tunnie, keep talking the DPF's up. Not much else available here unless I resort to a small petrol car and a trailer for shopping, MIL, dog and wheelchair etc
The million dollar (euro?) question then is how do you know a diesel has had correct use and completed re-gen cycles, when you are buying secondhand? Perhaps only buy something with impossibly high mileage?
Yes I don't think people realise or just don't want to and want to take the pi$$ of DPF's - But there is
severe lack of petrols about currently, it's all diesels in mid-range budgets.
I don't know yet what can cause (if anything) a DPF to fail, other than it's not completed a re-gen cycle or it's full of ash.
I've bought VAGCOM, so if I did pick another diesel, say Passat Estate, I'd plug that in and check it as it can give exact details. I would do this if buying from an independent dealer or auction, but as I bought my VW from large retailer, which gets all it's cars ex fleet/lease, the chance of them being heavily modified like this is very low. Could still happen though, but far less likely as only 2-3 years old generally.