Yearly or variable servicing best on less than 10000miles p/a?

J

Johann

Member
About 3 years ago my local independent Audi guy changed the oil in my Tdi when he serviced it and as a result changed the computer to be on a 10000 miles and thus yearly service cycle. Now this works fine with the MOT and the A2 gets its service and MOT done at the same time each year.

I'm just wondering if it will be a bad thing for the car if I change it back to variable? I don't drive as much as I used to 4 years ago (I don't drive to work anymore as I am now based in the head office). So doing less than 10000miles a year it will take (obviously) 3 years before I need a service. Will it be good/ok for the car or only good for my wallet?
 
Fixed or Variable Service

Johann,
Variable service was introduced mainly for fleet managers so that it was relatively easy (& cheaper) to forecast their costings. When this topic has been discussed at the Q&A Forum at Audi Driver International all the panel strongly recommended fixed servicing for privately owned Audis. Ask yourself would you fancy a car that had only been MOT'd for 3Yrs?
Probably cheaper in the short term ~ how long do you intend to keep the A2?
Mervyn
 
Well the car will still be going every year for an MOT of course - you won't be able to tax it online without that. It just won't include a service. And I guess that as you say I should then service it every two years regardless of what the variable service says... Surely that could work?
 
Hi Johann,

If your car is only going to be used for short journeys of say less than 5 miles or where the engine does not reach working temperature, it would be better for your engine if the oil and oil filter were changed every year. You may also find that if your car sits for a week between uses, that your brake discs will rust. This may cause more rapid wear on the disc as the rust is cleaned off when the brakes are applied.

John.
 
Thanks guys... I think I'm getting convinced! I'll stick to the status quo then. When I used to do a 110 miles a day week in and week out it made sense and the variable servicing certainly did the trick. But now with the poor car being driven so little it makes a lot less sense...
 
I'm also a great believer in 10,000 mile / one year oil change intervals. Even when the car was on variable servicing within the warranty period I changed the oil myself after one year but let the garage do the 2 year VSI servicing.
There is a good comparison of the fixed and variable service guidelines in the latest Audi A5 brochure. For those that missed it my previous posts, I've attached the link
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=987&d=1188040521

Cheers Spike
 
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