Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Looking at my options for a new toy once my hilux has been sold and I have pretty much settled on getting a 1kz smurf.

I have found one that I want to buy which has the 3 litre turbo deisel 1kz in it (Which is what I want) but it is backed up by an auto. I am more then happy to have another auto, but want to know just how sluggy the 1kz's are with an auto behind them. Ideally I would just test drive the car and make up my mind myself, but the car is in sydney and I am in Brisbane, so it is a lot of time and money to just take a car for a test drive only to decide I dont like it. I will be putting an exhaust and more boost into the motor to get the power levels up, but want to know if I should be considering a manual conversion aswell...?

Any info/opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

It shouldn't be sluggish at all. Auto performance is all about low rpm torque which the 1kz has plenty of. It's because auto's for economy reasons are reluctant to drop back to 1st gear when you slow right down (1st being roughtly equivalent to 2nd in a manual)