Best Truck Ever!

In January of 2005 we got the bad news that our 97 ford f-350 power stroke diesel was losing compression. Economically it made more sense to buy new than to rebuild this one(having 340,000 miles on truck). I have had 7 trucks 4 fords and 3 chevys. After comparing and driving new ford, dodge, and chevy we settled on chevy for the ride and available engine size. My wife didn't want another diesel, because of the smell, so we needed a v-8 big block. Ford did away with their big block v-8 and went to a v-10 which i didn't like. Dodge doesn't have a big block just the hemi and it didn't have the torque for towing. That leaves chevy, so we ordered an 05 chevy 2500 ext cab long box with 8.1 liter(496 c.i.)v-8. It is rated at 330hp and 480ft lbs of torque. I chose the 6-speed manual transmission, mainly because the allison auto is a $3200 option. This truck out tows our old diesel hands down. The manual transmission shifts like a car, it has a short throw and a very close pattern. I now have 10,000 miles on it and it is by far the best truck i have ever owned. The only problem we had is with the mirrors and the dealer just replaced them with 2006 model mirrors and fixed the problem. We tow a 28 ft. bumper pull trailer throughout the mountains of Wyoming and hardly ever have to downshift. The dealer told us that MPG would be around 10 after break in we are getting 15.8 MPG on the highway empty and 12 loaded. In town we get 12mpg no matter what. This truck rides so much nicer than our ford and the 40/20/40 cloth seat is very comfortable on long trips.