Many years ago when I had a SAAB 99 turbo the inside of my exhaust pipe was often a whitey colour, not sooty like the one on my 2006 Fabiia VRS. I've only done 3,000 miles with a variety of speeds so is black the normal colour?

Your SAAB wasn't a diesel

Yes, completely normal for the 1.9 TDI

Unless you polish your exhaust with something like Autosol or Meg's Metal Polish (either of these will return it to it's former shiney glory) then you can expect a black exhaust!

I polish mine once a week and it always looks gruby a week later! I notice mine tends to get dirtier in the rain, I guess thats because the soot sticks easier with the extra moisture in the air.

clean it, polish it with autosol and paint a thin smear of copperslip on it with a brush then forget it. If you want it to look clean again wipe the copperslip of with a rag and a bit of white spirit and paint copperslip on again. It actually looks good coppery colour few a few miles but the copperslip stops the chrome getting pitted.

Thanks for the replies, very helpful suggestions which I will try!