Ah. Somebody torqueing bollox again. Time to dust off the old lecture.
Power(bhp)=Torque(lb-ft) x rpm/5252
If you have power, you have torque. No way around it. The reason diesel engines need heftier clutches is to do with spec sheets (no, really!).
Torque is a measure of the amount of push the charge in the cylinder is giving to the crankshaft. In technical terms this is BMEP (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) - a measure of the pressure generated in the cylinder head when the fuel-air charge burns. How much bang it makes, if you like.
A car's maximum bhp, the figure on the spec sheet, is found at the top end of the rev range (notice that rpm is a factor in the equation above). Provided torque, i.e. the bang from the fuel/air mixture burning in the cylinder, doesn't drop off, peak rpm is limited by mechanical factors, often valve bounce.
In a petrol car, rpm can be increased to ridiculous levels (20,000 or more in F1 engines) provided all the whirling bits are balanced very well, the gas flow all through the engine is good and the ignition can keep up. Increasing rpm is a prime factor in getting more rated power out of petrol engines. Of course this means you have to wring its neck to get that power and go around sounding like a banshee out of hell.
Diesels are limited by the fact that diesel fuel burns more slowly than petrol. Above about 4000 rpm the cylinder charge doesn't completely burn before the exhaust valve opens - the flame front hasn't got to the edges of the cylinder - so unburned and partly burned fuel gets pushed out of the exhaust valve, leading to lots of smoke, and a sudden downturn in power: the bang has been let out of the cylinders.
So a diesel's max bhp is always measured at less rpm than a petrol engine's.
The reduction in power as the rpm reduces is roughly linear. So at the sorts of rpm where you're starting off, say 1500 rpm or so, the diesel is generating
*more power* than the equivalent petrol car, and the clutch has to be able to absorb that power.
Some figures to back that up.
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An LC produces 180 bhp at 5900 rpm, by generating 160 lb-ft of torque.
My TDI110 produces 110 bhp at 3750 rpm, by generating 154 lb-ft
and
A TDI 130 produces 130 bhp at 4000 rpm, by generating 171 ft-lb
Notice the diesels are generating similar amounts of torque but at lower rpm, hence the difference in max power.
BUT, if you look at the max torque situation for each engine (the area of performance where starting off and gearchanges happen) things look very different.
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The LC produces 173 ft-lb at 2000 rpm, generating 66 bhp
My TDI 110 produces 173 ft-lb at 1900 rpm, generating 63 bhp. I'm the equal of the LC here.
A TDI 130 produces 229 ft-lb at 1900 rpm, generating 83bhp.
That's why the TDI 130 needs a better clutch
For TDI 90 vs 150 the figures are:
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155 lb-ft at 1900 rpm for 56 bhp
vs
236 lb-ft at 1900 rpm for 85 bhp
almost half as much *POWER* again.
The crude way of looking at all this is that power=how big a bang you can make X how soon you can make another one.
It's all down to the fact that diesels make bigger bangs than petrol cars. Those bigger bangs are what the clutch has to deal with when starting from stationary and when changing gear.
Oh, er, to answer the original question, the TDI 90 has ordinary distribution pump injection, a simple wastegate turbo and conservative mapping. It's the oldest of the TDI engines still in mass circulation, almost always attached to a five-speed box.
The TDI 150 has PD injection, a bigger variable vane turbo generating more boost, and mapping to match, and always attached to a six-speed box. Remember what I said above about rev limits: diesels have narrower power bands than petrol engines, and extra speeds in the box
help. But they have to be tough enough to absorb the power generated at low revs.
Clutches, as has already been mentioned, have to match the gearbox input shaft and the six-speed box will need a different clutch for that reason.