Bear in mind whilst reading that article the salary clarkson gets paid, and his lack of concern with any kind of economy. Yes if money was no issue, of course a petrol equivalent would outfire a diesel engine, but in the realistic world some of us need a compromise. I've got the pd130, and do a lot of motorway / dual carriageway miles, which it's prefect for - more than enough oomph to move me around (especially with planned remap!) plus hitting near 60mpg as an average.
My engine sounds pretty damn quiet to be honest, it's not clattery and you can barely hear it at all even at idle. You keep the engine well looked after and it'll stay like that. I personally love the purr of my engine when it's pushed a little

My old 1.9
ibiza did sound like a van (worse), but it wasn't in the best nick and was a pretty old engine with a hell of a lot of miles before I bought it.
It's all down to personal preference really, but real life does need to factor in somewhere. Opinions can't be taken seriously when someone implies something as sweeping as diesels all sound like vans and are therefore not worth looking at.
End of the day, the guy needs something to suite his needs, ie cheapish, perky and affordable, fun to drive. This in mind, I'd recommend the diesel. The 110 might be hard to find in your budget with low mileage, but then again if it's been well looked after I don't think 110k on the clock would put me off. There are less serviceable parts with the diesel, and a 1.6 petrol in my opinion would struggle to shift a car the size&weight of the leon. You'll get a good return on your mileage and have a better resale value when it comes to it. It'll cope better when it's full of passengers too so you can shift ur mates around campus happily
