Four Doors

derby · February 1999

I'm in the market for a new pickup. GM's models
are impressive but missing the fourth door. Will
the Silverado and Sierra have four doors in 2000?

RichinKs · February 1999

There are rumors, but I would like hard facts.

Rich · February 1999

Derby,
If you need the super cab with 4 doors, take a look at either the Dodge or Ford. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Rich

randallv · March 1999

Pleasantly surprised at how much better the back seat is in the GM models vs the Ford or Dodge.

ladyblue · March 1999

The fourth door more than makes up for any supposed "comfort" found in the GMC or Chevy. If you only occassionaly carry extra passengers, then three doors may make it. But if you're like me and frequently have to play taxicab, the fourth door is a must.
Since I got my Dodge Ram I no longer have to hear "I get door!" every time I load up with teenagers. And when I was shopping for a new truck, I took them with me to have them give opinions on the back seat. All agreed that there was plenty of room in the back, and they'd rather have the extra door than a couple of inches of leg room.

randallv · March 1999

There is nothing supposed about the comfort.

RichinKs · March 1999

Your right about the compfort. There is no comparison between the Chevy and the other two. We would own a Dodge now if the rear seat was even close to the Chevy. But even my 97 Chevy is more compfortable than the 99 Ford and Dodge. It would have been a step backwards to get either of them. It might not matter for short trips around town, but it would make a huge difference on long trips. We do not have extra passengers more that every two weeks, but many of those trips are several hours. I'm still waiting for my ideal, a 4-door chevy. ........ Rich

Rich · March 1999

I haven't ridden in the back seat of my '99 F-250 SD. However, I had a couple of ladies back there on a trip of about 2 hours in traffic. (One is 5' 8" or 9" and the other is almost 6'.) We stopped about half way for a smoke break for my 6' 6" front seat passenger. Neither of the ladies bothered to get out to streach their legs. When we got to our destination, neither complained of the ride nor discomfort. From that observation, I guess that the rear seat is comfortable enough.
Rich

cdean · March 1999

i think the back seat in the SD is ridiculous. its perfectly FLAT, the back is straight up, and the back isn't very tall. the seat isn't high enough off the floor. i can't see anyone but kids being comfortable back there, its like a tiny church pew.

quadrunner500 · March 1999

If you don't put such a premium on being trendy, you can still have a Chevrolet 4 door, a crew cab with LOTS of room in the deeply discounted, C/K series for '99.

tnt2 · March 1999

I believe that ext. cabs are just that, cabs with extra room, not really meant for full-time passengers. Even the best and most comfortable of ext. cabs are no comparison to that of a crew cab. I've ridden in the back of all three, and none are a joy to ride in for extended periods. Buy an ext. cab for extra room, buy a crew cab for passengers.

cdean · March 1999

well put, tnt2.

RichinKs · March 1999

Some of us want it all. Leg room in the back seat and comfort for a long trip. Access to the back seat from either side AND still able to fit in a garage. I've never sean a crew cab that will fit in a garage. And oh yea, I've never seen a crew cab parked between the lines in a parking lot. Seems they always manage to park near the door and take up two spots. ....... Rich

tnt2 · March 1999

You haven't seen me park. I can put mine in the tightest of spots. My crew is no wider than a super cab, and will fit in my garage, along with an expedition and 2 vw beetles.

RichinKs · March 1999

tnt2 need to have you come to Kansas and give some parking lessons. Did you fix your garage with that tnt(G). ...... Rich

Davydd · March 1999

A typical suburban parking lot stall at a big box retail store is 9 ft wide x 19 ft. long with a 24 ft. driving lane. Check your turning radius and the fact that a crew cab runs nearly 21 ft. in length and you'll see you cannot normally park one without a lot of back and forth adjusting to straighten out. I suspect crew cabbers either take up two lanes or park in the outer reaches of lots.

It is next to impossible to park a truck that size in a parking garage without hogging extra space.

As for house garages, the most typical garage built this day and age is out to out 22 ft. in length. Subtract 1 ft. for door and two walls and you have to literally bump the back wall to get a crew cab in.

I'd say you are right at the upper limits of practicality for crew cabs. I don't think they were intended for non-commercial general out and about use. The x-cab pushes the upper limits for non-commercial out and about use. Size is no accident. They can't get any bigger and function.

stanford · March 1999

I've been driving a crew cab long-box for around 6 years now. They've all been daily drivers for commuting, shopping, whatever. Since I work in downtown Dallas, I've had a lot of practice gettingh in and out of tight spots. Its really not a problem. The biggest adjustment I've had to make was going to a DRW crew cab -- that makes it harder to back into some spots.

I pride myself on never taking up two spots. What really ticks me off is watching people in small cars park right on the line, or slightly over, into other spots. I find that folk with larger vehicles are a lot more careful about the way they park, and their lane position while driving for that matter.

Oh -- when I was in a house it fit into 1/2 of a standard suburban garage just fine. I'm in an apartment now, with an assigned spot, and have never had a problem taking up more than my share. Even things like drive-thrus aren't that big a deal -- you just need to drive more consiously than some folk in smaller cars do. With a little planning that becomes automatic (in the same way that driving a stick does) its really no big deal.

Davydd -- try driving one for a month and then comment on it :-)

alchavez · March 1999

I'm a Chevy guy but I saw in a mag that Ford is
coming out with a crew cab with a very short bed in
the 2000my. Same as the one on that ugly little
Nissan Frontier coming out at the same time.

Is this a trend that Chevy will follow in the near
future? Regardless of the usefullness of that
very small bed, I think Ford is doing this to take
away the reasons why people don't buy crew cabs in
the first place ("doesn't fit in my garage") and to
take away some braggin Chevy is doing about it's
larger cabroom in extended cabs. In this day of
child carseats, I will buy whatever fits my family
comfortably on those long campertrailer vacations.
At first I wanted the Chevy for this reason, but
it sounds like Ford may open up a whole new
catagory of truck.

It sounds like Chevy may be coming out with that
fourth door to little to late! At most it will
only be a footnote in next year's model offerings.
(If indeed that is when it is coming out.)

Alchavez

stanford · March 1999

Most people these days would like a crew-cab for the convenience, but also like having a bed. When you consider that you can't really put anything like potting soil into a suburban without asking for trouble if a bag breaks, a smaller-bed truck makes sense. The new half-ton CCs will still have more overall bed space than your average compact truck, and will be used in much the same way IMO. A very pracitcal design.

Four Doors

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