NACRO

They already make it, the VW Toerag, V10, masses of torque.

A great car- somewhat slower than the Petrol Powered Cayenne Turbo that shares the same heritage though.

LG John

I think we all agree diesels can't compete at the same level in the performance stakes but if we are discussing the 'merits of the powerplant' I'd have to say that for most 'non-performance orientated, take me from a-b please' people the diesel is far superior.

A mate at work was getting a new lease car and he had always said diesels were smelly, loud, cr@p, etc. I talked him into trying the golf 2.0 GTI and the 1.9 TD130. He now has and loves the diesel as to him the 'effortless overtaking' and the 'economy' is where it matters!

cletterridge

Just had a look at the picture posted by JMP and spotted something interesting. (see below)

Not sure where you got it from JMP, but it seems to show that if the Golfs have equal power (150bhp vs 150bhp), the diesel is still faster than the petrol - outright acceleration and in gear times - despite having a lower overall power to weight ratio than the petrol. I suppose this means that torque spread does make a difference.

0-60: 7.0s (diesel); 7.9s (petrol)
30-50: 3.6s (diesel); 4.8s (petrol) in third gear etc.

Doesn't have 0-100, but 0-80 the diesel still has it.

LG John

The petrol would possibly have come back by 100mph! The 150PD is great up till about 70/80 and then it seems to struggle a fair bit! I could be wrong though because its a loooooooong time since I drove a 1.8T

JMP

Thats from Volkswagen driver magazine, the part from 80-100 might be pretty equal for both cars since there should be no gear changes involved until 100mph.