Diesel VW's or old Mercedes Diesels - How are they to drive?

[pankrationisfun]

Hey guys,
i'm thinking about buying a vw diesel jetta or golf 1988 and up or even a mercedes around the same time. diesels are so cheap but i wonder how the power is like driving around town and going up hills.
anyone have history with these cars?

[Lomac]

I can't speak for the Mercedes diesel engines, but the ones found in the MK2 generations are generally bulletproof. They're not very powerful engines (don't expect to do any hardcore passing on the highway) but, for putting around town, they're excellent. They have a decent amount of torque, so at least they feel like they've got some guts. It's not uncommon for the 1.6l's to smoke if they haven't been taken care of. Try to find one of the turbo diesels ('88+, I think?)... they're at least a lot more fun than the NA variant.

[tgill]

check out TDI Club forums for diesel vdubs. http://www.tdiclub.com/

[Leopold Stotch]

strange i've driven old vw tdi and old mb cdis and i've never gone up a hill

either way i don't like how they drive at all.

without the turbo they're really really really slow.