Howdy! Hey I posted this question at the end of one of the threads on the OBS forum (Worst CL ads) but I thought I'd start a new thread with this topic on this forum in order to expand the audience and get more opinions. BTW, I originally posted this same question on the OBS forum for "1987 to 1996" to see what the OBS afficiandos say. Hope it's not a rule violation of some sort. TIA.

I'm looking for opinions on choosing a towing rig for my wife. She'll haul a BP 2 horse trailer twice a week, 15 mi round trip, and also 2 to 4 longer trips a year to places like Yakima, La Grande, etc to polo tournaments. Initially, I was looking at a 7.3L diesel due to their bulletproof reputation. But my wife wanted a newer rig because of the safety features available on later models so I looked at mid-2000 F250s that had the notorious 6.0 and 6.4L diesels. I know some of the folks here that own the 6.0 and 6.4 will profess how good those engines are and that only the earlier (pre-2006) engines were the problem, but I'm not having any of that. I'm not touching those with a 10 ft pole. Well, that pointed me to a gasser- the mid-2000 5.4L gasser. I've done the research and gotten the impression that for this type of trailering requirement, a 5.4L gasser will suffice. But now I'm back to considering the mid-90s F250. I love the looks of the 95-97 square F250s, especially the rare-as-hen's teeth crew cab long bed. Now my wife is warming up to the OBS, as she is into classic, and vintage stuff. So the question is which would you choose given my wife's situation? If you were in my shoes, and assuming both rigs were in exceptional condition with appropriate wear and tear, and similar trim (XLT, crew or extended cab, 4x4, auto trans, etc), would you get a 97 F250 7.3L diesel or a 2009 F250 5.4L gasser?

Thanks again!!