In reply to iksander: Have a look on the Octavia forum on Briskoda.net:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Abriskoda.net+octavia+dmf (sorry, not being sarky, it's just a clearer URL than the actual Google search one).
A brief scan of the first hit from that search suggests that SUK are replacing DMFs for conventional flywheels on cars which have DMF problems.
My understanding is that DMFs they are becoming increasingly common on modern automotive diesels and even some petrol engines, so I'd be surprised if they actually stopped fitting them unless there was an insurmountable problem with a particular engine - which might be the case for the VAG 1.9Tdi (I haven't read that far).
As whether or not they are a BAD THING: they're obviously one more thing that can go wrong - and unfortunately they are quite expensive to replace when they do go wrong. I believe the idea dates back to the 1980s so you could argue that it's a young-ish technology which still has to have some of the bugs ironed out. The benefits, as I understand it, are that the overall mass of the transmission can be reduced cf a SMF, so the motivation for fitting them is probably reduction in emissions as much as anything. Hence also why a straight swap for a SMF is not necessarily a brilliant idea, as Siward suggests. Presumably SUK are confident in their SMF modification, though - or maybe they've decided it's easier to placate irate owners by replacing their DMF, and hoping that the number of people who subsequently suffer other transmission problems
and link it back to the SMF will be relatively small...
(I remember the complaints when ECUs aka "black boxes" first started to become common in the 70s. They often went wrong, and they cost an arm and a leg to replace. They still cost a lot to replace, but they go wrong much less commonly these days. And you pretty much can't build a car that meets modern emissions regulations without an ECU.)