I never shift it into 1st manually because I simply don't need that gear. I'll use S on the rural roads around here with speed limits below 40mph. When I shift into D, I have one more gear available to me. So maybe it's the case that I simply don't notice the lowest gear due to the transmission actually working like it should and starting off in 2nd.
I don't think I'm getting stacked shifts from 2-3 or 3-4 because the accelleration is good. So it could just be the case that I have a shorter ring gear and the engine feels like it starts to wind out at 70mph? I still have power to go faster but I don't want to push it since this is my only car and I just need it to work. 60mph for my personal top speed getting 30mpg is perfectly fine for me.
I'm usually pretty gentle on the pedal so this could definitely be the case. If I wanted a car that was fast off the line, I wouldn't have bought a diesel!
Phil Forrest