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My '96 Passat TDI is BEST at puttering around town. You can start off in any gear you want--they are all the same to it. You never need to get the revs over 2000 in any driving until you get on the interstate. It will smoke the front tires on a roll-on without bumping the clutch--endlessly. It's the perfect in-town engine. It gets 37mpg around town. On the highway, it actually spins faster than I like and has no power compared to a gas motor of the same displacement. It gets 50mpg on the interstate, but it is running at the higher end of its revs and just doesn't pull hard up there. It's a really great town car, and an awesome highway car for economy. Not a ton of horsepower though (90hp), which matters a lot at high speeds.
Don't get a non-turbo diesel. They are pathetic. But I would swap the 150ft# TDI motor for the 225ft# 4.0 in my Ranger in a heartbeat if it were easy. That VW TDI is like a steam engine down low where I like a truck motor to perform. It's a 1.9 liter, but at the point where you let the clutch up it would pull a 4.0 backwards down the street, it's little turbo screaming along at 15psi.
Don't get a non-turbo diesel. They are pathetic. But I would swap the 150ft# TDI motor for the 225ft# 4.0 in my Ranger in a heartbeat if it were easy. That VW TDI is like a steam engine down low where I like a truck motor to perform. It's a 1.9 liter, but at the point where you let the clutch up it would pull a 4.0 backwards down the street, it's little turbo screaming along at 15psi.
