I Prefer the 90-93 or the 98-99 turbo diesels... the 2.5 5 cylinder
is a well proven engine, as well as her sister engines in the 98's and 99's... not that there is anything wrong with the 95-97 normially aspirated 6 cylinder diesels ,, the ones i have driven seemed more sluggish to the geddy up... my 1990 2.5 has 195,000 K on it with no major rebuilds and regular synthetic oilchanges right after the break-in dino was drained..

there are a lot of early 80's diesels still alive and kicking and I see plenty of them on ebay in the 2-3000 range ...