As some of you may know, I'm picking my octavia vRS up on 01/09/2004.

From what I've read on this forum, the vRS is setup to have a variable service. What sort of mileage is this done at ? Is it better to have the variable service intervals or fixed intervals?

Would either having a variable interval effect resale compared to having a fixed interval?

There is a good explanation somewhere here which describes what factors are relevant to the choice of fixed/variable. Think the main decider is how many miles you do a year and what sort of miles those will be.

I think I do about 12 -14k miles a year.

Any ideas where that post is hiding?

Try the link below. You will need Adobe Reader to view the document.

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/Longlife_servicing.pdf

My car's first (variable) service was at 24 months and 9263 miles.

What LongLife Servicing can mean to you.

you'd be better setting to the 10K miles servicing IMHO.

look at it this way, the vRS has a 20v turbo 1.8 engine, this engine can run on long life oil and the service intervals for that are 19K miles or 24months (according to Skoda customer services).

But, how often do you usually change the oil at the moment in your 1.4 clio? with my 19 16v i used to change the oil every 8K miles. this also included a set of plugs, oil filter and a cleaning of the air filter/induction kit.

To me the engine in the vRS needs the same sort of treatment, if it wasnt for the warranty i wouldnt use a dealers for servicing, i'd do it myself and change the oil every 8-10K, as it is my car was setup for the longer intervals but i've opted to have it done every 10K.

to give you an idea of costs... for a service on the Renault i used to pay out the best part of

To be honest, my reno is a completely different car. Using an old engine, and old technology. So I would expect it to need its oil changing more often. The new reno's like the 182 need their oil changing at 20k miles or two years (if they last that long before breaking).

If VAG didn't think their car could handle long intervals, then surely they wouldn't offer such long intervals

Skoda charged me

I think my wife's Polo handbook explained all this a lot better than Skoda. In a nutshell... Longer journeys, out of town driving, motorways. Go for long life. Short journeys, around town, constant stop/starting. Go for fixed. I paraphrase but you get the idea.

I think my wife's Polo handbook explained all this a lot better than Skoda. In a nutshell... Longer journeys, out of town driving, motorways. Go for long life. Short journeys, around town, constant stop/starting. Go for fixed. I paraphrase but you get the idea.

Thats a shame, because my Superb is mainly the latter with the odd cruise and I have mine on variable. I think that is the way forward, but its getting over the mental block of cars needing very regular oil changes.

Thats a shame, because my Superb is mainly the latter with the odd cruise and I have mine on variable. I think that is the way forward, but its getting over the mental block of cars needing very regular oil changes.

I know what you mean but when I read the Polo handbook it sounded a bit like VAG covering themselves so I thought I'd better go with fixed.

To give you an idea of my driving it takes me ten minutes to get to work, the temp needle has just reached the halfway mark when I pull up. Usually the car then sits for about one or two hours. After that I'm normally doing twenty to thirty minute journeys for the rest of the day, all round town and not very often over eg 40 mph. Obviously I have the odd day a week where I'll be travelling to Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, Hull but in the main my car is stopping and starting all day.

The Skoda handbook seems to say that if you're a bit 'old school' then go for fixed ie no real reason why you should. The VW handbook seems to be a bit more informative.

Those Skodas which are designed and equipped for LongLife Service are delivered from the factory set for variable servicing (QG1). Having such a car recoded for fixed service intervals (QG2) does not change the fact that it benefits from a LongLife service operating regime, ie it is due an oil change every 10K and an inspection service every 20K. A car on standard service (QG0) has an oil change every 10K plus an annual inspection every 12 months or every 20K if the annual mileage is more than 20K. If you have followed that thus far, you should also know that the inspection service (QG1 and QG2) and annual inspection (QG0) are the same except that the latter does not include service items due every 20K, eg draining fuel filter (diesel), Haldex oil change (4X4), checking underbody sealant and gearbox oil level check.

(An exam paper will follow shortly. :shocked: )

(An exam paper will follow shortly. :shocked: )

If anyone can explain the fact that my car was set on QG1 from the factory... and yet, the service indicator has come on at...

9800 miles

19300 miles and

30200 miles

Then they win a hardly used OE Bosch DV

(ps. I have a conspiracy theory :()

Are you sure your dealer didn't put it on fixed before you bought it ??

I'm with Geoff on this one. Alternatively, perhaps the driving environment your car is used in plus the way you drive it really does mean that it needs servicing at that sort of interval. (But I would put my money on my opening remark).

Are you sure your dealer didn't put it on fixed before you bought it ??

Funnily enough, after all that set at the factory stuff in our case my wifes Polo was altered back to fixed when we picked it up. So stathap, this conspiracy theory of yours...

These are my circumstances

a) I do LOADS of motorway miles (like three quarters of all my miles)

I drive like a very old and sensible old lady who is stuck behind a tractor ... also stuck in roadworks.

c) Cause I get about, my car has been serviced by A.E Witham & Son, Marlborough and finally Gorners Warrington. On each seperate occasion I pointed out the QG1 in my service book, asked for a variable service and got charged for a variable service (particularly from the first two, ouch :( ) On each occasion I asked them to make sure that my car WAS actually set to variable servicing. They said "oh yes of course it is Mr S"

Okay, so is a little bit of a fabrication but even so...

Conspiracy ??? :confused:

How much have they been charging you for oil at each service?

OR

To be more sneaky...

Give them a ring and ask what oil you should use for top-ups.

If it's "cheap" stuff, you know you've been had

How much have they been charging you for oil at each service?

Just checking now

Marlborough's bill shows...

ZGB000506011 CASTROL SLX 1L

That's Longlife, so they're charging you for variable alright..

...and I told them to ensure that it was SET for variable

(the total service was

But if you're going in every 10K anyway, you'd be better off on fixed....

Something's not quite right here...

Something's not quite right here...

:agree:

Is there anyway to check yourself what its actually setup for? vagcom?

I read that using variable servicing that its meant to be 2% or something more economical?

The first dealers I went to, I asked about the price of a service and he said it was every 10k miles, with 20k mile service being more expensive. He didn't say it was variable. Do some dealers change it without telling the customer?