First oil change MY08 Golf GTI

[mr_walker]

Care to back that up with credible info

It would be the dealer attempting this, not the manufacturer and yet many dealers dial in 7,500 and even 1,000 km for the first oil change - they are indeed trying to extract dollars out of you

But the car is more attractive to lease companies, because they can quote a lower running cost. I don't know the figures on how many leased cars are on the road, but I imagine its a lot. I also guess VW is going to make more from increased unit sales through lease plans than they would from increased service costs ... in the short term anyway.

[Candyman]

But the car is more attractive to lease companies, because they can quote a lower running cost. I don't know the figures on how many leased cars are on the road, but I imagine its a lot. I also guess VW is going to make more from increased unit sales through lease plans than they would from increased service costs ... in the short term anyway.

Lease companies are more concerned about depreciation, fuel costs, insurance in their running costs.

The price differential between an oil change at 7,500 vs 15,000 is insignificant

Also, GTI's are not a common lease vehicle.

[mr_walker]

Lease companies are more concerned about depreciation, fuel costs, insurance in their running costs

But it's not the lease company that chooses the vehicle - it's the consumer.

[Candyman]

But it's not the lease company that chooses the vehicle - it's the consumer.

This

But the car is more attractive to lease companies, because they can quote a lower running cost. .

and this

Lease companies are more concerned about depreciation, fuel costs, insurance in their running costs.

The price differential between an oil change at 7,500 vs 15,000 is insignificant

Also, GTI's are not a common lease vehicle.

[NickZ]

My 2c.

If you want to keep your car for a long time (over 8-10 years say) - especially if you do any of the things above (short trips, hard driving etc) then change the oil more often.

If you want to keep your car for its warranty period, then there is no point. Just do the service at the recommended intervals.

Yes, engine oils and engines are a lot more modern and reliable than 10-20 years ago. However, I think any manufacturer is not that interested in ensuring your engine is still in great condition after 10+ years. Why? VW do not make as much money from people who buy their cars every 10 years. They make most of their money from people who change cars after every warranty period is up, and when they consider the trade off between servicing costs and engine life, the balance is weighed a lot more towards service costs.

And VW would rather charge $380 for a glorified oil change every 15000km than charge $200 every 7500km. More profit

Previously I owned a 12 year old Honda civic with just under 200000km. It was always driven hard. But, it always had an oil change every 5000, and was run on premium fuel. The car ran as good as new and NEVER had a problem with the engine itself (other than one leaking seal). Even the person who bought the car was surprised how well the car drove compared to others he had tested. Sure, this is not scientific proof, but is representative of my experience of cars with frequent oil changes.

To me, the oil is the blood of your engine, and is not a component that I would be taking any chances on. Especially the way I drive my car

[Candyman]

To me, the oil is the blood of your engine, and is not a component that I would be taking any chances on. Especially the way I drive my car

You better change the oil in the gearbox at the same interval in that case ....and coolant...and brake fluid.....and ....

[glenn1959]

Don't Change the Oil Too Early

Just to add my 20 cents worth to this debate;

* Many modern engines, including VW's, are partly run in at the factory. That is the reason why some of you are finding no metal filings when you do an early change.
* My dealer specifically warned me AGAINST an early change saying it was not recommended.
* I remember reading the owners manual for my father's Camira years ago and it also specifically warned against an early change.
* Some manufactures fill a new engine with special running in oil which may be the reason you are told not to change it early.

My advice is to run to at least close to he recommended 15K service interval for the first change. After that more frequent changes are a good thing but I would take the 15K interval as being OK unless you do lots of short trips or very hard driving. 5K change intervals in most cases would be a waste of money in my opinion.

[gerhard]

And my 20c worth.

I abused the hell out of my VL commodore, ignoring oil changes, sometimes for 18 months, and it only ever did short trips . It then passed on to my son at 205,000ks as his first P plate car, and he didn't thrash it (much )

After 20,000k of his treatment (and no oil change 'cause he had no money for that), the engine still didn't use a drop, and didn't blow a whiff of smoke.

Many current cars do use special running in oil, and it will void your engine warranty if you change the oil before the specified time.

Changing oil more frequently than specified is not cheap insurance, it is a pure waste of money and a waste of a scarce resource.

If you have a turbo petrol, and run at the redline 90% of the time, you are not included in the conditions above - however, you are well advised to let the turbo cool down and not just switch off after doing this.

Manufacturers do know how many Ks their engines can run before requiring an oil change. Today 15,000k is very common, and 30,000k is also very common in things like Vito vans. They have sensors in the engine which diagnose the oil and the light comes on on the dash when a change is required.

[hrb93]

"RUN-IN" mineral oil needs changing @ 2,500Kms to a synthetic.

Even if the Gti motors are dynoed for 3 days and then test driven for 2 weeks straight and are fitted with fresh filters and oil when they leave the ship, i would still change the oil every 5,000Kms even "AGAINST" the warnings of my dealer.

15,000Kms is far too long for my liking and the so called warnings people are saying by dealers i just don't get. It would only be beneficial to the engine. Changing before 2,500Kms if the car used a "RUN-IN" mineral based oil would be unadvisable.

[SoVeReIgN]

Care to back that up with credible info

Are you joking?


I'm not going to spend time presenting you with information that's so absurdly obvious.

[glenn1959]

How many of you will keep your GTI's for 160,000 K?

The recommended oil change intervals are for average use. Yes, certainly you should change the oil more often if your car gets a hard life in some way but people are plucking arbitrary intervals out of the air because they really don't know the state of their oil? In the UK Golf's are allowed to have 30K service intervals because their fuel contains a lot less sulphur than ours. I personally notice that my oil consumption goes from zero to a slight loss from the beginning to the end of the service period. This suggest to me that the oils effectiveness is declining after about 12K for my driving style. This is still more intuition than science and your oil might last longer or shorter periods than mine.

The ideal solution is to have the car's computer calculate a variable service interval as is done on BMW's. This would take the guess work out of the process.

Having said that, how many of you will reallly keep their car to 160,000 K? I expect most GTI's would be on sold within the first 100,000 K of their lives.

[mr_walker]

This

and this

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to say, and now I'm not so sure.

[gregozedobe]

The ideal solution is to have the car's computer calculate a variable service interval as is done on BMW's. This would take the guess work out of the process.

Having said that, how many of you will reallly keep their car to 160,000 K? I expect most GTI's would be on sold within the first 100,000 K of their lives.

Some VWs (and my Octy) do have a variable length service interval at manufacture. IIRC the engine monitors some aspects of the oil (opacity ?) and records the number of thermal cycles and who knows what else.

I believe VWA chose not to make this option available in Oz (and probably switch them back to fixed interval if they come as variable) .

Variable service vehicles have option code QG1, fixed service vehicles are QG0 or QG2 (look at the bottom left corner of the data sticker that lists your cars build specs).

There are companies that offer an oil analysis service (you send them a small sample of the oil from your engine). The results will tell you if your oil is OK or needs to be replaced NOW !

I'm probably one of the exceptions that proves the rule, as my Octy replaces a 1980 Ford Laser TX3 with 195,000 Km. Yes, I used a good quality synthetic replaced every 6 months, but that was because it does lots of short trips where the engine doesn't get properly warmed up (hence the relatively low Kms).

Some people like to change their oil more often than others. I don't see it as anything to get all heated about. But I would prefer to buy a s'hand car that maybe had its oil changed a bit more often than was strictly necessary, rather than one that has gone past the recommended distance for the driving style (and you can't tell the latter).

[Lima]

i changed my oil myself at 7,500km and there were no metal particals to the naked eye.
Engine was noticeably smoother after the change though.

For me it was different to your first point (see below from change at 6200kms) and the same as per your second point. Much smoother.

I've changed the oil twice now at mid interval. Can't hurt and is kinda fun to get your hands dirty.




More HERE.

[Dooby]

i changed my oil and filter too last weekend, the car had done 6500km in about 6 months ( yeah i know it's not much... it's the weekend fun mobile for me). The wife does numerous short trips every week (about 5km each hence the need for the oil change). The oil was dark brown which i suspected but the oil filter was charcoal black!

In hindsight i should have kept the filter and taken shots of it. Is this normal colour change for a filter that is 6 months old??? i knows it's supposed to filter the oil but how bad can oil get in 6 months. i'm curious because i'm wondering if the dealer even changed it last service, i know for sure they charged me for it though.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks

Bern