'03ish Diesel Auto Octavia questions!

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying an Octavia 1.9TDi Ambiente AUTOMATIC made around 2003 (I only have an Automatic licence) but after looking around it looks like I can only afford one with about 50,000 miles on the clock.

My plan is to buy at 50,000 & run it up to 150,000.

A few questions:

1) Is this realistic, I know the manuals (both Petrol & Diesel) are pretty sturdy but does anyone know about the Diesel automatics?

2) Also it says on the haynes website that the 'Tiptronic' models aren't covered by the normal octavia manual, is the gearbox in the Octavia 1.9TDi Ambiente AUTO a Tiptronic or conventional one?

3) Is regular servicing at a Skoda main dealer needed or can I get it serviced at an independant garage & go to a main dealer for big repair jobs only??

4) How can I find out what servicing jobs need doing & when, is the service schedule included with the car paperwork??

5) Does anyone know how many Mpg I can realistically expect, Skoda quote 44 but what will I actually get?

Thanks for your replies!