I have been a Dodge 2500 diesel owner for number of years. I have a 1998.5 Dodge 5.9 24v with about 225K on the odo, 5 spd quad cab 8 ft. bed. I have a family of 4 and it's a tight fit in the back for my kids (12 and 14 yo), kinda wish it was a full size crew cab, but honestly I would dread the extra length. We camp and backpack a lot as a family, own a 18ft Glastron boat, kayaks, I hunt a lot etc so I need a truck for what we do. We moved from West Virginia to Montana about 4 years ago and found out pretty quickly that we really enjoy dead winter excursions like snowshoeing, XC skiing and tent camping is a little, uh, impractical when it is −10 and snowing like Hell. So we now own a fairly new Hallmark Guanella pop-up camper to extend our outdoor recreational pursuits. Love it, love it, love it love it....
One thing that I can say is that whatever I throw at this truck, it just drops it's shoulder and powers right on through. Up and over passes, geared down and chugging along rutted, muddy forest roads (been chained up on all fours a few times), hauling a camper and just moving right along. Last year we had it LOADED with the camper and a couple weeks worth of crap and motored to our cousin's place in Huntington Beach CA (L.A.) stopping in Ely NV and boondocking in the forest, then Yosemite Ntl Park for a day and then on to the concrete jungle. I have no problems driving it in any of those conditions. I frankly love my set-up and am willing to put up with the constant battle of chasing the Dodge out of the Cummins, which routinely costs me $1,000 in bills a year (new FASS fuel system, new steering box, stabilizers, track bars, clutches, new replacement dashtop for the crappy Dodge ' oh s*it my dash cracked and caved in because this plastic is worthless garbage' and the list goes on...
There are some great upsides to this rig:
1. It's a Cummins.
2. It just takes abuse. It really eats it up.
3. It is roomy enough in the back for my kids not to suffer completely, but just enough to remind them of their current lot in life.
4. It is roomy enough for me and my spouse in the front and frankly that is all that matters

5. I can travel a fair distance with a full load of gear on a full tank of gas.
6. I can travel with a camper, tow my boat and really not notice it.
7. I can drop the camper at home, hitch up a dump trailer and grab a 2 ton load of gravel or top soil at the local pit for a home project. Or I can load full sheets of plywood and lumber for a Scout project. Or I can go cut a full load of firewood...
The downsides are:
1. It's a Dodge.
2. I am definitely limited on where I can go- no way am I getting this rig around some of the forest Jeep trails around here with or without that camper on the back! Some may scoff at this, but no offense I am not going to risk $30K plus of rig to go to the 10% of places I want to go. That's what I have a hitch carrier for and will bring my Suzuki DR350 dual-sport bike. I'm not worried about crunching $2,500 worth of bike or a few bones. I have good health insurance. My vehicle and camper deductible are too high to risk it.
3. I am at my payload capacity even with the Hallmark camper. My 1998.5 has around 2,000lbs of rated payload capacity and the Guanella loaded is RIGHT there. BEWARE that if you choose a diesel truck your payload capacity decreases versus the same rig in a gasser.
4. Higher maintenance costs. Yes- costs more to run this rig, however if you think about, a lot of 1/2 ton truck owners or Tacoma owners spend a lot of money modding their rigs to carry a heavier load. I didn't. Stock it is great. No problems with my set-up. I can go no more on the camper, but I like what I have. So it's a trade-off.
So for me- a guy with an active family that hunts, camps, hikes, involved in Scouts, owns a boat, travels to see family in far away strange lands (like L.A.) and is inclined to take a rig on non-groomed roads with 4 chains on- my Dodge is perfect.
Your results may vary.