I had two Passats, MY2000 and 2005 with the 1.9 PD engine and manual gearbox - a well regarded combination. I had the Octavia vRS petrol also manual. The Octavia noise issue can be effectively addressed by ensuring the rear suspension settings are spot on and also with careful choice of tyres, some owners fit extra soundproofing. Some don't find them noisy!

There are a lot of disgruntled VW diesel owners across the VW range although particularly Skoda as VAG dumped lots of the poorly designed 2.0PD engine on them. It's to do with oil pump failure not just from 80k miles, some from 10k and 20k! There's also problems with injector failure on the 140 and 170 bhp PD engines. I believe I'm right in saying that the common rail engines are not affected but in the price bracket you are looking at you'll find a lot of Passats and Octavias have the 2.0PD engine. Lots of disgruntled Ford and Mazda diesel owners too so its not just a VAG quirk. Factor in potential problems with DPFs on any ageing diesel and its easy to see why some people choose petrol despite the lower mpg. My Octavia vRS would give 35mpg easily on a run, a bit more if driven fairly carefully. For your mileage thats around £1,000 more a year on fuel than a 45mpg diesel so not insignificant although the savings could be dented with a bill for a new DPF or an injector or two.

My second Passat was bought following excellent informed advice here to seek out the 1.9PD unit engine code AWX with the 5 speed manual box. I actually wanted a Superb but couldn't find one in the right condition with FSH and reasonable mileage. I realise its not auto and probably older than you want but the Passat was a great motorway cruiser and would easily return a true 50mpg without any effort which were the two most important things for me as I also do 25k to 30k a year.

I have owned a Skoda Octavia 2.0PD for 6 and a half years (it is actually just under 7 years old, as it was a demonstrator when I bought it). It has just passed 100k miles and has been very little trouble. The turbo hose went at about 90k (cost c £100 to replace) but that is about it as far as motor related issues are concerned. It has used very little oil, has been on variable servicing (ie circa once every two years) and is only on its third set of tires which seem to last a good 45000 miles per set without being silly about running them down to the wire. We don't drive slowly either and have had several very fast runs down to the south of France. It is a manual so not exactly what you are looking for but I would firmly recommend them. Admittedly it is only a sample of one, but I do wonder where this "2.0PD engines are the work of the devil" theory comes from.

As a previous poster said, the 1.9 PD 130 with the 5 speed manual is the ideal. My 55 plate Skoda Superb has this lovely combination. 6 years old this month and now with 140K on the clock. Returns average 50mpg overall but has been up to 62mpg on a long liesurely run. I do mainly motorway miles so I am lucky. Hardly uses any oil between services. Variable services come round approx every 18K. Local dealer, family run, good service and advice, reasonable costs. Not so my daughters experience with the VW dealer. No problem with her 08 plate 2.0 140 Passat at 56K though, just indifferent dealer attitude. My service technician tells me he services quite a few 1.9 PD 130's with higher mileage than mine, one on over 200K. I keep thinking to change but cannot justify it for what the Skoda gives me. When the time comes Skoda will be top of my list for consideration, I love diesels but will probably go for petrol next time. Good luck with your choice. Concrete