Last week I published a review of the new 2025 Ram 1500, which is different from the 2024 model primarily because it has a straight-six engine in place of the legendary HEMI V8, and because it can be had in a new $87,000+ “Carbide” trim. That’s a lot of money for a pickup truck, and a number of commenters made it clear that it was too much money. Luxurious pickup trucks, you see, are completely absurd, these detractors say. I disagree.
“87k for a half-ton?? No, just no,” reads one comment on our Instagram post published just before the truck review. “87k for any truck is too much” reads another.
“There is zero reason for this exist. Just buy an Escalade or Yukon Denali. This will never be used as a ‘truck,'” writes Instagrammer ziltoid_attax, only to be followed up by user dirkmcdougal, who writes: “Leather wrapped luxury PICKUP TRUCK. These things should all be destroyed. Just a testament to how dumb the American consumer has become.”
This is not an uncommon sentiment towards fancy, expensive pickup trucks. Building a luxury truck is a bit like someone putting Armani seats and a Tiffany crystal-shifter in a tractor. Even though folks have been daily driving pickup trucks for 100 years, the reality is that pickup trucks are still seen as work implements. And it makes sense; take one peek at a truck, and you’ll see that half the vehicle (though an increasingly smaller proportion) is a bed that’s not meant to seat any passengers — it’s meant solely for folks to throw stuff into. A humongous element of the truck’s styling communicates “haul things.” Add to that the fact that every single pickup truck manufacturer markets their pickup trucks as hard-working tools, and it’s easy to see pumping luxury into something meant to get dirty and smudged and torn and dinged as a complete waste of time.
Hell, this Ram commercial literally starts with the narrator saying: “A truck is a tool.”
But as the later parts of that commercial clearly show, a truck is no more a tool than aviator glasses are military eye-protection, than Timberlands are work boots, than a fancy Carhartt jacket is thermal protection for factory workers, or than a Mercedes G-Wagon is a military off-road machine. These former tools can still mostly do what they were initially designed to do — and in fact, that’s key to making them so marketable — but their primary usage has evolved.
Pickup trucks were initially work machines, sure, and while some folks did daily drive them in the early days, only in the past 30 or so years — and especially in the last 10 — did they truly evolve into daily-cruisers, with many of them becoming rather swanky. I’m OK with that.
Why must someone who enjoys driving a pickup truck have to pilot a sedan or SUV if they want luxury? Why is a Mercedes S-Class, Rolls Royce Continental GT, or Cadillac Escalade somehow acceptable, but a Ram 1500 Carbide or a Ford F-150 King Ranch or a Chevy Silverado High Country or even a high-end Toyota Tacoma or Ford Ranger isn’t? These are all wallowy, beautifully-riding luxury machines that cost a ton; in some ways you could argue that the trucks represent a less silly way to spend money given that they also offer a versatility that the others don’t.
I think part of the reason why folks dislike fancy pickups is that they are perceived as a threat to the cheap, basic trucks that so many people yearn for. I’m not entirely convinced that that’s fair; a basic 1998 Dodge Ram started at $16,335; that’s about $31,000 in modern bucks. A 2023 Ram Classic costs $32,345 — sure, it’s up a little, but it’s also stuffed with way, way more mandatory safety features and standard content.
To be clear: I would never buy a luxury pickup truck. In fact, the main reason why I purchased my 1985 Jeep J10 pickup was that it was the simplest version of my favorite truck, and in my eyes that makes it the ultimate. It came from the factory with an unkillable AMC straight six, a stickshift, a bench seat, vinyl floors, a stamped tailgate, a regular cab, a long bed, manual locking hubs, and not a whole lot more.
I love a no-frills pickup because I love a vehicle that rarely breaks, and that I can fix easily (I rebuilt the transmission in my kitchen for $150). Still, despite my own personal preferences, I have no issue with folks who love driving pickup trucks — and that’s a huge portion of the American population; head into the country, and you’ll see that pickups are used just like normal sedans or crossovers are in other parts of the country — wanting a bit of luxury in their lives.
There’s no reason why a pickup driver should have to buy an SUV or sedan just because they want nice seats or a magic-carpet suspension. Let these folks continue driving in the type of vehicle they love, but with air springs and massaging leather and big screens. No need for them to have to buy a Yukon Denali. As long as this doesn’t jack up the prices of a bare-bones truck too much, I think it’s time to chill on all the luxotruck hatred.
[Quick Note:
This article applies to all pickup trucks, including the Ford Maverick and Ranger and Nissan Frontier. The issue of trucks and SUVS and crossovers being too damn big is a different topic, but it’s worth noting that the effects that has on pedestrian protection are very real. Having more full-size truck and large SUV/CUV offerings does encourage more people to drive big vehicles, so having a problem with BIG luxury trucks and SUVS/crossovers for that reason makes sense. Though this article is more about the issue so many people have with pickups being fancy since pickups are “supposed to be” tools. There are luxury versions of pretty much every car type (including SUVs, which were also mean to be tools — off-roadesr), so slathering leather and screens inside a pickup cab isn’t that big of a deal. (And in fact, adds pedestrian protection via cameras and pedestrian protection).
Also: Please accept my apologies for my Sunday “David’s Takes” Op-Ed being a bit shorter and later than it has been in the past. I’m currently in a lounge in Las Vegas, celebrating my youngest brother’s 30th birthday:
I’m walking around with a backpack, blogging in casinos and lounges. Some say I look like a nerd; that’s fine (and true), because you all deserve blogs. -DT]
These kinds of vehicles are everything wrong with America.
Or the best depending on your viewpoint.
Why a pickup truck is not a work vehicle in the 21st Century —
Benefits of the open bed:
– easy to clean
– easy to throw stuff into
– huge volume, especially if you put fences on the sides
Drawbacks of the open bed:
– no protection against theft
– exposed to the elements
– stuff can fall out
Conclusion: pickup trucks are best used for carrying large volumes of dirty stuff that doesn’t mind getting tossed around and rained on, and has a low value per weight, so it’s not a theft target and it’s not a big deal if you spill some. So, turnips, manure, gravel, etc. — basically, farm stuff.
What are most blue-collar workers doing nowadays? Not farm stuff! They are working in the cities and suburbs, carrying expensive, fragile tools and materials that have a high value per weight and need to stay clean, dry, and locked up. So the primary work vehicle of the 21st century is … the van.
But due to our society’s traditional glorification of rural life, the image of the rural worker is considered noble and manly, and lots of white-collar suburban/urban people want to project that image while still enjoying the luxurious comforts of their decidedly non-farm lives. The image of the urban worker is, comparatively, despised.
Result: pickups are for red-blooded all-American men who can afford luxury; vans are for wage slaves and serial killers.
Van > Truck, hard agree!
It’s an interesting argument. Vans are very useful for a kit if blue/purple/green collar jobs and pickups are useful for the other half. Cities and Suburbs still have trees to take down, fences to put up, dirt and cement to haul around. Pickups work better for these than vans. Vans are great for irrigation/plumbing, painting, and electrical. Power washing works with either while hot shotting usually goes with pickup trucks. Trust me. There is still a lot of work in the city and suburbs that can be done happily with a pickup truck.
The fragile tools usually ride in locked, bolted in large tool boxes or in the back of the extended cab.
ITT
Man, that CAFE/coffee joke would kill on a 1990s Leno episode.
I’ve said before I believe all vehicles should have, relative to their position in the market, a basic trim, a performance trim and a luxury trim. So for me to criticize the existence of a luxury trim pickup would be hypocritical. It’s not what I’d own, but truthfully the truck market is about the only place where I do see that spread of available configurations.
However, I will still hate on pickups for their size. I am aware about what got us here in terms of regulatory concerns. Still, seeing the near the end of the 3rd generation Ford Ranger parked next to the current one at Costco over the weekend just bothered me quite a bit.
For all those complaining:
1.) These ultra high end pickups have been requested/demanded by buyers who have ultra high end things to tow with them. “I have a $300,000 – $500,000 travel trailer/car hauler/horse trailer and I don’t want to pull it with a cheap $50,000 pickup”.
2.) CAFE demanded such a high MPG for larger sedans that the manufacturers killed them since they couldn’t reach the numbers. CAFE allowed lower numbers for trucks and that’s exactly where the buyers went. Now they are used to them.
“There are luxury versions of pretty much every car type, so slathering leather and screens inside a pickup cab isn’t that big of a deal.”
It sure would be nice to have some luxury subcompacts to choose from.
We had the Cimmaron but did enough people buy them? Noooooooooo.
Just because it was mediocre at twice the price of a Cavalier…
Your quick note on pedestrian safety speaks volumes (and is what I came here to say). Our society cares more about the “freedom” for people to drive and buy whatever they want than for the basic safety of those that have to or choose to get around outside of a vehicle. Add in some EPA unintended consequences and corporate marketing about how inefficient trucks are manly and driving a reasonably sized and priced vehicle or providing your own locomotion out in the weather isn’t, and you get today’s vehicle fleet and the air quality, pedestrian and small car risk, and biggering of every road, garage, and parking space that goes along with it.
I consider this the unexpected result of regulations over the pedestrian “air pocket” under the hood. You know, the one that killed popup headlamps. If they had left that alone, and let large sedans have lower MPGs, then this wouldn’t have happened.
As long as you can drive and park properly, I do not give a damn what you drive.
My complaints whilst driving are always with the driver, not the vehicle.
Have you been to Florida? You’re really are asking a lot.
I have been to Florida, yes (even had a run-in with an overly machismo’d jackass in a brodozer near Kissimmee back in the early 90s that I still remember clear as day). The average driving acumen there terrifies me far more than what I witness daily here in the NYC area.
LOL! Yep. And their driving has gotten even better after COVID.
Now, if you want to witness truly awful driving habits, take a flight down to Puerto Rico.
LOL! Yep. Same for the Bahamas.
Probably echoing the commentariat here in some measure, but, in short, my beef is not with luxury pickups vs. barebones pickups. If you need/actually use a pickup for pickup things, I got no beef with you if you buy a fancy-schmancy one.
It’s people owning pickups who don’t actually need/use pickups, and the overlap of that versus pickups being heavier and more dangerous for pedestrians and other vehicles that is the bigger issue for me.
Yeah I agree, though those folks aren’t gonna buy luxury sedans. Those folks are gonna buy big SUVs.
And there is very little “SUVs shouldn’t be luxurious” sentiment (unless it’s, say, an Wrangler). And that’s because of how pickups are seen as implements.
I’m not sure that every potential luxury pickup buyer would automatically switch to an Escalade or a similar-sized monster. Now I don’t know if a smaller SUV is safer for pedestrians, but it will surely be environmentally friendlier.
On the other hand, since we can’t forbid large luxury pickup trucks, no matter how much we may want to “cancel” their owners or whatever, economists have an elegant solution for this kind of problem: since these vehicles clearly cause a lot of negative externalities (pollution, traffic, pedestrian safety, …), governments should tax the hell out of them! I know that’s politically impossible in America, and also not trivial to implement (how to tax only “fancy” trucks and keep workhorses cheaper?), but at least it would be fairer. Also, the beauty of this model is that people who don’t really need the cargo space or towing capacity would think twice before splurging a lot of extra cash (in comparison, say, to an “equivalent” sedan) just because large pickup trucks are “in”…
That’s like complaining that every sedan needs to constantly have four people in the cabin when on the road or that every Miata should be either going to or coming from a track.
That’s not quite my argument….and at least in the case of sedans and Miatas, their existence brings the average mass/size of cars down.
But there’s some black-and-white (and not so black-and-white) area of “okay, if you use your pickup truck as a commuter in a fair-weather location and tow something small with it exactly twice a year, wouldn’t it be cheaper (and better for most people) if you just rented a truck to tow with when you need to, and got something smaller for everyday?”
Again, huge grey area here. I wouldn’t know what any strict criteria could be set at.
Inevitably whenever this topic comes up someone says “buy something else and rent a truck for those times you need one.” I can only assume these people have never rented a truck. Rental trucks are terrible, abused, stripped down punishment vehicles. They usually have unevenly worn mismatched tires, the A/C is always broken, and if the radio has one working speaker you’ve won the lottery. They’re far less safe to drive, both for the passengers and the people around them, and far less comfortable.
I use my big luxo-truck several times a month to haul my RV around, but even if I only went out two weeks a year it would cost me more to rent a truck than it costs me in payments for mine.
I drive a rental pickup twice a year, and have been uniformly pleased with them. My business does two major road trips that we don’t trust our regular fleet to handle (it used to be three major trips, until our own truck broke down and we missed the event). The worst rental problem we’ve had was when the previous renter decided to put wet cold-patch asphalt directly in the truck bed. A layer of cardboard solved the problem, and we got a discount for the trouble.
…that sounds more like an issue between you and the particular rental business(es) you’ve used than with the concept as a whole.
When my Econoline’s subwoofers were stolen in 2019 and I dropped it off to get the window replaced, the only vehicle the Enterprise had available was a crew cab F-250 with a 6″ bed.
The thing ran absolutely fine as far as I was concerned. Felt like an aircraft carrier (compared to the van, a mere battleship), but I had no mechanical concerns.
Tim talked to Jill about the rental theory in one of their live streams over at Pickup Truck + SUV Talk. Tim looked at rental places in the Chicago area and found three trucks available that had crewcab, full sized trucks that could tow his family’s travel trailer for a weekend and pointed out he would have to compete for that truck against a guy who also has a travel trailer or a large boat or a vintage car that is going somewhere that weekend. (Any weekend.) Home Depot, Lowes, U-Haul usually just rent regular cab trucks which is fine for bringing something back from the store, but not for family duty.
As far as I’m concerned. People work hard to get things they enjoy. I’m not about to tell them they can’t.
Nah… I’m gonna keep hating on them… particularly with their annoyingly high mounted headlights that cause excessive amounts of glare.
You do you.
I’ll gladly hate on poor headlight design, bad aiming, and drivers that think that low beams are emasculating.
But I’ll also admit that my dislike of luxury trucks is born of petty envy.
Imho it’s just a sign of corporations aiming their targets on the only segment that has money: boomers. As income inequality grows worse and worse, and COL skyrockets with stagnant wages, the boomers are the largest segment with money to buy brand new things, which means all products will be skewed towards luxury, not performance/effiency/value/etc.
These trucks only make up 5% pf the market.
Not sure where you get that idea, but relatively fancy pickups(we could include pickup based SUVs maybe) are much more than 5% of the market.
I am talking about the top of the market, high end truck like the Ram Tungsten, not “relatively fancy trucks” which is very vague and can be used to define a midlevel truck that was optioned up with either a sun roof or leather.
Here’s where I got the number for the Tungsten. If that’s Ram expected sales number, I would expect similar for the GMC Denali, Ford’s top end, and Chevy’s top end as well. I’ll give Toyota a lower expected number for their Capstone edition because their overall sales numbers are lower.
Link from where I got my view from. Pickup Truck + SUV Talk
https://youtu.be/9HoUbyh-2I8?si=_Vpjrh-a90Nwhxc0
Well of course the fanciest 5% of the cars on the road are no more than 5% of the cars on the road……..
Exactly.
The ultimate sign of late stage capitalism. We are watching the ouroboros eat it’s own tail and it is not gonna end up good.
It’s complicated on the one hand if you have bought a truck to do truck stuff the there is no reason for it to be hair shirt. On the other hand, too many people buy trucks to do car stuff. If it never hauls plywood or tows a trailer why buy a truck? I also take issue with “crew cab all the things” If a truck is used for truck things a decent sized bed is,more useful than a full back seat. I have a truck and carry log stuff that benefits from an 8′ box more often than people in the back seat of an extended cab. I think many truck owners should be driving small trucks like a Ford Maverick or give up the illusion and drive the minivan that really fits your needs
I have mixed feelings on the crew cab issue. If you need to carry more “stuff” like groceries, a back seat is fine. But you can’t throw extra people into the bed (legally) if you have two people in a truck with seats for two.
Of course, the same “ready for anything” attitude is part of the reasons huge SUVs and trucks have become so popular anyway…so who knows.
The extended cab is a reasonable compromise to me. Sure, the seats are less roomy back there, but it gives you a little shorter cab while still offering the ability to seat more. And I have had at least 4 passengers in the back seat of my extended cab for short runs to the river without issue (other than shortage of seatbelts).
What I’d like to see someone make is something akin to a late 90s Ranger extended cab pickup, but hybrid, PHEV, or EV. But that might be too limited a cab for most people.
We talked about midsized and compact extened cab pickups over here.
(1) Damn. Thought I had it. (Pickup size growth) | Pickup Truck +SUV Talk Forums (pickuptrucktalk.com)
Yeah, the growth of the midsize and the loss of the compact pickup really changed overall pickup sizes. Maybe people would have flocked to full-size anyway, but I know people missed the S10 and the old Ranger when they dropped them.
I’m hoping for a resurgence of the compact pickup market. The more choices out there the better.
I have an extended cab, it gives me some lockable storage and occasional use seats while having a long bed. I’m ready for anything I need a truck for. I think trying to do it all gives the wrong trade offs. Too much cab not enough box,
I have a crew cab Ram. The difference in bed length between crew and extended is like 10″. The proverbial 4×8 sheet of whatever fits right in my truck with the tailgate folded down. 12′ boards will also go in the back, again with the tailgate folded down. The truck holds engine blocks and other stuff just fine. It also rides 4 people very comfortably to a sporting event – and also has plenty of room for dry secure storage with the back seats flipped up.
If you drive a crew cab 8′ bed then you’re not driving a half ton very comparable to what this article is about, and also you drive a humongously long hot dog that sucks to park and gets 10mpg.
I drive a 1/2 ton crew cab Ram with the shorty short bed with the low 3.92 gears and Hemi motor and still have seen 20mpg on the highway. Extended cabs get a slightly longer short bed.
Sorry, I misread and thought you said you were hauling 4×8 lumber with the tailgate UP.
Does 8′ fit without hanging off the end of the tailgate?
If it does it’s just a couple of inches.
A friend bought a Ram several years ago mostly for utility on his farm. While the truck spent most of it’s time shuttling to the backfields etc., he did get some niceties for highway trips into town. One day while in town, he came back to his parked truck to see someone had hit his rear bumper. It had basically shattered. It was made from a brittle plastic (poly-carbonate?) chrome plated. He had some choice words about “tool”, “work truck” and “ready for anything”. I’ll leave it up to your imagination to enjoy his rant.
Must be a new gen thing, I have a 2014 with a chrome metal rear bumper, and the dents from my boat trailer to prove it.
Pickups used to have seats for three, and it was much better. And if pickup bed laws are the problem, then that’s the problem.
I don’t know how/if they make a front middle seat in a pickup safe. I can’t imagine there’s an easy, logical place for the airbag, depending on the dashboard layout.
And, what do you mean? If you want to legalize carrying people in the bed, you gotta start implementing standards for their seating and safety, or else you (government body) are complicit in some guaranteed deaths from a previously uncommon cause.
They must make it safe enough to be legal, cuz Ram, Ford, and Tesla all offer three across in the front.
I don’t know what legal and moral issues you think this involves, but it is legal to carry people in the bed of a pickup in several states.
Huh. Last I recall, the law in PA was that you could only go in the bed of a pickup if you were working on a farm or similar, going into town, all under 35 mph.
But still…that just seems irresponsible to allow people in the bed at all. What’s the point of seat belt and airbag regulations if you go in the one place in the car specifically not designed for protecting living things?
Yeah, here in Idaho riding in the bed is legal anywhere, although the law enforcement does not look fondly on doing it on the freeway.
Maybe it is irresponsible to ride in the bed, but why not leave that to the people riding in the bed? The governments job is not to prevent people from ever endangering themselves, and that’s not a pursuit worth anybody’s time and effort, either. And, as we were discussing, if it’s legal to ride in a pickup bed, we might have less 6000lb monster crew cabs, which are certainly bad for safety, and not the safety of the people in the pickup but the people around them, which is a lot worse.
Besides, it’s not like anybody is routinely riding in the bed instead of getting a car with enough seats. Even here where it’s legal, I hardly ever see people doing it, and never around town. It’s pretty much just farmers going two fields over, which they would do whether it’s legal or not.
I was anti-crewcab until I bought one. With a rack I can haul 16′ lumber, 4×8 sheet goods do fine hanging over the tailgate, and the back seat is nice to enclose my dogs and humans.
I have a work truck and understand your point of view, but you’re forgetting the other market for pickup trucks. The family that has the large Airstream or toy hauler they take to the lake or park every holiday weekend. Same for those that own big fishing boats, cruisers, or sailing vessels.
And those that have four side by sides or quad runners or sleds or wave runners or..
There are many reasons to own a full sized, crew cab pickup beyond the work world.
DT, I’m honored you quoted my IG post! I actually like big pickups and think that they’re the new luxo sedans of today. You get S-Class luxury, with the utility of having a bed and being able to tow something. (Most owners probably won’t, but most Porsche owners are not taking them to 200mph either). They’re definitely one of the most versatile vehicles, especially since they’re now getting over 20mpg.
Perhaps the sticker shock was that this is a RAM half ton going for close to 90K. I get it with a TRX, because those are so mental (in a good way), but it seems excessive on a standard 1/2 ton.
They’ll probably sell though, it’s the cleanest looking fullsize out there, and I’m sure people will be slapping magnetic company logos on them for the tax break.
When I was working, I had a contractor show up to a job site w/ a then new Ford Raptor. I’m sure his crew, digging ditches & laying pipe appreciated the symbolism.
Yeah, the electrical contractor my work uses drives a Raptor as his “work truck”.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game…I guess. These tax loopholes need to close.
I know that there was an article on the “other site”, but I think it would be a good time to to have an article in which we can learn about the different parts of laws and restrictions (on other vehicles) that helped make large trucks into the massive chunk of the sold vehicles in the US.
Lots of good points made already about visibility, safety and resource use. More Americans choosing to drive ever larger SUVs and trucks increases wear and tear on the roads. Since the SUV boom of the late 90’s, I’ve seen the wear cycles of local road surfaces getting shorter. We’re not great at maintaining infrastructure already, so replacing cars with heavier trucks (and then heavier cars laden with safety equipment to protect from impacts with said trucks) accelerates the decay of our roads.
Just wait until there are fundamentally more EVs on the road.
I’m not sure where people get this idea that a 5000lb pickup replacing a 4000lb sedan will kill the roads faster, when they’re driving next to a 70,000lb semi truck.
Road wear increases with the square of weight. Cars, SUVs, and light pickups account for almost none of the wear on roads. Even if there are a higher fraction of pickups than before.