We had an ample supply of sandbags in the trunk for weight,Wondermike said:I think on anything other than a 123d or 130/135 then it wouldn't matter whether it was FWD or not. Definitely once you get into the higher power/torque bands then you need AWD or RWD.
A golf diesel sits there and spins its drive wheels in first. Let's not even discuss understeer! 

Yeah sorry I shouldn't have said it doesn't matter, RWD is definitely preferable - we agree. But it isn't a necessity, I have had a couple of VAG TDI 130s with similar torque figures and they were fine.texasjohn said:Wondermike said:I think on anything other than a 123d or 130/135 then it wouldn't matter whether it was FWD or not. Definitely once you get into the higher power/torque bands then you need AWD or RWD.
I beg to differ. I have a 118d and it is all the better for being RWD; 230lbft through the front wheels in the wet?A golf diesel sits there and spins its drive wheels in first. Let's not even discuss understeer!
Wondermike said:Yeah sorry I shouldn't have said it doesn't matter, RWD is definitely preferable - we agree. But it isn't a necessity, I have had a couple of VAG TDI 130s with similar torque figures and they were fine.
But a 123d or 35i with 295-300lb ft is a big difference.
Wouldn't worry about that, I've got a 1.2 Micratexasjohn said:Maybe I got a bit defensive though!You do when you have the BMW people think you purchased because you can't afford a bigger/better model
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Yeah I loved the 130 engine, I suppose at the time it was really great. A11y had the 160 TDI in an Ibiza, I took one out for a spin a couple of times, that was a great car too.texasjohn said:ETA: I had the TDI130 in a Fabia. Good engine, just a bit hard to get the power down and car was a little nose heavy.