torrent99

VWs choice of oil is governed by 3 factors: 1) What's good for the engine 2) What's good for efficiency and emissions 3) What's good to reduce oil change frequency i.e. servicing costs. Once upon a time the choice would only have been based on (1) i.e. what's good for the engine. However, in recent years VW, along with all the other manufacturers, have been under a lot of pressure to reduce emissions and increase efficiency. One way to do this (a very tiny amount) is to use thinner oil. The other pressure is to appear to reduce the cost of ownership for the new car owner. One way to do this is to specify longer oil change intervals so the service costs appear to be smaller. They do this by specifying long life oil with long change intervals. Both 2) and 3) are not necessarily in line with 1) in the longer term. i.e. changing your oil more frequently will do no harm (except maybe the cost of oil & filters). The thickness is more dictated by your climate & usage. BTW stop start traffic (i.e. normal traffic in most towns and cities) & dust is considered arduous usage! Personally I'm using 5w30 API-SP rated oil (Mobil 1) changed every 5-6K miles, on my 2017 1.2 TSI . The SP standard has been developed for direct injection engines like the TSI. (see themotoroilgeek on Youtube). YMMV.

Just found this after much searching through the service manual for the 5 year recommendation. (Just inherited a 2017 CJZC with only 20K miles & the £530 potential bill for a timing belt strikes me as crazy! Given the new guidance I think I'll revert to regular checks of the belt condition rather than spend that) This thread needs to be stickied!