Mark - Kind of a "neat" challenge to some of the stuff we've seen appear
on the List!  Been driving me 19yo daughter's '85 Volvo 760 turbo while
me Vanagon's in the shop.  2.3L four-cyl. with a turbo and what I would
call an automatic with 3spds + an overdrive.  In third gear, it's
rpm/mph is much the same as my Vanagon, but once you engage the
overdrive, it's about 28mph/1000rpm.  Driving this beast HAS given me
thoughts of transferring the Volvo turbo into my Vanagon!!!  Weights of
the two vehicles are very similar, CDs are virtually the same (ALTHOUGH,
it seems that folks tend to forget these nifty CDs have to be multiplied
by the frontal square footage to come up with a MEANINGFUL drag figure)
and when one's foot is into the throttle, up around 3000rpm, the HP
output of the Volvo 2.3L is about TWICE the output of the VW!!!  I'm not
convinced the Volvo 2.3L Turbo wouldn't give me just as good gas mileage
as the 2.1L aircraft engiine that resides in it now does!

BOB