The interstate batteries at Costco have a 36 month warranty now I seen. My daughter has one of each from Sam's and Costco in 2 different cars and both seem pretty good.
I don't worry to much about all the bells and whistles. My 22 bap came with quite a few options and the 5.0 which is all I need. It pulls my boat and car trailer good and still gets better gas mileage than my old Dodge. The price wasn't as high as the 24 though. Aftermarket parts can always...
I agree with buy what you want and like the best. I have a crew cab 5.5 bed and it works for me, bed size really didn't matter much to me though. If I need more room I have a trailer for bigger and longer loads.
I average around 20.6 lifetime and normally get a little over 23 running 87 octane. I always use the top tier gas . I just rolled 14000 this weekend. I tow a pontoon and a car trailer on occasion.