At 40K a year, diesel is a no brainer. This is particularly true with VAG since their petrol engines are pretty hum drum.

With high mileage DPF regeneration will not be a problem. With a little arm twisting, VAG are replacing faulty injectors FOC. The problem doesn't seem to have affected all of the piezo injector fed engines and I think there this problem is being blown out of proportion. I think Skoda PD engines were kept DPF free right up until Euro V became mandatory in Sept '09.

DMF failures were exacerbated by sloppy clutch work. VAG's 'fix' is simply to let the engine stall if the revs drop too low. On the motorway, you don't need to worry to much about DMF, unless you decide to rechip and go silly with the low end torque (it's the low RPM torque that is the problem, rather than the peak value.

I'd get the 1.9 PD, and get it serviced by VAg so that if any problems occur out of warranty, you've got a atrong case for a 'loyalty' contribution from VAG.

Good luck.

When you say a monthly fuel payment - how much?

At that mileage @ 43mpg you will be spending about £500/month in fuel alone whilst receiving £667/month (3333 miles/mth @20 p mile). Leaving £167/mth for every thing else. You must remember you will be doing 200,000 miles in five years!!! You also spend a long time in your car - I once did 65k / year - never again!

Also take into account the cost of tyres - If you bought an Octavia VRS this cost could be significant. You would be luck to get 15k out of a very expensive set - that's nearly 3 lots in a year! The higher profile tyres last much longer and are significantly cheaper to buy.

Most of the reliable 1.9 diesels (bosch injectors ) with a 5 speed gearbox are getting a bit too old to be reliable with this sort of mileage. Most already have starship mileages and those that don't have probably been clocked!

I do a highish mileage (currently driving Skoda Superb1.9 100 pd) and have been considering buying one of the recent 1.6 MPI SE models that were recently on special offer from Skoda - so are cheap. The have the old fashioned but bullet proof 8v 1.6 VAG petrol engine with 5speed box(not the later 16v fsi version with cam belt tensioners made out of putty) . This engine would suit an LPG conversion (would pay itself back after about 20k miles) and indeed is available elsewhere in Europe with factory fitted LPG. No DMF (I think?) and no DPF. Link:- www.skoda-auto.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Catalog...f

Edited by Big John on 16/11/2012 at 21:00