I have an 82 Rabbit Pickup that I have had for 9 years . It is now approaching 300K miles on the clock, but I have rebuilt the engine and replaced just about everything that moves. I would say that there is a lot evidence of cost control in the truck. On the other hand, you won't go broke replacing the front suspension unlike on the W123. I do watch the temperature of the engine like a hawk- I have an adjustable electric fan themostat that I keep set around 190 and I have a panic switch on the dash so I can manually start the fan. Apart from that, the engine seems to be robust. Last time I checked I had 400 psi on all cylinders. The truck get 48 MPG on my normal commute. On the other hand, my 240D stick gets 35MPG over the same terrain and sure beats the crap out of it for comfort and safety. I will probably sell the truck fairly soon ( if I ever get my 67 F-100 online) and maybe find another 240D stick.

I would steer clear of the old VW turbos. Not that they are particularly poorly designed but simply because of the scarcity of parts and the high parts prices for turbo hardware.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)