Bought my wife a new Skoda Octavia VRS 2.0 TDi PD in january 07 and it is without a doubt the best car and best value for money car we ever owned. I own a BMW X5 3.0d sport and if the Skodas in the drive I take it very time. Exceptional build quality and comfort. Brilliantly equipped as standard, amazing performance and economy and without a doubt one of the best standard sound systems ive ever come across. Bullet proof reliability, apart from standard services has never seen the inside of the Dealers workshop (65K miles now covered).
Hats off to Skoda, just ordered a new one which comes with the a new common rail diesel which is supposedly quiter.

This is my third car having had a Honda Civic type-R, and the old mk1 vrs, before this new Octavia pd170 was my first performance diesel. The first time I drove one I didn't think so much of the power delivery as it seemed slow at times and quick at other times, but learning how to drive it becomes more rewarding as keeping it in the torque band is where it counts, and man does it pull! Boot it in 1st, 2nd and third and the front tires are barely holding on as the turbo spools up quite hard around 2000rpm and trying it in wet is just pointless. Having so much torque on tap gives a lot of bigger engine cars run for there money.
Fuel economy is good, having bit of a heavy right foot, I still manage to get between 450-500 miles on a tank and thats mainly town driving as well. The only down sides to this car is of the power delivery coming in so strong, driving at slower speeds (town driving) can become at bit tiresome. Overall this is an excellent all round performance diesel car. If you like your performance and want to save money in our current economy this car makes sense.