Anyone considering another Octavia in time?

"Perhaps they assume (wrongly in this case!) that the different torque produced by diesels, lower down the rev range for example, would allow the gear ratios to be wide apart."

I'd agree with you for every diesel car that I've ever owned, apart from this one that is! It is by far and away the cleanest and greenest diesel I've driven but usually you get quite decent torque once you are up and running in a diesel car but the 1.6 TD engine is really designed more for economy than performance at lower speeds, as it revs so little unless you boot it that 30mph is often in and around 1200 to 1300 revs in fourth if you can keep it going in that gear that is. You can't expect any car to give you much power when the engine is barely doing more than ticking over, get it over 40mph and it starts to get a lot better and it is extremely comfortable at 60 to 70mph on the motorway with loads of power. That's where a more powerful engine wins, as even at lower speeds there is so much power in reserve that it is fairly effortless to drive. My last car was ridiculously quick for an estate car, a 55 reg Mondeo 2.2TD, much more like a VRS to be honest but its heavy clutch made driving it quite nasty around town. The Octavia is way better than the Mondeo in that regard and that tiny little 1.6TD engine actually doesn't feel that much slower than the Mondeo at motorway speeds but anything else and that Mondeo would anihilate most Octavia's without blinking but would leave a nasty cloud of black smoke behind it in the process!

I might not like everything about my Octavia but I am happy that it is at least not spreading clouds of particulates behind me, thanks to its 21st century technology. That Mondeo smoked quite heavily when you acclerated, before that I had a 2 litre 406 HDi which ran fairly cleanly and my first diesel was a mk 2 Rover 400 2 litre which was a great performer but again kind of smoky. I'm happy to trade a bit of power if my car is causing less pollution than the older models, it is really only at lower speeds that I feel the 1.6 TD engine really lacking. If you are doing lots of motorway driving, it is a remarkable performer, even utterly full with the back seats down too. A little bit more power, plus a 6 speed box and better suspension would completely transform the car.