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A friend of mine used a 240D for a while for his longish commute. He wasn't too impressed. He decided he had to run it at 70-80 MPH (traffic on that freeway does move quickly) and the economy was nothing to write home about at that point. It got a lot better if he drove 55 MPH, but he did not want to do that.
That particular road has some half-decent hills on it, and I don't remember him complaining. I do remember from riding in it that it did take a while to get up to speed. I wouldn't be surprised if a 5-speed Civic would get similar numbers with better performance. After all, the Civic is newer, lighter weight, with better aero.
His cracked a liner about eight months after he got it. Cost more to repair than the thing was worth, and it is evidently hard to find good used engines. So he dumped it, and got a Beetle TDI. He has been very happy with it; more power and better economy at the speeds he drives.
I would be worried about a Europe-only model, if the one you are looking at is one. They can be a real pain to get parts for, and it sucks to have your car parked for four months waiting for some part to get shipped from the other side of the pond. (I used to know several people with "grey-market" cars, and that was a problem for some of them.)
Personally, unless you need the interior room or really want the luxo-boat feeling, I would pass.
-soD
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