In a message dated 98-04-16 02:49:46 EDT, marokus@VOYAGER.NET writes:

<< I used to pull my beetle oval track car about 300 miles a week with
my '81
 jetta 1.7. ...<<snip>>...Ocassionally makes you wish you had a
Surburban >>

A few years back I was temporarily living in Southern California and
driving a little Nissan Micra when I found a 1982 Westy Diesel.  I
bought van and towed the 900kg Nissan 1700 miles back to Alberta Canada
with the diesel van.  It took an extra day and a half and sometimes I
would spend extended periods of time in second gear.
The next year I was driving the van on I-15 near Parowan Utah and the
timing belt broke.  After 3 days of trying to get a head I gave up and
took the bus home.  Three weeks later I returned and towed the van 1200
miles back to Canada with a 1981 VW gas Jetta.
Gas milage was still very reasonable, you just can't be in a hurry....