My 240 stick is as fast and as powerful as many turbos I have driven. The automatic is another story (it ain't hype).
I spoke with a fellow that had spent alot of time in Europe and his take on the 240 autos is that in Europe many people have a car for just tooling around town errands etc. and long trips are made by train because of the economics of travel (cost of fuel etc.) also higher taxes on more powerful vehicles. So the 240 autos were designed for more of a specific purpose/market unlike American cars which are more marketed in a power/performance all around utility kind of way. It made some sense to me. Maybe some of our European bretheren/sisteren can comment on this.

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1982 240D auto
1978 300CD auto
1985 300D auto
1983 300TD auto
1984 Porsche 944 5 speed
1973 Opel GT 1900 4 speed
1967 Chevy C30 350 Sm420
1973 Mustang Grande Convertible 302 C4
1981 VW Pickup 1.6D Turbo 5 speed
1983 Rabbit 1.6D Factory Turbo 5 speed
Plus parts vehicles...