Most of the new trucks are up so high that it is impractical to load anything in the bed and i'm sure the owners wife lets him know how much she hates his vehicle every time she struggles to climb in.
Automotive companies make the majority of their profits on trucks and the highest profits come from trucks with lots of bling.
A stick will outlast an automatic but its so much easier to drive an automatic with a cup of coffee in your hand.
My truck is stock hight 4x4. I’m 6’1” but the 5’6” wife had a problem. So I got retractable running boards for her. Which some of my more diminutive hunting buddies appreciate too. As I’m getting on in age, the luxury of it is not unwanted
I bought a truck when my job entailed loading big boxes of lighting equipment and other “work related” tools.
The truck I bought was tricked out nicely, but it still lacked some of the top end luxuries.
I CAN see value in seat warmers and good air conditioning. A backup camera would be nice, but I lived without one for decades.
Aside from that, the cosmetic stuff just doesn’t seem worth it.
I see a lot of people buying trucks who justify their purchase on the three trips to the town leaf dump every fall. That seems a little nuts to me...but to each his own.
I think the retail on mine was about $38k in 2012. The company bought it, and it was paid off in three years.
The same truck today lists for about $45k.
I’m a Jeeper and I see a lot of ridiculous mods. To each their own, I suppose, but I have to LOL at people who will lift their Jeeps to get an extra 4-5” of ground clearance, and then need to add side steps which effectively reduces the ground clearance by 5-6”.