After a lot of soul searching and hemming and hawing and frankly a lot of understanding on the part of my wife, we decided that the extended cab would work for us. We looked at it this way, the truck is really only for my enjoyment and for use as a tool. Rarely do we carry passengers and if so it's usually only for a short trip. We've never had more than 1 passenger besides my wife on a trip longer than 20 miles in either of my last 2 crew cab trucks. Plus my wife was comfortable sitting in the rear, even behind me and is more than content to put her feet up on the seat and sit sideways and even volunteered to do so on long trips if we decide to bring another passenger. The last thing that tipped the scales in the favor of the extended cab over the crew cab besides what was already mentioned was my wife's willingness to go ahead and buy a brand new crew cab in 4 or 5 years if need be to make it easier to add and remove car seats if we end up having children in that time frame. With the amount of miles that I drive my truck, it will be valuable for a trade in or outright sale as it will be a very low mileage truck if we end up needing a crew cab in the future (and that wouldn't be for at least 4 years).
I also checked on the towing specs to make sure that I could tow my load and the truck should do it no problem. This truck has a 9,800 lb GVWR package so it's rated pretty high. Plus it's rated for the same 12,500 pound bumper pull limit as the F350 which is right about where the heaviest load that I would be towing would weigh in at. I don't see myself ever pulling a 5th wheel or gooseneck trailer as I prefer to have full use of the bed and I just can't foresee ever going higher than 12,500 pounds on a toy hauler. As it is I like to go to more remote places for camping and a small trailer is what is really called for in order for me to get to the sites that I'd want to go to (I always camp at NYS campgrounds or wilderness areas not at places with utility hookups like a KOA or Jellystone type campground). This truck is also equipped with the snow plow prep package so the front axle weight ratings are at the max.
So, I guess you've all probably figured out that I made up my mind and you would all be correct. I picked up my 2010 F250 XLT Supercab 4x4 Powerstroke yesterday. It is black with the chrome package including the nerf bar steps. It didn't have the self dimming rear view mirror which was a feature that I always liked on my Chevy trucks so I will have that added in the future. It also came with a bedliner which has some sort of sticky type of texture to it to keep things from rolling around too much, which is a feature that I really like. It was dark when I picked it up yesterday and I forgot to bring my camera when I took it out during the daylight today so I will have to try to snap some pictures tomorrow. Thanks to all for your help and advice in my search for an upgraded truck. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on anything of interest with the truck.
