Until late last year (when I totalled it), I had a 2009 Golf TDi which I _adored_. As you mentioned, the powerful pull of the diesel inspired many a late night

Until late last year (when I totalled it), I had a 2009 Golf TDi which I _adored_. As you mentioned, the powerful pull of the diesel inspired many a late night ride. IMHO the TDi is the perfect combination of power, fuel economy and driving fun. My overall average fuel economy was ~5.5 L/100 km. Sorry to hear about your issues with the DSG. It Just Worked for me. The 1-2 and 2-3 shifts were flawless and I could barely feel the loss in power as it shifted. Until the last few months before my accident, I never used the manual mode. But I discovered that switching to manual mode and leaving it in 4th gear kept the diesel in the perfect power range (3500-4000 rpm) for fun drives through the local mountains of northern Sydney. And even with the harder driving, I would still end up with an average of about 6.5-7 L/100km. Very, very impressive! Here in Sydney, diesel is a bit more expensive than petrol (0.05-0.10 AUD/L). But I was shocked how much more diesel cost on a trip back to the US over Christmas. Differences of 1 USD were not uncommon. I still think that long-term even with that price difference the diesel would work out better. The only draw back about the TDi was the lack of immediate power from a stop, while the turbo spinned up. I had forgotten what it was like to move immediately until I rented a petrol car (2012 Audi A1 - and clearly inferior to the VW Golf) for 6 weeks. You can't have everything I guess. :)