2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 High Country vs. 2019 Ford F-150 Limited vs. 2019 Ram 1500 Limited

In 2017, Americans bought more full-size pickups than people did new vehicles, period, in all but the three largest markets in the EU.

We buy an outrageous number of these things-about 2.3 million that year alone. But here's a theory: We don't buy pickups in these quantities because we are more productive than our beret-wearing brothers across the Atlantic.

It's not that we have so many more contractors, farmers, and tradespeople who need pickups. It's that Americans have more toys. It's estimated that 50 to 60 percent of the world's pleasure craft are sold here, as are more than 40 percent of the world's snowmobiles. Boats need to get to the lake, and snowmobiles to the trail. And few of the cars that race at the country's 1339 drag strips, road courses, and ovals drive there themselves. Americans need these workhorses for weekend duty, but that doesn't mean we want them to clomp around like Clydesdales. That's why each of the examples here is its respective maker's highest-trim, daily-use crew-cab model.