Well, what they do, they do well.
My soft top 90 n/a will do 70-75mph on the motorway, though it is ex mod and is devoid of any trimmings to slow it down. I have had it up to 85 downhill, and I wouldn't want to do it again.
Offroad they are very good - with no turbo and no lag, they absolutely will not stop - I've been in deep sand in Morocco up a 45 degree bank, going so slow you could hear each piston bang, but it would not stall.
They left the factory with 67bhp though, and by now most will be delivering a lot less, so long uphill motorway stretches or going over hills sees you constantly rowing your way through the gears to keep going.
I'm swapping for a tdi now, but I will give a hats off to my trusty old n/a - it has taken me across europe and parts of Africa, and I never doubted I would get home.
MPG has always been very good - over 30mpg.
I'll be bloody glad to get my new tdi in though... \:D/
By the way - turner engineering do a stage 3 head for the n/a, which I reckon would take it up to TD performance without the associated probs.