Took our 55 plate in for mot and when it came for the emission test there were couple of guys standing around and the tester suggested they move, crikey, the smoke which came out was choking. Its done 34500 miles and recently just around town, he said its failed but carried in for 5 more high revs and by this time hardly anything came out. When he went back to the computer it had passed, even he was surprised. so was I. Lesson for next time , take it for fast run before hand.

Lesson for next time , take it for fast run before hand.

I've always done that. It was a tip from a MOT tester when emissions first came in. I also take it to 'test only' places. If anything needs fixing I get recommendations from the same stations, that way I know 'testers' *only* test and 'fixers' *only* fix. Less likely a conflict of interest.

what driving style do you adopt? round time, lows revs

In Belgium, we have that test for quite a few years now. It is recommended to have a warm engine and to do some high revs before the test. During the test, your emissions will be as clean as possible. And with a warm engine, the high revs can't do that much harm.

A French skoda-site suggested that the new 1.6 tdi cr can't do high revs standing still. How on earth will they test the car than?

Took our 55 plate in for mot and when it came for the emission test there were couple of guys standing around and the tester suggested they move, crikey, the smoke which came out was choking. Its done 34500 miles and recently just around town, he said its failed but carried in for 5 more high revs and by this time hardly anything came out. When he went back to the computer it had passed, even he was surprised. so was I. Lesson for next time , take it for fast run before hand.

Yep. Whenever I take my diesel cars for an MOT it's 'drive it there in 2nd or 3rd' time to clear the soot out of the exhaust.