I've got a double cab truck. No interest in "status". I use the truck because it can haul up to 10,000 pounds behind me and because I regularly buy/carry 10-15 80 pound sacks of pelleted horse feed in the bed.
I also take the grandkids with us when we go camping.
Plus, it is our vacation vehicle. Once a year we load up the grandkids and take them with us from southern Arizona to northern Utah and back. The extra room inside the truck makes the trip far more enjoyable than using our 2012 XTerra - which was still a bit nicer than when we used our 2017 Camry.
Lots of folks probably buy double cab trucks because CARS WITH ROOM are banned by EPA gas mileage mandates!
A modern Camry is the size of an old Corolla. A modern van IS a mini-van. A family with 4 kids is now almost out of luck. Cars that hold 6 people are hard to find! Cars that hold 5? Well, pity the three in the back seat!
I’ll add my wife can sit in the back seat of our V-8 Tundra with 2 grandkids and play games with them while the dog is at their feet.
Apparently, we have so little oil remaining - and the earth is about to burn up, you know! - that cars for FAMILIES are now borderline illegal. ;>(
My Tundra was 45K new. Looks like the new F-150s can be bought for about that, although I just don’t trust double turbocharged V-6 engines the way I do Toyota’s old, big V8!
I have two double cab F-15’s. One is a company car the other was my company car which I purchased.
For the company one, I tow a trailer or have the bed and yes, the back seat well loaded often. It’s full right now for a trip this week.
Correct, I rarely have passengers but we do have stuff.
My personal one just got rigged for overland camping with a rooftop tent, diesel heater, backup battery and refrigerator. I just drove ocean to ocean and got 18-20 mpg. I can’t complain about that.
I’m going to need to order a new company truck in a few months. We’ll see how that goes.