Frank,
What you give up with an I/O...is a better tow boat. An inboard is designed to do one thing great and than is tow people. That may be skiers or wakeboarders...but that is what they do. Small soft wake, large firm wake, hella torq out of the hole, bla...bla...bla.
What you get with an I/O is comfort and a boat that does a lot of things well. When towing they are harder to hold speed with(easily taken care of with Perfect Pass) and the wake is softer(some with quite a bit of wash).
Everything is a tradeoff.... No big deal, having a boat is better than not having a boat. If given the choice, my wife would trade our boat for a Cobalt 240 tomorrow...
Just as a side note.... Does your wife enjoy boating? Swimming? I have been peeing in lakes for the better part of 33 years and never had anything swim "up there" yet...
E.J.