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I had the clutch start slipping on my 1965 VW and the next time I had it serviced by VW I mentioned it. If I had not walked back toward the shop I would never had know that VW had changed the Clutch... It was fixed and they, the service desk never said a word to me about it.

Then there was my 1970 VW that I took in for servicing. They screwed it up, The trans had a whine in it that was not there before and a connector for the fuel injection was bent were it fell off and the car died. ( a week before I had tried to remove that connector and could not and now it just falls off ? ) The trans went out a few month later and that was the last Time I saw a VW dealer and that was my last VW.

Hopefully VW has returned to their old ways, but there will always be Bad dealers.

I've been quite happy with my Jeep Liberty CRD (uses a 2.8L Italian Motori diesel). The big weak points I'm concerned about are the transmission and the suspension (if I were to use it for regular towing, which I don't). But as you said Bill, repair/replacement of stuff for this engine is pricey! Not so sure with the price difference of diesel fuel and the parts costs (not to mention the new engine price if it were to catastrophically fail) I'm not so sure I'm ending up ahead at all. But I sure like the range compared to the gasser!! I've already had to replace the serpentine tensioner arm because the compression fit bearing broke out. $185 bucks for the PART at a discount online store.

Kirk: I used to drive an '81 Buik Lesabre with the notorious 350ci Diesel conversion thing. At the high altitude we lived, it made enough less power to not destroy itself, and between the mileage and the range (nearly 800 miles) it was actually a great car. A friend had a comparable Oldsmobile and decided to turbo it to reclaim the lost power at altitude. It didn't take long to warp the heads!