Hello Brickboarders,

My name is Matthew and I have a conundrum that I need your help with. First off, I've been reading BB a while and y'all have helped me maintain my car, so thanks for that.
I currently own a 1990 245 (w/ M47) with ~189K miles, and have had it for about 3 years. She runs like a champ and is in pretty good condition. No rust, shifts great, interior's good, paint's pretty good, etc, etc. I get high 20 MPG on the highway.

Recently, my sister-in-law let me drive her 1996 VW Passat TDI (turbo direct injection diesel) on a long trip. I was amazed at the 40-50+ MPG on the highway (put another way, we went from Montgomery, AL to Baton Rouge, LA [~380 miles] on less than half an 18 gallon tank), especially as we were doing 80 MPH. So I've begun looking at TDIs.

I do most of my own maintenance and LOVE the ease of maintaining the Volvo - everything's very robust and relatively easy to get at. I can just about climb into the engine compartment with all the space in there. Non-interference engine, no turbo, just a pretty simple engine/drivetrain (RWD) design. And the space in the 245 is HUUUUUUUGE for carrying stuff. The TDIs I'm looking at are mostly sedans (wagons in my price range are pretty rare), so I'd lose that capability.

Thinking about maintenance on the TDI: pretty difficult, compared to the 245. It's FWD and the engine is transverse, so everything's pretty packed in there. Plus, it's a turbo, so that's something else to worry about. And you gotta change the timing belt every 60-80K miles or you run the risk of killing the engine dead. And CVs/boots to contend with.

Can anyone offer some insight as to why I should stay with my trusty 245? Assuming I find a similar VW TDI (miles, condition, etc.), why shouldn't I get it? From a maintenance standpoint, I think the Volvo's a better deal (RWD, longitudinal engine, non-interference engine, etc.), but I'm kinda hooked on the idea of 50+ MPG, and the TDI's torque is pretty amazing.
I'm looking in the $7K range; thus anything I get is gonna be used and probably need some maintenance.
I'm not trying to flame or cause trouble, just need some advice as to why I should "keep on Brickin'." (In the interest of full disclosure, I posed this question on www.tdiclub.com also.)

Thanks for any advice you can offer and Happy New Year,
Matthew