After reading.... It sounds like the choice is pretty clear... You just are over thinking the pros and cons of each so much that it's making it to easy for you not to know the clear choice. Sounds like your a fan of buckets, sounds like your a fan of floor shifting, sounds like you have the buckets already and sounds like your wife might be disappointed if you don't get to use the present she got you lil. All that said... I'm going to say... Go buckets!.
Yes your looking at getting the buckets redone... BUT you can always sell the bench seat to recoupe some cash ( I sold the bench out of my duster a few years ago here on fabo. I think the guy gave me $650 bucks for it.... Cost me $100.00 to ship it across country but still had a good chunk left over). I only paid $500 for my duster when I originally got it... So the seat alone paid for my car and then some lol.
From personal experience I will say that you can beat the comfy old springy feel of a bench seat and being able to have your lady under your arm. But when I switched to buckets the interior feel of the car changed drastically. Now it feels tight and firm and sporty (the seat/shifter combo that is haha).
Up to you but I'm thinking buckets is the way to go!