Well I started the thread swishy linked to, and it looks like you came to a similar conclusion as me. The subject ***** me off right now as it was canned and we haven't re-visited it, but I'll try and pass on what I found. The manager was very into volvos, partly because that's what some of the cattle carters round here use. We were interested in regards to a pig trailer, which it seems there's not much knowledge about. Eventually I figured after speaking to a few that as the drawbar length is much less than a dog, we could actually get 48' of space into 19m with a short bonnect so this opened up the field and we considered US trucks as well. If it were my decision entirely I'd get an older (prr any ECUs) truck for sure, but of the newer ones some are better than others:
Firstly they don't get any more complex/comfortable/hi tech/proprietary than a euro truck. However both MAN, volvo and I think DAF offer off road spec in a 6x4 with good clearance and (more) rugged appearance than their highway brothers. FMX and TGS hi-clearence if you're interested. They still have the full on electro BS though and are into v high tech trannies.
Then a lot of the US stuff, mostly with a bonnet, is much more simple, down to earth and IMO appealing in every aspect. WS and KW being the main ones I was pushing for, in fact I'd pretty much chosen our perfect truck as a one of those two when the project got canned. After getting out of a MAN and looking at a 4700WS it just screamed simple, rugged farm truck all over and would have been perfect - the cab had all analogue dials and switches (no tough screens or LCD displays), they don't have a heap of plastic paraphinalia to get fatigued by corrugations and when you open the bonnet or look behind the cab you see the engine and gearbox not a heap of plastic covers and big fat wiring looks. And the chassis rails don't contain several hundred kilometres of loom either.
The wheel base and overhang you dictate, either with specs when new or you can modify or find the right one 2nd hand. KW is the best with specs obviously but WS can give you any chassis length, then you can roll the rear axel wherever you want meaning you're only left with the prop shaft to modify. We were thinking about all this a lot as our property involves a lot of bad terrain and even the road work it would have been doing was poor roads with top only used about 25% of the journey.