Oil changes?

[Susallah]

Good morning!

I took my Beetle baby into the VW place for her initial 2 month check. Everything looked "perfect". I already had about 4,000 miles so I thought they might go ahead and change the oil. He showed me the "free" service plan that came with my car. DID YOU KNOW THEY ADVISE CHANGING THE OIL ON '08's AND LATER MODELS EVERY 10,000 MILES??? I never heard of such a thing. It worries me that they are going to 10,000 because they are offering 3 years free service now and are just being cheap. Should I stick with every 5,000 miles and just pay for them?

Thought I would get some input from people who have a lot more know-how about this kind of stuff.

Thanks.

[CGK]

The first scheduled oil change will be at 5000 miles. This is due to the factory break in oil being used in those first 5K miles. The next oil &filter change will be at 10,000 miles and every 10,000 miles thereafter.
The 2.5L only requires 10K mile oil changes as long as you use a high quality synthetic oil that conforms to the VW oil specification noted in your owners manual.
So, it's not a way to cheap out on maintenance, it's due to the much higher quality synthetic oils that are used today that allow for extended change periods.
Hope this helps.

[Homer3D]

They are not being “cheap”. Most cars these days do not need to be changed every 3k miles. That whole charge very 3k miles idea comes from generations ago. Even my 2010 Mazda says to change the oil every 7500 miles. I do it every 5k just to play it “safe” because of my driving style. And my Mazda does not require full synthetic oil.

I understand what you are saying though. VW advertises 3 year/36k free maintenance but when you look at the maintenance schedule, that probably only comes to about 3 or 4 oil changes. That probably saves you all of what? $300 in service fees? It is all a marketing ploy anyways. It is basically a way to get a customer use to going into the dealership for service in hopes that after 3 years you will continue to come into the dealership for service and pay their insanely high price for an oil change.

Just looked up service fees at the VW dealership in my area to make sure I wasn't speaking incorrectly. A standard oil change (full synthetic) + filter + labor, their price $79.99. I pay $42 something for full synthetic (6 quarts) + filter + labor to change the oil in my Corvette at a local oil change place.

I say, enjoy your 3 years of free oil changes and then after, find a local shop you trust that can do the same job for a lot less.

Happy Driving...