xman

Its a PD engine and these are known to return a lot of black engine oil to the filter from the injector leak off pipes, so dark/black is normal. Provided the filter was not ruptured, highly unlikely if its a geniune oe filter, no damage will have been done. The crud etc is where it should be, in the filter, and if it was badly blocked, it would have noticeably restricted top end power.
I wouldnt be too worried, if the engine is running ok.

From my experience, and confirmed by other threads I've read, I think you'll find your lights are simply set too low. Using a 6mm hex allen key, its easy to lift the beams and if necessary also move them together to the centre line of travel. Makes a significant difference.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
I can confirm that it is easy to access the nut to loosen the handbrake as has been pointed out above. Remove the jumbo box rear ashtray by pulling it fully down from the top clips that normally stop it going further, then pull the left bottom of the ashtray out of its clip and slide the ashtray to the left as the right hand side is not a clip but lug in the housing type arrangement. Hope that explanation is clear, pictures would better explain.
 
The adjusting nut is located just forward and below the ashtray. It's dark gray and so a little difficult to see without a torch. As its an elongated nut, its possible, if a little fiddly, to adjust with a standard 10mm spanner. Just watch out for sharp edges, I cut my knuckles while doing this.
 
The binding of the rear brakes in the end was not due to an overtight handbrake cable, but the pads being wedged tight in the caliper due to a build up of corrosion and brake dust along the edges the pads slide against. A stripdown, clean, file a bit, grease and refit cured the problem.

I would recommend you arrange for a day long test drive. Most garages have plenty of these cars available. Its more than capable as a runabout and this is where this engine shines, however it is noisy once you push it to motorway speeds and the fuel economy isn't great unless you drive gently. For another 1k the limited edition estate comes with the 1.2 tsi 4 cylinder engine which is in another league. Much quieter, much faster, more economical and the estate rides much better than the hatch. Plus the depreciation would, I suspect, be lower. I own both variants and the estate is the nicer car. The hatch though is an 09 model so that is why I say take them both for a test drive.

Probably voltage regulator in alternator kaput. You can change the alternator but a cheaper alternative is to replace just the regulator.