Originally Posted by troverman

Sounds like that would make sense, but the bed lengths would be off. Some would be too short, and some might be too long.

It used to be most pickups had an 8-foot bed, so that the standard 8-foot long pieces of lumber, plywood, etc. would fit inside with the tailgate closed.

The reason was that most people did not drive a pickup as their personal vehicle - the purpose of the truck was to be able to haul standard-sized plywood, 2x4's, drywall, etc...plus tow and drive off-road.

Around the turn of the century, pickups became more comfortable and feature-laden...and the emphasis for trucks increased towards passenger carrying while still offering some utility. I believe this shift happened as gas prices rose, and very large body-on-frame SUVs started to go away. People loved those vehicles, but during the high gas prices period, people started buying cars with better fuel economy. The manufacturers misjudged somewhat - they assumed people only wanted SUVs, but only if they could get better fuel economy. Thus, the crossover vehicle was born, aka the "watered down SUV."

As gas prices eventually dropped, many people still preferred the largest vehicle they could buy and fit their family - and that was the crew cab trucks.

Now, the manufacturers have an absolute goldmine with pickup trucks. There are far more configurations and trims available now then ever before. Want the old, basic regular-cab, long bed pickup? Got it. Want a luxury-liner crew cab short bed? No problem. Or everything in between.

Originally Posted by AK_SuperDuty

When I was a kid and went truck shopping with my dad (early 90's), we looked at a bunch of trucks with standard beds and a few with short beds. Standard beds were 8' and short beds were as my dad said "a waste of time". I have driven a 2005 F150 supercab 6.5' bed for 11 years. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had a standard (8') bed instead of the 6.5' teaser. It bothers me that they call the 8' bed a long bed. That IS the standard. It's similar to how politicians started calling 30 round standard M16 rifle magazines "high capacity magazines". They were built as the standard and still are as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

Just make sure you get the bench seat in the front. My G/F hates big consoles that get in the way of a little fun when driving down the highway!

Originally Posted by HRTKD

The solution to that is getting married.

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

Just make sure you get the bench seat in the front. My G/F hates big consoles that get in the way of a little fun when driving down the highway! If you're married, get the console. Probably don't want to be close to her and she isn't into that stuff anymore! lol

Originally Posted by AK_SuperDuty

Ford marketing guys are too dumb to offer king ranch and platinum with the fold up console. I had to order a lariat and load it out as much as possible for this very reason. The fold up console is a necessity in a pickup as far as I'm concerned. Why own a pickup if she isn't giving you road head?

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

Seems all the truck manufactures are going this route. Glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks this way! It's also nice to legally carry 6 people when toting around kids.

Originally Posted by EightySecond

I may be the only guy on the road with a 2017 F250 Platinum Ultimate with an 8' bed, but when folks see it they'll know I was right. Lol :-)

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

Just make sure you get the bench seat in the front. My G/F hates big consoles that get in the way of a little fun when driving down the highway! If you're married, get the console. Probably don't want to be close to her and she isn't into that stuff anymore! lol

Originally Posted by troverman

You guys crack me up, but it isn't the first time I've heard this. Back when I was in the 6th grade in 1997, a family friend in his late 20's had just purchased a regular cab, long bed Dodge 2500 4x4 truck. Not only did it have the full bench, with no console to even fold down, but it was a stick shift. He advised me when the time came to buy a truck, "make sure to get a stick shift truck and have her ride in the middle, and shift a lot!"

Right now, my truck has the flip console. It came in handy transporting 5 people home from the airport, but otherwise rarely does. My next truck will be the permanent console - I like the deep storage space.

Originally Posted by AK_SuperDuty

I like the deep storage space too. Luckily, you get that with the new flip up console! The seat top opens and there is nice storage in there

Originally Posted by troverman

Eh...not enough for me. I have it in my 2016. The difference in space between the flip console and the permanent console is pretty massive. Not enough space in the flip console to stash my 9mm inside.

I can live with either, but I prefer the full console. I'm happy for you guys that like the flip console / seat, though, that you can still get it.