Have you owened

[flc1962]

I think the GT is the a very close second best diesel car I have owened. The best so far for me was the CDTi 150 Astra had this 2.5 years then made a massive mistake and bought a fiesta, only had that 3 months before ordering the GOLF.

Reason "I thought the engine was as sweet as a nut, great power deilvery, FAIR mpg not a patch on the GOLF. The sports hatch was a nice looking car and handled well.

Over to the rest of the smoggie ( not Boro fans) supporters.

[Exonian]

It's funny you should say you rate the Astra very highly Paul, a good friend of mine is a manager at a car leasing company and drives all sorts of stuff regularly and deals with their problems and sells them again afterwards.
His normal choice, when available, are either Golf GT TDIs or preferably Leon FR TDIs. He never really rates the Astras. Good engine but poor chassis is his usual gripe.
I really liked the  GT TDI DSG he had a few weeks ago, but that got crashed by a customer in the snow and he's now in a manual GT TDI.
I've not spent masses of time in his company cars but enough time to get a good feel for them.
Comparing it to TDIs I've personally owned I've got to say it's a very complete package. I've owned quite a few TDIs from the VAG group over the years and to type a mini review of each would take ages so all I'll say is that it feels a bit nicer than the mk5 GT TDI I had. Not as punchy as some of the 1.9TDIs I've owned but far more refined than all of the others put together.
Interestingly I had a bit of a yearning for a new shape Ibiza FR TDI SC at the back end of last year when SEAT first started doing the VAT free offer and my GTI still had a good resale price. I have to say that despite it being the same engine, the Golf feels far more refined, but the Ibiza's chassis was much more fun. 

[p3asa]

I wasn't a big diesel fan having only owned 3 previous diesels before.

First was a Ford Escort 18TD (I think) which was as slow as a week in jail until the turbo kicked in. I really feared for my safety when pulling out at give ways etc as it literally had no power until the turbo kicked in. Its turbo blew. It was kicking out all sorts of blue / black smoke.

Next diesel was a 2.5 Shogun. The least said about that the better!!! I was going through £70 a week in fuel and that was about 12 years ago!!

Next Diesel was a N reg Passat Estate 1.9TDi. My god it was a flying machine and hardly drank fuel at all. Although in saying that I went from the Pajero to that so even a horse and cart would have felt the same 

And last but not least is the 2.0L GT TDI  I have just now. Can't believe the difference compared to my first diesel. The power is throughout the whole revs and on the motorway overtaking in 4th is just a dream.  The other big difference is the noise of the engine. I couldn't start the engine of any of the previous diesels and left it running to heat up as they were so so noisy. The golf though does just sound like a petrol to me. I can happily start it in the cold weather and come back inside until its defrosted knowing fine well it hasn't woken the neighbours at 6.30 in the morning!!

[The Doc]

My last diesel car (not 4x4) was a BMW 535d and boy was it a great car, very well balanced, comfortable and an all round stonking motor.

I kept it for the longest I've ever had a vehicle and sold it to one of the guys that works for me after some serious begging and he's having just as much fun as I had in her.

[flc1962]

BMW I hear have a good diesel engine, I would like to drive the 123d coupe with the twin turbo chargers but ( I don't like rear wheel drive though as my only crash came in 1), they have all made big advances, I had a 1.8 ford none turbo, which was a great runner and could sit at 80 all day doing 50mpg but had no guts.
The Astra is not quiet as refined at the VW engine but pound for pound good. I remember over 28000 miles its average was 45mpg (the second trip was never rest) which was good as I was heavy with the right foot and the sports button was always on.

[Snoopy]

The best so far for me was the CDTi 150 Astra had this 2.5 years.

What age was it? As that maybe the one with the fiat engine in it,

Fiat make very good common rail deisel engines and are at the leading edge of the tech imo.

[flc1962]

The best so far for me was the CDTi 150 Astra had this 2.5 years.

What age was it? As that maybe the one with the fiat engine in it,

Fiat make very good common rail deisel engines and are at the leading edge of the tech imo.

06 plate got it just after the SRi sports hatch was born, think I had the only 1 in my area for some time