Four regular doors would be nice in itself.
That's the main reason why I chose the crew cab even as a single person. I had trucks with suicide doors and it sucked. They require a lot of space to open. Whereas with the crew cab, I can easily reach over and crack open the rear door to grab something without having to walk around the door.
If you have kids, Crew cab and make sure you get a truck with Utilitrac. The ability to tie down things using the rails trumps the extra foot the long bed gives you. I'll take a 5' bed with Utilitrac over an 8' bed with just the 4 corner tie downs any day.
I installed airplane-style L-track in my F-250's 8-foot bed. Nothing that an afternoon and a hundred bucks can't take care of. I got a short bed Frontier, but that's because it was a unicorn of a pre-owned truck other than the bed.
That being said, I opt to get the largest cab even if it means sacrificing bed length. It's easier to add cargo management than make the cab bigger. I'd make an exception if I had to regularly haul long items that I needed to keep locked. It all depends on your individual needs. One of my friends flies giant-scale R/C airplanes and drives a regular cab 8' bed with a camper shell in order to keep them enclosed in the bed and not have a truck that is the length of a bus.
The 5 foot bed is worthless to us, rather have a suv and a utility trailer.
I occasionally get asked why I didn't get an SUV and a utility trailer, or just a large SUV. I have a 5' bed with a shell, which gives me roughly 60cf of cargo volume. It pretty much comes down to three points:
-Convenience. Lets face it, towing a trailer isn't always convenient, and deadheading with an empty trailer is cumbersome compared to an empty pickup bed.
-Cargo separation and access. I can haul oversize items with the tailgate down and still have the cab and tool box locked up at stops. I have a camper shell with a tool box and side access doors. I can't exactly cut a win-door in the side of a Suburban to reach cargo near the back seat.
-Price. Large SUVs are typically for people with deep pockets who want all the luxury features. I need to haul cargo, not people in leather seats with 3 climate control zones and 22 cup holders.
why can't someone make a KC truck where the doors swing wider.
The Ford F-150 and Super Duty extended cab suicide doors open 170 degrees. I think I'd still opt for forward-hinged doors though. You need the space to swing the front door open and the rear door 170 degrees. Not a problem if you're parked in the way back of a parking lot, but might be a problem in your garage. Whereas forward-hinged rear doors can be opened a sliver, independent of the front doors.
The market seems to be going to that trend. The Toyota Tundra Double Cab was the first extended cab to have forward-hinged doors, followed by Chevrolet and Ram.
