My truck philosophy: our truck is a "tool".
1. The tool must be the "right" size. A V-8 diesel has too much hauling capacity for only a FWC. A non-turbo V-6 too little. A heavy duty 1 ton is too much payload. A 1/2 ton extended cab short bed too little (we will not go over GVWR). "Right" size: Ford F-150 payload package regular cab. We get a 4x4 because we live in the hilly snow belt and 2 wheel drive has proven unable to climb a snow covered hill.
2. The tool must be reliable since we travel coast to coast. Higher mileage used trucks would require repairs on the road so only low mileage used or new will be a reliable tool. We depreciate a new vehicle at a rate of $1000 per year (model year less current year) and $ 0.10 per mile. No "right" size used vehicles were available with less than 30,000 miles and a less than 3 years old at a depreciated price better than new and so we purchased new on our recent tool.
3. The tool is a "tool", i.e we hate chrome. We purchased mostly new base-trim/work trucks with vinyl floors (we sweep our truck out weekly and never vacuum the tool.
4. The reliable tool evolves to a run-about when the reliability becomes suspect which evolves to a beater for hauling firewood which evolves to a junk yard death, i.e. we do not sell/trade and so have three trucks. If purchased new every 7-8 years while traveling 18,000 miles per year, this works out. We budget $4-5000 per year for eventually purchasing a truck. The last four trucks cost us $24,000 (new), $15,000 (lightly used), $21,000 (new), and $28,000 (new). We only carry collision and comprehensive insurance on the reliable trip tool.
5. Another aspect of "right" sizing was we wanted 15 mpg or better so bigger gasoline V-8's were not a choice. Very poor fuel economy would discourage us from using the tool. So far, we run 15-16 mpg with our 5.0 V-8.
6. Another aspect of "right" sizing was fitting in our 8 foot tall garage door to keep the tool dry and durable since the camper is not removed from the tool.
We will never look back wishing we had more torque or more chrome or a bigger/better/taller "tool", but we will smile looking back at all the places we have visited, coast-to-coast, corner-to-corner with the "right tool".