The Onion

Many cities and towns across the Rockies in North America have elevations above 1800 meters. That's the starting point. By comparison, "high" cities in Europe, like Bern (500m) and Innsbruck (574m) don't Even come close. It's not a factor of one thing like having a manual transmission, but a multitude of factors like road condition, grade, elevation, distance driven, humidity, etc. It's a completely different environment. The 2.2 turbo diesel may indeed not have enough power to get over any of the many 4000+ meter passes if it can't get enough air or cool itself while towing.