You qualify for diesel and you shouldn't be getting any dpf problems with that mileage if you're doing high speed motorway work.

I would want a manufacturers warranty with any modern diesel though, just in case. The newer common rail engines seem to be better than the 2.0L PD engines that preceded them.

As suggested, go for the common-rail diesel: quieter and more reliable than the 2.0 PD diesel (although the 1.9 PD is fine). This came in in the spring of 2009 for Octavias, the year before for VWs.

lt could be worth considering the Elegance as an alternatv to the vRS. This is better equipped and may be a bit cheaper for the same age of car: it has the 140 bhp engine whereas the vRS has 170 bhp. You'd have to decide whether you want the extra acceleration or not. The 140 is quite lively.

The petrol vRS is much more of a clear-cut choice over other petrol Octavias. Mine is very economical - 40 mpg on a long run - but although I'm reluctant to advise anyone to get a used diesel car (because there are too many peripherals on modern diesels which fail at high mileages), I agree that your mileage probably justifies a diesel, which will give you 60 + mpg if you drive gently on a long run..

"Plus will a petrol feel like a better drive and be more responsive over a diesel?"

I personally think so - but that's because this particular engine (shared with the Golf GTi and sundry Audis) has lots of low-down torque. Not all petrol engines do. The only answer as I'm sure you realise is to test drive both and see which suits you.

I agree that petrol engines can have expensive repair bills, but it does seem that there are more peripherals on diesels to go wrong.