Options trading The once humble pickup has gone full-on luxury — here are my favorite swanky features (F, GM, FCAU)

• Years ago, full-size pickup trucks were intended for rugged use on farms, ranches, and job sites. 
• But as they’ve exploded in popularity and posted epic sales, they’ve become as luxurious as some some upscale cars.
• I’ve tested every full-size pickup on the market, from Ford, Chevy, GMC, RAM, Toyota, and Nissan.
• Here’s a rundown of all my favorite luxury features, from each truck.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Let me tell you about my first pickup truck.

It was a 1980s-vintage Mazda B2200. It had a five-speed manual, a single plastic bench seat, crank windows, and an AM/FM radio.

High luxury it wasn’t. But it was my truck, and I loved it. I used it for … well, you name it. Hundreds of miles driving back and forth to college, cleanup jobs, camping trips, helping friends move. The I gave it to my brother and he drove the wheels off.

Fast-forward a few decades and the world has changed. Pickups were utilitarian vehicles when I was a youngster. You found them on farms and ranches, not in the driveways of homes in the well-heeled communities. 

These days, a full-size pickup from the Detroit Big Three can easily hang with a sedan from Audi, BMW, or Mercedes when it comes to luxury appointments. That’s a good thing for pickup truck makers, as all those extras have led to historically high transaction prices for vehicles that already sell in the millions of units annually. A top-line Ford F-150 can go for more than $70,000, and the entire F-Series brings in over $40 billion in annual revenue for the Blue Oval.

That has translated into historic profits since the financial crisis, enabling General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to fill their coffers with cash.

Let’s take a closer look at the markets’ current roster of full-size pickups and review some of their more luxurious features, from interiors to exteriors, from infotainment systems to cool extras: