I wouldn't pay that much. I love the 5 speeds and the long box, but resale wise, the regular cab hurts.

If it hasn't had the 5th gear upgrade done, do it. These transmissions are prone to losing 5th gear. Three or so years ago my buddy had that happen on his 97.

The 12v's are reliable, except when they aren't. If you have injector pump trouble, the cheapest remans out there are about 1k and you probably don't want the cheapest one out there. I like driving them but for me there's too many expensive components on them. I can rebuild a complete magnum engine for what an injector pump costs on a 12v, not to mention turbo, injector cups, intercooler, before you've even opened the engine up. I agree the gas engines are not a lot of fun to tow with but if you can find one with a stick shift so it's not shifting all over the place like the god awful automatics they put in these trucks then they are livable.