I love diesels but they're like $8-10k more and man that's a little too much more then what I want to pay since I wasn't even looking new until I walked into the Ford dealer (and just bought a house back in March)... Plus I figure at most I'm probably only towing maybe 30 times a year. I'm not going every weekend, I just can't. The F150 with the 3.55 limited slip rear, 5.4 v8, and towing package maxes out somewhere like 11,000 lbs. Now obviously it probably won't do it well and will get crap mileage but it'll do it. Now what's an enclosed trailer's weight? Tandem axle is maybe something like 2500 lbs curb weight then add in 1 bike, maybe 2 for a normal weekend so call that 900 lbs for 2 bikes, then another maybe 500 lbs in other crap pending on how things are setup... So looking at towing 3900-4000 lbs. I don't have any desire to goto a toy hauler of any sort (at least yet) and maybe at worst tow 3-4 bikes if I can convince friends to come along. Otherwise it's just me.
Now what Ford and Chevy need to do is finally put a diesel in their half tons....