My Estate has just reached 11,000 mls and is 12 month old in a weeks time. The "service now" message came up at 9,500 miles at 10 months old, which seemed a bit soon for a car driven fairly gently on a mix of long and short journeys. I am told by the local dealer, Westover Skoda at Corfe Mullen near Bournemouth, that the car was set up for variable servicing at the factory. They have suggested an annual 1st service, costing £135 if the car is reset for an annual or 10,000ml service or £215 if it remains on variable. Presumably the price difference is the quality of oil used, eg longlife. It all seems a bit odd bearing in mind the existing variable servicing set up came in at 9500 or 10 months. My previous BMW 5 series called for a service at 18000 mls. Anyone else experienced this situation?

Ours came on for first service at 14k I think. Do you trust the variable indicator (in which case you've done 1500 miles and 2 months since it told you to service it, or think it's lying? What mileage do you anticipate doing and when do you want it serviced? Maybe it was a glitch, maybe your driving style (what is short and what is long?) "Told" it to get it serviced then.

Hope that helps a bit!

I think it may be the short journeys bringing it down, but it depends on the mix of long / short. I had an Audi which had a similar system, and was generally 15-18k between services. It did 35 mile trips each may, 5 days a week, and then a couple of short trips at the weekend. Average miles was 20k per year so this was quite a lot less than a year most of the time.

The only time it came in lower was when a supposed independant 'specialist' reset it as a petrol, not a diesel. Don't know whether they used the right oil either so I redid it myself properly. Never went back to them either as they also replaced the wrong side CV joint boot (left the obviously leaking one and replced the nice clean one), amongst other things.

I think my mix of long to short journeys is about 50/50.  A short journey would be about 5 to 10 miles as I live in the country.  Bearing in mind the car has long life oil I did not see a problem in letting it go to 12 months.  My future mileage is likely to be around 12k per annum so annual servicing seems appropriate, intersting how different it is from the BMW, that was also petrol although 6 cylinder.

My eldest sons Superb (mk1) is on varible service. When I had it before him I did nearly 18kmiles between service he has done 8k and 7k between his as his journeys are 3-10 mile each where mine were 30 miles at 55mph (due to M/W speed limits)and 64mpg!

Mine is coming up for 16500 miles and the service indicator is showing 18000 for service. This is from new, now 6 months old.

Mix of mainly motorway with some A roads and town thrown in for good measure.

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My Superb Estate 1.8TSI manual is showing 900 miles to its first service, which will take it to about 19,300 miles. Dealer has quoted about £125 including parts, labour and VAT. There will be just one problem to check under warranty, which is a knocking noise coming from the rear of the car (possibly nearside rear door area) when the body flexes over speed bumps, mini roundabouts, etc.

That is a very good price for a service.

Superb had its first service today at Westover Skoda Corfe Mullen, Bournemouth. Lots of confusion concerning variable or fixed servicing, I opted for fixed. The service was meant to be 1 hour, while I waited, unfortunately I was hanging around for nearly three. The reason given was that I had reported that the mirrors sometimes failed to fold and the "see you home lights" likewise. I assumed they could quickly check for errors but apparently not. After quoting £125 for the service they then tried to charge for a variable service at £187. Looking at the check list, I strongly suspect there is no difference other than the oil. The oil used was 05W40 Quantum Platimum. They finally charged £127. The service indicator on the car now reads next service 9400 mls or 372 days?

Not a great experience for my first visit to a Skoda dealer, they did not even offer a coffee while I waited. They did change the badges though!

Apparently the badges on all Superb's (and the rear badge on the Yeti) are getting changed whenever they go into the dealers as Skoda have recognized that there is an issue with them.

The oil they have put in certainly is not suitable for variable servicing, but the difference in cost between fixed service and variable service.is minimal - certainly not £60 difference (5L of Mobil1 VW507.00 spec oil suitable for variable servicing can be bought for less than £40).

Be careful with the fixed servicing schedule as it is 10K miles OR 12 months - WHICHEVER COMES FIRST, if you do not service it on time or mileage, then your warranty may become invalid, you will be OK this time as they ALL leave the factory on variable servicing schedules, some dealers (yours for one) change this to fixed on the PDI without asking the owners!!

Thanks for that, good point about the warranty. I expect my next service is likely to be after 9400mls as that what the MFI is reading. I assume the oil used is synthetic? Car is great by the way, quick and frugal and a very comfortable ride.