s by flipping open the tailgate and tying your stuff down, and you dodge the ridiculous size and turning circle of a crew cab long bed.
The crew cab is just too useful for too many things. Family, dogs, locked+waterproof storage, bed for short people with the fold down seats, and now.
(Work trucks are a different story, because you know the role you need them to fill rather than being a multitool)
I will accept nominations for extended cab long bed as well, for basically the same reasons, but you nearly never see them
6.5 foot is generally either a ‘regular’ or ‘short’ bed; 5.5 is ‘extra short’ or sometimes ‘short’. Long bed is usually 8 foot.
Just went from an extra short Ram to a short bed GMC, and while the extra foot or so is noticeable, the added cameras and sensors on the new one more than make up for it.
I love my regular cab short box squarebody does everything I need it too and is a manageable size. I keep looking at supercharged newer v8 F150s. Those trucks with 4wd are crazy quick basically everywhere.
Single cab short beds rule. But you know what really rules? Short wheel based full sized vans. They are a foot and a half shorter than the SCSB trucks. If you get rid of the rear seats, you have a flat 4′ x 8′ flat floor- which is longer than your short bed truck’s 6.5′ bed.
Too bad these shorty vans died out by the mid(?) 2000’s, and full sized vans in general died out by mid 2010’s (I don’t consider the long-hood monstrosities vans)
Marty’s Toyota was an XtraCab. You can clearly see the window behind the door.
I’ve basically ignored standard cab trucks because my only real experience with standard cab fullsize truck was my dad’s ’88 F-150, and at 6’3″ with a long torso I just couldn’t get comfortable driving it. The bench seat was too upright, making my back ache and limiting my headroom. Admittedly it looks like there is room enough behind the seat on this truck to comfortably recline.
It was still a one-row, those first generation Toyota Xtracabs (like the first Datsun King Cabs two generations before) were entirely about extra space for a 6′ plus driver or front passenger, and maybe a bit of in-cab storage space.
I forgot that they only had a shelf in the back. Still, Mercedes’ point there was about the sporty look of a regular cab and short bed, and Marty’s truck didn’t use the shortest cab available. Plus a defining feature of most regular cabs is the lack of a window behind the door.
I personally prefer the look of the XtraCab on the 80s/90s Toyota pickups. Between Marty’s truck and many of the legendary trucks that Ivan Stewart and other raced back in the day, I think the XtraCab has more of an iconic look.
https://offroadaction.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1984-ppi-ivan-stewart-toyota-getsome-photo-1987-parker400-01.jpg
I fully agree with this take, and would gander that most of this crowd would too. KISS.
As someone who spent most of college driving a super rad overlanding 1995 Tacoma single cab 4wd, it is a decent take. It fit most places, was a joy to offroad, and had a bed big enough for me to sleep in (with a toolbox too!). That being said, I always needed to carry passengers more than missing 6″ of bed space, so I’ve had crew cabs since then.
Some days, I dream about doing the Pan American trail in one of these bad boys (but with the 6.8 or 7.3 gasser) set up similarly (but with cloth seats) and a big camper in the bed.
Seventy….three……thousand…..for a RCLB work-spec pickup?!? That’s just insane! Even with a diesel, close on sixty grand is bat guano nuts. I get that it’s a sticker price and most dealers will knock off 10% for breathing, 15% for talking nicely about it and 20% for actually haggling. Still, it’s outrageous. There’s no good reason besides margin this should sticker for that much.
Welp, this one has 24K in options; the diesel is 11K, the winch is 4k, 4wd is 3k, 360 degree camera package (bundled with the other safety package) is 2k, the offroad package was 1k. I assume this truck also had the bedliner, maybe the scales, maybe the inverter. There’s your 24k in options.
I would be interested in seeing the window sticker, but this is one of the more loaded work trucks.
Fun fact, with inflation, cars and trucks are actually getting cheaper! The Gasser model is a deal though, if you don’t require the diesel.
Ahh, my eyes glazed over the $24k in options. $50k sticker for an ace of base truck seems to be a tough pill to swallow.
Marty’s truck is an extended cab. But the important part is, they’re not crew cabs.
Oh man, you are spot on. Especially with a beefy diesel that thing must move!
My biggest complaint with single cab trucks that I experienced growing up was banging the back of my head on the glass or metal bulkhead (or both) but now that there’s headrests that’s no longer an issue. No room to lean the seat back if on a rest break, though.
Single cab, SRW, long bed is the peak useful truck, and anyone who disagrees is wrong or running a big crew.
If you don’t miss two feet of bed or TRULY need more seats, you are not fully doing truck.
You seem to have a titch of country girl in ya. Riding around in a single cab with your girl in the middle.
Of course, back when I was farming and ranching, if there was three of us riding in a single cab, the middle was the best seat. Ya didn’t have to drive, and didn’t have to get the gates.
I blame my wife, ha! She grew up on a farm, driving tractors, tending to the animals, and all of that stuff. I grew up on bench seats, but in the suburbs.
I do admit that after 5 years of being together, her style definitely rubbed off on me. Now to see if I can get a truck bench to fit in a Smart…
Find some rednecks with sawzalls and welders. Pay in beer.
Plenty of that spirit in Mexico. Some of the DIY creations turning econoboxes into convertibles are….interesting.
“Stick shifts and safety belts
bucket seats have all got to go.
When we’re driving in the car
It makes my baby seem so far
I need you here with me
Not way over in a bucket seat.”
-Cake, “Stickshifts and Safetybelts” (dunno why the words are compounded)
Only with auto transmission though. I had a Ford Ranger with manual trans and bench seat, and you don’t want to sit in the middle.
I had a cowboy buddy who was six foot four, and he regularly just had to sit in the center seat of a single cab manual f350. Laziness requires sacrifice, I guess