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re: "...Keep in mind that the oems are soft, and designed to shear off in a head on collision, allowing the engine to be driven into the ground, and not into the drivers compartment...."
Yes, the engine mounting is designed to shear off so that it slips down under the car instead of back into the passenger compartment.
But I don't believe that the softness or hardness of the mounts is an issue in this feature. The breakaway and proper (viz., safety) trajectory of the engine in a crash, if happens, will occur regardless of whether you use rubber or poly -- the forces are just too great for either material. Instead, the trajectory is determined by the positions of the mounts, and the structure of the firewall and transmission tunnel. I owned Volvos when Volvo first incorporated this redesign back in the early '70s, I think around 1974 or so, and even I (as a non-engineer) could see some structure changes "before and after".
I believe that the softness of the OEM mounts is really one of occupant comfort -- the vibrations inherent in the 4-cyl engine -- relative to, e.g., an I6 (i.e., straight 6-cyl.) design that inherently has no 1st through 3rd order vibrations -- dictates softer mounts to make the engine's shake acceptable.
Plus, of course, the weight (mass) of the engine, which is even greater in the diesel engine and therefore requires somewhat stiffer mounts (as already stated by others).
I, too, have waited for IPD to offer their promised "blue poly" mounts (since I'm not bothered by the vibrations), but I don't think that they'll ever be offered -- IPD is clearly going through a "cheapening" phase and is cutting corners everywhere, and I believe that R&D of new products will, if at all, be confined to the more profitable AWD cars, not our beloved, treasured "dinosaurs".
So lacking blue poly's, I'll be using diesel mounts the next time my cars need them.
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