Top Ten Best Features for a Used Truck

There are plenty of reliable, versatile, and affordable pickup trucks out there. While they all may serve their purpose, not all of them offer the same level of features and technology designed to make your life easier. Let’s say you’re at a used truck dealership in PA, and you see two pickup trucks, one from 2005 and the other from 2015. Even if these trucks performed identically and hauled the same amount of cargo, the experience inside of the 2015 model is going to be vastly improved, and that ten-year difference will inevitably make all the difference. Why is this? The answer is simple and straightforward, and that’s features. Because of this, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten features that you should look for in a used truck.

#1 – Rearview Camera

Rearview cameras aren’t exactly new, but when you’re shopping for a used truck, it’s best to keep a lookout for this feature. With a rearview camera, as the name implies, it utilizes a camera that has been tucked away in the rear-side of your vehicle, and by utilizing the data from this camera feed, it can display what is behind your vehicle directly onto an infotainment screen or the rearview mirror. For used trucks, this is a highly useful tool, especially when you’re lining up your truck against your trailer, and some rearview cameras will draw lines onto the screen to help better guide your truck while reversing.

#2 – Automatic Emergency Braking

Automatic Emergency Braking is a feature that was once thought to be purely science-fiction – how can a vehicle know when to stop on its own? Newer trucks on the used market won’t always come with this feature equipped, but some do. Automatic Emergency Braking is another one of these tech-oriented features that utilize sensors, and when the sensors detect that you’re rapidly approaching another vehicle, the brakes will automatically engage. This can either prevent the crash from happening to begin with or at least mitigate some of the damage caused if the impact does occur.

#3 – Infotainment Center

For decades, AM/FM radios have been in the center of all of our trucks, sedans, SUVs, and more. This eventually turned into a combination of a radio and a cassette player before eventually adding features like auxiliary inputs and CD players. Today, these features have been improved and are now housed in a newer shell called an infotainment center. With an infotainment center, it’s a hub between you, your radio, climate controls, and much more – all accessed through an intuitive touchscreen interface. Additionally, infotainment centers may come with extra additions such as Bluetooth wireless connectivity or a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot for a constantly active internet connection inside your truck.

#4 – Apple CarPlay / Android Auto

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are two features that are included in many modern infotainment centers. To fully utilize these features, you must have either an Apple iPhone or any phone running Android, and you’ll connect your device via USB or wirelessly, depending on the vehicle in question. When you’re connected, you can access all sorts of features such as making phone calls or sending an important text to anybody from your contacts without ever taking your eyes off the road, thanks to voice commands. You’ll have plenty of tricks to utilize, such as turn-by-turn navigation that is coming right from your phone, and, of course, your music library will be fully present if you want to turn on your favorite playlist while driving.

#5 – Trailer Hitch View Camera

Often found as an optional accessory on some trucks and being a featured piece of tech by manufacturers like Chevy with their Hitch View, these cameras are different than your standard rearview camera. Looking at Chevy’s Hitch View, there are four different camera angles that you can look through, one of the most impressive being the birds-eye view that makes reversing into your trailer a much easier process. Additionally, these camera angles can be swapped around on the fly if you need a different viewpoint at a moment’s notice.

#6 – Adaptive Cruise Control

As you probably know, cruise control is a way to maintain your speed while traveling on the freeway, but this is still eons away from automated driving as you still have to apply the brakes at some point. On the other hand, Adaptive Cruise Control still maintains the speed that you set it at, but it can automatically decrease your speed depending on current traffic conditions. It does this by utilizing sensors in the front of the vehicle to determine how far away the next driver is from you and will adjust your speed with this data in mind.

#7 – Crawl Control

Why would you want a crawl control for your truck? Better question, why wouldn’t you want a crawl control for your truck? If you plan on taking your truck on any rough patch of terrain, such as an off-road trail, you’re going to want a crawl control. Crawl control is effectively low-speed cruise control for the trail, which helps the driver maintain focus when focus is required the most. By having the truck maintain a constant speed over difficult terrain, you can focus entirely on steering. Simply put, if you’re climbing up steep terrain, you’re not going to want to do it without this feature.

#8 – Premium Audio System

Sometimes, there’s nothing better than driving down the open road with your favorite song blasting through the speakers. Not many drivers consider it at the time of purchasing their vehicles, but the speaker system that comes with your truck may not be all that great. Finding a truck with a premium audio system typically means you’ll be paying for pricier trim levels, but when listening to music from upwards of 10-speakers with a proper subwoofer, you’ll never want to turn off the music ever again.

#9 – Multi-Function Tailgate

A multi-function tailgate can truly make a truck feel ‘next-gen,’ and this is all done by implementing more quality-of-life enhancements to the tailgate. For those who need a truck for any job, a multi-function tailgate will make it easier, no matter how major or minor the task at hand. There are several options for these tailgates that you can opt for depending on the truck you purchase, but some of the most popular examples include steps to easily get onto the bed of your truck or a split door that makes retrieving cargo quicker after you’ve arrived at your destination. Another highly beneficial feature of some multi-function tailgates is a load stop, a helpful way to secure your cargo and keep it from falling out of the truck when you’re driving. This kind of feature can make a pickup truck far more versatile than models that have a standard tailgate.

#10 – Tailgate Outlets

Although a more recent addition, tailgate outlets are becoming more common in pickup trucks. For drivers who take their trucks to worksites, you’re probably familiar with hauling along a power generator for your tools, and this can inevitably eat at your vehicle’s payload and bed space. With a tailgate outlet, this power generator is built directly into your vehicle, and this saves space, time, and money. These generators are typically rated for different voltages and wattages, but for those who need one, this will be one of the most useful of the ten features that we’ve listed for you.