New truck

Well semi new. We're looking at a 96ish Suburban or Crew Cab single rear wheel pickup, 3/4 ton if we can find a nice one for the right price. I have an older 86 Blazer so I'm somewhat familiar with the trucks. We're looking for either 2wd or 4wd, not a huge deal with or without. I want as many features as I can afford but I surely don't want leather seats, perfer the cloth. Same with the body molding, I hate the wheel well /running board thing, I would perfer without. I'm open to GMC trucks too, I actually like the nose on those better. So my question is, what model should I be looking for, SLT, LT, LE, SLE, all gibberish to me. "Things were simpler in my days, K series, C series, Silverado and that was it." ;) Also what should I look out for in the truck, any major known problems?? Tranny issues, rear end, front end, etc, etc. We were looking into something with 100K miles for about $6K-$8K or so. That unrealistic?? We were looking into Ford F250 Crew Cabs but those guys must be on crack,$ 10K for a 97 that has been rolled, busted up bed and almost 200K miles?! WTF!!