The operative date for Euro 5, which required DPFs on diesels, was 1st September 2009 - that was for new Type Approvals, production build requirement a year later.

So it's quite possible for 09, 59 and 10 plated cars not to have DPFs - whether they did would be up to the manufacturer as some fitted them in the early '00s.

The actual final registration date for cars type approved before September 2009 was 31 December 2010 so it is possible to get a non-DPF Euro 4 or Euro 5 car on a 60 plate.

Most manufacturers stopped making non-DPF cars mid summer 2010 so any cars registered late in December would have been old stock.

We had one of the early mid 90's 1.9 90 PS TDis in a Golf. The engine was simply the best on the market at the time, the power delivery was better than any other diesel I had driven and the torque was certainly better. Like all diesels of that period the pwer dropped off fast once you had passed 3500 rpm which made overtaking exciting at times and drivability in town was poor, you never appeared to be in the correct gear. Economy wise it would do about 45 mpg in town and the high 50's on a long run, averaged out at about 48 mpg, almost double what we got out of the previous petrol.

Over the years diesels improved out of all recognition and if I had stepped back into the Golf when we had the Ceed it would, I am sure, been a real disapointment.

Now we have a Seat Leon with the latest 140 PS TSi petrol. This blows every other engine we have owned into the weeds. The power delivery is linear all the way from 1500 rpm to 6000 rpm. The economy is low 40's in town to mid 50's on a long run, averages out at about 45 mpg which is not that far short of the old TDi.

Do I miss it, not really, things have moved on.

Edited by skidpan on 20/09/2015 at 18:45

I would say that the 1.9D had it day in 2010 being one of the best options, but not the greatest engine. For sure the VW 1.8 Turbo petrol far out shined it for me.

The VW 1.9D was not so reliable further the 1.9D with DPF suffered further problems, to the degree of putting many off the 'D' word all together along with fuel prices.

Many who only had VW will love the VW's (and why not), but then BMW drivers love there engines as much as Merc drivers and so on.

Further, the new wave of small petrol engines with turbo's that pull away from 1500 rpm with good torgue thoughout the range and decent mpg excite more these days

I had driven an A4 fitted with the 130bhp 1.9PD for 6 months - good amount of power and torque from around 1700rpm and during the 10,000 miles it averaged 49.3 (brim to brim figures)

I now drive a civic with their 2.2 CDTI engine which i've had since April and its done 8000 miles since ive had it. Similar power delivery if im honest - but from 1500rpm. This has averaged 48.7mpg with the same style of driving

I civic was fitted with that engine upto 2011

Drove one for around 150 miles over three years without issue.

50 miles each year is really way too low for a diesel. ;)

I'd say the bmw 320D with 184bhp returns easly 53mpg on mixed driving and around 60 on the motorway

The BMW 2 litre diesel is a great engine, had one in a 118D. But even with the 143 PS engine in a smaller lighter car it would never do those sorts of mpg figures. 47 average for 5 years of mixed driving and a best of about 55 mpg on a long run of 360 miles in the day. But those were calculated figures, If I had teken them off the dash display I would probably have seen what you have.

I had the 130bhp 1.9 on a VW Bora. Sold it at 240,000miles from new and it was still insured a year later. So I reckon it cleared 300k. The introduction of the Euro 5a DPF in 2010 and the withdrawal of these clean smelling mechanical PD engines in favour of newer electronic ignition, which stink, is the kiss of death for diesel due to increased Noxious emissions. I am contemplating electric - too many people have it in for diesel these days. The health scare stories will only get worse.

There was a popular story in the press a few years about the possibility of using old vegetable oil from the chippy in a diesel engine with virtually no side effects (apart from giving off a whiff of Full English Breakfast when waiting at lights). IIRC the "plain vanilla" PSA XUD 1.9 engine was one of the best engines to fill with cooking oil. I'd imagine the German oil burning PD would have given it a rotund "NEIN!"
What, I wonder, are the implications of running an XUD on chippy oil ? (Apart from the obvious requirement to declare and pay tax to HMRC on regular fill-ups) We're firmly in pre-DMFW and DPF days, but would there be any issues with other diesel gubbins under the bonnet?

I had to suffer a 1.9 Bora when my 2.4 petrol Accord was in for repair. It was nicknamed travis the tractor, rough, noisy, constantly surging. Best engine ever? Hardly.

You have to remember that this thread is an VW Audi 1.9 TDI PD mutual appreciation love-in.

They even think that Honda diesels are not up to their standard LOL !