Looking at 2001 Pajero Exeeds. Petrol or Diesel better?

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I have a NW Pajero diesel (manual transmission), and it is fantastic! Bear in mind that this is the Common Rail Diesel, not the original diesel you would get in the NM. It is as noisy as hell, but it PULLS and is very economical. 1100 km from the 88 L tank is possible. I have only done 1050 from a tank, but it wasn't empty. When I say it is noisy, it is at low revs and idle, but at 100 km/h (which is what it is mostly doing to get the 1100 km range), it is very quiet.

I find the engine is not particularly flexible. This surprises me, because every other diesel I have driven has been smooth over the whole rev range. I find that I have to drop back to 4th when I come to a town, or it shudders and complains badly. Once you get above 1400 R/min, it smooths out and runs fine. There is a noticeable turbo lag from low revs.

From what I have read, the 3.2L engine is reliable, but (particularly the common rail diesel) susceptible to bad fuel. Note that the early NM models had the 2.8L diesel. It was only after late 2001 that the 3.2 came into the fleet. From what I have learnt, the 2.8 engines had occasional head problems. I haven't heard anything about the 3.2 with head issues.

For what it is worth, I had a NL Pajero before, running on gas. It was still cheaper than the new NW to run, but I think that LPG prices are set to continue rising relative to petrol and diesel, so overall the diesel should hopefull come out in front. If you could get a NM on gas, it would probably be the cheapest to run.