For a very long time, buying a pickup truck was like buying a shovel. Lifestyle trims? Hybrids? Turbocharged engines? Forget about it. Popular nameplates like the Chevrolet Silverado and the Ford F-150 rose to fame and fortune. They often came with a thirsty yet capable V8 engine bolted to the front of a ladder-frame chassis built for toughness, not comfort. The surrounding package was built not for style, handling, economy, or noise levels, but for slogging, climbing, and heavy work. Like the lowly garden shovel, the pickup truck was simply an appliance used to get a job done.
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