I am convinced by your reports that you had a very bad car, sounds like a problem with the ECM.
The whole point of diesels is that you do NOT have to rev them.
I drive a Mercedes with a large petrol engine & a 5 speed auto as my daily car, but when I rent from Hertz in Italy I insist on a diesel, much wider torque band so gearchanging is not needed anywhere near as much as in a petrol engined model.
As Hertz Italy seems insistent on giving me a completely different car each time I rent, I have to tell you that reverse gear position is NOT consistent by any means. Sometimes you have to pull up a collar around the gear shift, other times you have to push the gearshift down. Let alone the actual position of the reverse gear.
Keep the faith..............keep flying
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