Petrol

[Nasher]

Most of the European car service schedules are like that now sadly. Even Porsche.

Though many owners will still (wisely) have them serviced once a year and if I was buying one that's what I would want to see.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Most of the European cars are like that now sadly. Even Porsche.

Though many owners will still (wisely) have them serviced once a year and if I was buying one, that's what I would want to see.

i believe vw golf - diesel can do 20k-30k miles between services according to it's built in computer.

however straight from vw official page

How often does it need to be serviced?
Most Volkswagens: Fixed service regime 10,000 miles/ 12 months
Longlife Servicing: when service indicator light is on

longlife servicing means they use longlife oils which they hope last longer. best to stick to decent oil and service according to "most VW's".

 

[Nasher]

All synthetic oils are "long life" though, which is why they only need changing around 10-12k instead of 4k like in the old days

The ones that claim to last 20k will have down sides to them. Or is just re-branding.

 

[Simon]

Wow this thread gets more painful to read

 

[Kenai]

I'm sure I read either in the manual or online somewhere, Skoda (and presumably any VW group brand) only recommend longlife servicing for cars doing large but steady mileage, such as motorway commutes etc. where the oil isn't getting worked hard.

 

[Mark1989]

Well just thought I'd check back in, many interesting points from you all!

Also did some extra research, considering my car isn't what you would say high end or massive engine I'll likely just stick to bog standard.

Maybe once I get to the 2litre engines or cupra levels of performance I'll change over

 

[jpaul]

like petrol consumption, oil life too, depends how sympathetically the car is driven.
- bm variable service indicator used to depend on # cold starts, revving over several K before warmed up, ....

Without getting a tear down -would an oil analyis to objectively determine benefits of extended premium petrol use ?


[
"All synthetic oils are "long life" though,. " there are LL04 denominations within synthetic gendre eg Fuchs
"Wow this thread gets more painful to read " the kids will play.
]

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

See above. Cars used to be serviced every 10-12k miles or 1 year before long life servicing became a thing around 15 years ago.

2 years is far too long. It does all depend on how long you plan on keeping the car and how old it is etc.

If its brand new and you replace every 1-4 years then just stick to the cars built in schedule. Because you don't care about how long it will last and you shouldn't have any issues within the first 3-5 years if doing normal mileage.

If its for life or mega mileage then look after it and service it properly.

Since when, go back a little further and my old celica service schedule was 6 monthly, 3 level service, it went A,B,A,C repeat, so C was every 2 years.
My impreza was 6000 miles, Evo was 4500 miles. I would suggest the manufacturers have a better idea than some layman of the street on what should be needed

Rather than arbitrary mileage the services based on actual usage are for more relevant. 2k miles in stop start, engine hardly getting warmed up properly is probably more damaging than 10k spent going up and down the motorways at 100 mile round trips

My car I can choose either fixed or variable, its up to the owner to sensibly decide which is most relevant to their usage. Mine has just done 7500 miles, I did a decent check of all levels this weekend, I was quite stunned how good the oil looked all things considered.

Things move on, some people can't

 

[Entai]

All synthetic oils are "long life" though, which is why they only need changing around 10-12k instead of 4k like in the old days

The ones that claim to last 20k will have down sides to them. Or is just re-branding.

The "old days" of services every 4 to 6k, were because older engines wore differently compared to modern ones, as manufacturing tolerances were not as good, so you did almost always get a lot more metal particles swirling around in the oil so you needed to change it more often to clean those out to minimise further damage.

Also older cars running carburetors did by their very nature tend to deposit more carbon into the engine and this majorly affected oil life, so services had to be more frequent.

It was only as fuel injection and better control of the burn, started to clean up engines, that oil life started to get better (obviously better quality oils helped as well) and service intervals could extend.



HOWEVER

You always have to remember that 99% of manufacturers will state that service intervals maybe, 20k, 24k, 30k miles, but they almost always state that you must service a minimum of once a year.
So if your car has a service interval of 24k, but you only do 8k a year, you still service it (do an oil change) every year and not once every three years.

Fleet cars with some execs doing 30 to 40k miles a year will get two services a year.



Also and possibly most importantly, up to a point, synthetic oils (or more accurately the additives within them) tend to degrade more as a factor of time, not so much as a function of how many miles have been driven.

So synthetic oil that has been in a car for a year, may have done anywhere from 6k miles to 30k miles, but will have degraded very similarly.

 

[Kenai]

HOWEVER

You always have to remember that 99% of manufacturers will state that service intervals maybe, 20k, 24k, 30k miles, but they almost always state that you must service a minimum of once a year.
So if your car has a service interval of 24k, but you only do 8k a year, you still service it (do an oil change) every year and not once every three years.

VW state 18,000miles or 24 months for variable regime. No minimum yearly. I'd say the various VW brands will constitute more than 1%

 

[Entai]

VW state 18,000miles or 24 months for variable regime. No minimum yearly. I'd say the various VW brands will constitute more than 1%

Hmm

Better tell VW they are lying on their official UK website then.

As it states a minor service must be conducted every 10k or 12 months whichever comes first, for all their warranties to be kept valid

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Hmm

Better tell VW they are lying on their official UK website then.

As it states a minor service must be conducted every 10k or 12 months whichever comes first, for all their warranties to be kept valid

That's on the fixed service interval you can switch to the variable which is 18k or 24 months. From VWs website "making it possible to enjoy reliable and confident motoring for up to a maximum of 18,000* miles or 24 months (whichever occurs first)."

BMW/Mini are also up to 25-30k or 24 months.

 

[ci_newman]

When we bought our nearly-new Octavia, it was on a long-life schedule. We asked them to change it to an annual short-life servicing instead. All my car's get serviced 10k / annually, but for those doing higher mileage (and especially with lease cars) I can see why they would stick to long-life servicing. It's not their problem if the car lasts 6 years instead of 10, they are swapping it after 3/4 years anyway.

 

[Kenai]

Hmm

Better tell VW they are lying on their official UK website then.

As it states a minor service must be conducted every 10k or 12 months whichever comes first, for all their warranties to be kept valid

That'll be the fixed regime servicing, surely? The don't tend to use the minor/major terms for variable.

Flexible Service Regime (LongLife Service)
We recommend this service if you are likely to drive more than 25 miles a day, and if you tend to drive in the following way:

Regular long distance driving
Driving at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading, and minimal towing
Economical driving
This Flexible regime has been made possible due to the development of new Volkswagen engines with the latest technically advanced longlife oil. These engines use built-in sensors that continually monitor the oil quality, making it possible to enjoy reliable and confident motoring for up to a maximum of 18,000* miles or 24 months (whichever occurs first).

 

[Entai]

So you are telling me the vast majority of VW group cars don't do urban driving on daily basis.
Because if you do any urban driving it's pretty much impossible to be, as VW say "Driving at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading".

So you should not be on their long life schedule..

If I like me you live less than literally 30 seconds driving from a main dual carriageway whereby I can drive to the M1 and then pretty much anywhere in the country without driving on any urban roads for any length of time, theb maybe long life schedule is ok.

But if you commute through towns villages etc and are upland down through gears avd the rev range almost constantly then that is loading the engine too too much for the long life scedules.

 

[Kenai]

No I'm telling you that your assertion that 99% of manufacturers stipulate a minimum yearly service regardless of schedule type is wrong, they don't. Many offer variable services that operate on a 2 year minimum cycle.

I've not made any comments as to whether most people are on the correct schedule for their driving type.

 

[Nasher]

So you are telling me the vast majority of VW group cars don't do urban driving on daily basis.
Because if you do any urban driving it's pretty much impossible to be, as VW say "Driving at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading".

So you should not be on their long life schedule..

If I like me you live less than literally 30 seconds driving from a main dual carriageway whereby I can drive to the M1 and then pretty much anywhere in the country without driving on any urban roads for any length of time, theb maybe long life schedule is ok.

But if you commute through towns villages etc and are upland down through gears avd the rev range almost constantly then that is loading the engine too too much for the long life scedules.

Not many people can drive like that in the UK really. On motorways your still going to run in to heavy traffic quite often. If you sometimes blasting it along B-roads and/or giving it boot fulls like most people do, then a 2 year service is a bad idea.

 

[jpaul]

Petrol seems to be increasing 1p/L/week.
I would still like a web-site that will show me 99/premium costs; for 95, I am prepared to drive a mile out of my way for 3p saving JS had.

wondering what chancellor will do -
Interesting chart on petrol/diesel duty charges https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/road-fuel-excise-duties-4#tab-chart_1
had not realised we are near the top .. but no one currently charges more for diesel
(concession to commerical use ? or are the Nox's/particles from diesle genuinely less per km)

euros/1000L y-scale

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

yeah i would say concessions and differing tax strategies over the years causing the mismatches

I thought petrol was seeming expensive in the NL, now makes sense, it seemed fairly similar until recently but had put the significant change down to the £:Euro rate, maybe they cranked the tax up some more

Didnt tax in the UK also used to be lower until a few years ago, then they cranked diesel up to match.

 

[ahenners]

Not many people can drive like that in the UK really. On motorways your still going to run in to heavy traffic quite often.

I do 46 miles a day commuting to work, 95% of which is motorway. I hit stop/start traffic probably once every 2/3 weeks, it's the exception rather than the norm. The rest of the time it's free flowing and typical motorway speeds.