I 've just bought an 11 reg 1.6 mpi estate, 1500 miles. I couldn't resist it at 10.5K. I was attracted by the 8valve non- turbo simplicity and although I'm a diesel fan, too many of my relatives, friends and neighbours have had problems with DPFs, injectors etc, for me to go that route, And my mileage has dropped to 10000 a year, so the premium on diesel ( about about £3k) wasn't worth it.. Well, I'm averaging 42 mpg in mixed driving to date, compared to 52 mpg on my 2003 tdi. The motor is perfectly fine, nice and flexible, keeps up nicely with the flow and very refined. I was a bit concerned that it would be a snail to drive but my fears are unfounded. So far I'm well pleased.

"the nearest 08 low mileage 1.9 tdi (66k miles) in base spec is 4.5k euros more."

There's your answer - even at today's prices €4,500 is a lot of petrol. A friend has one of these, 05 reg. He is over 80, so won't do starship mileages, but he's enver mentioned he's had a problem witth it.