I've got a 2.0 petrol VRS, delivered mid August '06, which I bought as an ex-demonstrator in May '07 with about 6,400 miles on the clock.

The code in the front of my service schedule says QG1, which I now understand to be variable, but in December '07 the little spanner appeared in the window, so I booked it in for a service; by the time it was actually serviced it had done 11,218 miles. I was assured that it was set up for variable servicing, but today it came up with the spanner and the number 400, just as my speedo showed 22,818. This suggests the service will be due exactly 12,000 miles since the last one. Just seems mildly coincidental to me.

Granted, apart from a couple of runs up to Walsall (from Hampshire), and one trip up to Edinburgh, it hasn't had much in the way of big journeys in the last year - the average journey is probably 16 miles to work each day, and the same back; probably a mile or two of urban driving at the journey ends, 3 miles of national speed limit dual carriageway and 11 miles of 50mph single carriageway A-Road. Hardly ideal, but I'd have thought I'd have got a bit more distance before the next service. It's had 2 litres of the Castrol 507.00 oil since the last service, irritatingly the last half litre last week!

Is this an indication that I need to take it out and thrash it a bit more?

The service light can come on between 9,300 to 18,600 miles, or a maximum of two years. Once serviced, the new interval needs to set with diagnostic equipment through the diagnostic port for variable, if it is reset using the dash buttons it will revert to a fixed (10,000) interval. I have heard that this engine does use oil between services. Giving it a clearout occasionally shouldn't do any harm, providing you let it get upto normal operating temperature first.

It does sound a little short to me, but it is doing more than 10k, so it must be on variable.

My A3 TDI on variable did 24k on one. That was a mix of 2 very different commutes (Walsall-Wolverhampton and Walsall-South Birmingham) of about 9 miles and 25, one fairly urban, the other a mix of urban/motorway. I think the diesel interval is longer anyway?

I hardly ever do short journeys, which probably helped.

The service book having QG1 in the codes does not mean the car is currently on variable intervals. ALL uk supplied Octy2's come supplied on variable (QG1), however some owners opt to have them switched to QG0 at PDI and IIRC it was a requirement to be on QG0 for the free servicing offer offered by Skoda UK. Therefore there are a lot of cars driving around with QG1 in the service book which are in fact every 10K miles and NOT variable.

The service light can come on between 9,300 to 18,600 miles, or a maximum of two years. Once serviced, the new interval needs to set with diagnostic equipment through the diagnostic port for variable, if it is reset using the dash buttons it will revert to a fixed (10,000) interval. I have heard that this engine does use oil between services. Giving it a clearout occasionally shouldn't do any harm, providing you let it get upto normal operating temperature first.

That's about right.

Fixed interval is 10,000 miles; so if your 'spanner' is coming on at around 12,00 miles you must be on variable.

Have a look at this thread about oil consumption;- http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/octavia-mk2-vrs-petrol-31000-miles-using-oil/133147/

and this one as to how to check when your next service is due;- http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/remaining-miles-until-service/133039/ particularly post #7

Overall, considering other comments, TDI engines seem to go a bit longer than the TFSI, although 24,000 miles is the preserve of the older 1.9TDIs. The current 2.0L TDIs go in the same 9,300 to 18,600 miles range as TFSI.

I hope that helps.

Overall, considering other comments, TDI engines seem to go a bit longer than the TFSI, although 24,000 miles is the preserve of the older 1.9TDIs.

Yep, mine was a 1.9 Non-pd 110BHP.

variable is set to 30k km not 20k miles meaning it will come on at 18,750miles i queried this when my car had its first service just over a year and 18,000 miles on the clock. told the service indicator on variable came on either near 18.750 or 2 years whichever was the nearest.

Similarly the mileage for fixed service is 15,000 km which is 9,400 miles not 10,000

Found this out when the dealer used the trip meter button method to reset the counter instead of VAG-COM

The distance between the service will alter depending on your driving style and what the car is used for. If you are doing regular short trips it will come on sooner. I drive long journeys 250+ miles on a regular basis and my last interval was 18,321 miles between 1st and 2nd variable. on a flip side a mate of mine has the same car and he only gets around 12k between services and he does regular short journeys to and from work each day

The service book having QG1 in the codes does not mean the car is currently on variable intervals. ALL uk supplied Octy2's come supplied on variable (QG1), however some owners opt to have them switched to QG0 at PDI and IIRC it was a requirement to be on QG0 for the free servicing offer offered by Skoda UK. Therefore there are a lot of cars driving around with QG1 in the service book which are in fact every 10K miles and NOT variable.

Whoops, should have said that the original dealers had changed it to fixed when they had it as a demo model, and the dealers where I got it serviced last time told me that they had switched it over to variable.

I think I was having a bit of a brainfart and thinking that the fixed interval was 12,000 miles, (not 10,000), hence me wondering if it really had been put on variable. Still, can't moan too much, I've had a bit of a quiet motoring year, and looking at the mileage, the variable has delayed the service date by a couple of months, which is better than nowt.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Talking of coincedences, our first service came up at 15000 miles and second at 30000 miles, i thought could the dealer could set the mileage?.

Oh b*gger! my local Costco seems to be out of Castrol Edge (the 507.00 compliant stuff). Over summer they were selling it at about eleven quid for 3 x 1 litre bottles. Since the car is going for a service on Thursday, and the garage charged me £60.40 + VAT for 5 litres last time, I thought I'd save myself some cash by supplying the oil, but Costco are out (and don't look like they've left shelf space for re-supply - they were way too busy to ask).

My local Makro does 4 litre containers of it for £34.50 +VAT, so about forty quid all in, so I might go that route, but it's not quite the bargain that Costco offered.

My local dealer advised me I need a service after the indicator came on at 8900 miles (from new) which is coincidentally 500 miles before the fixed service interval. The car is only 4 months old and lives on a motorway at between 2-2.5k revs so I find it very hard to believe that it need a service.

There is minimum for the variable service which is near the fixed service interval but having asked around I've not found anyone who has had a variable at 9.4k miles with the common area milage between 17/18k which I used to achieve on my previous 2 vrs - If my theory is right regarding the services I won't be having another skoda