I've driven an Isuzu powered Lotus Elan. That certainly wasn't very refined, but it was made of plastic and the turbocharger kicked it at inopportune moments. Pulling out of a junction was like walking 100 dogs that have just seen a rabbit.
I wonder if maybe the example you drove had been modified/messed about in some way or other?. Contemporary road tests generally agreed that the turbo version had exceptional road manners (no mention of excessive turbo lag), was very effective at getting its power down and was a devastatingly quick machine over winding country roads. But it was criticised because its overwhelming competence made it seem a little dull.
But going back to the Isuzu diesel, the Meriva we had was fitted with the same engine as the (much lighter) Corsa I mentioned. While its gearing (a six speed manual) was overly long, it did have some muscle. As for refinement, I don't recall the engine having noticeable vibration or being particularly loud in the Meriva, though that doesn't mean the Corsa would be the same.
I've plenty of experience with the VAG 1.9 turbo diesel, in both pre and post PD guise, through working at a VW dealer 2000-2005. Definitely a bit vocal, but they are cracking engines all the same. I really liked the Polo 1.4 3 cyl turbo diesel when they first came out in the facelifted third gen car. They only had 75bhp, but the torque on offer more than made up for that. They had quite a lot of vibration at idle and low revs (absolutely fine once up to speed though), didn't bother me one bit though, I felt it gave the car some much needed character!.
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