VW and Skoda used to have the age in the book - they took it out or forgot to put it back in JUST FOR THE UK when translating the manuals methinks as no other country has this ridiculous 4 year limit. I will say it everytime a thread like this comes up as well, why does the UK but the rest of the world not have this age limit??????

Cash cow pure and simple. Take your 4 year belt and compare it to an 8 year old belt of a same mileage car and i am willing to bet you won't be able to tell the difference.

VAG use Continental lifetime belts. The clue is in the name...(granted this is for a CR engine but SUK still adhere to the stupid 4 year rule for these when the rest of the world dont)

http://www.atzonline.com/index.php;do=show/site=a4e/alloc=1/id=9123/sid=11642645624fde5af4b7518883631716

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090210/OEM01/302109752

I heard sometime ago through my dealer that VW have been having premature belt failures at low mileages so they revised the timescale/mileage for changing but obviously haven't updated owners handbooks.

Wrong as they used to say 4 years. My PD Bora from 2004 says 4 years or 80k miles in the handbook but since 2007 the age restriction has been removed....confirmed with my dads 08 Golf and my 10 Octy service books.

So many things going around these days about mileage and age it's hard to believe anything.

Maybe VW had a duff batch of belts fitted to certain engines? Who knows....

So many things going around these days about mileage and age it's hard to believe anything.

Maybe VW had a duff batch of belts fitted to certain engines? Who knows....

I have a hard time believing anything VAG UK say anymore. Like my local paintshop which has VW approved plastered all over it and is on the VW paint and body website wasn't approved and I couldn't take my car there apparently......that was until i informed the manager of said paintshop who phoned VWUK and gave them an earful and it magically appeared on their system.

VAG UK be it Skoda, VW, Seat or Audi are just out for one thing and that is money, whether it is to reduce their warranty costs or to increase dealer revenue with coming up with such guff as 4 years.

It took me 18months of fighting to get a well known (well it was well known across the pond even though VW UK wouldn't acknowledge it as an issue) issue with corrosion on the front wings of my Bora recitified 'as it was caused by stone chips', 'its wear and tear' etc etc even though they had previously approved 2 repairs on it. In the end trading standards and one day from filing a small claim made them relent.

Hence i trust nothing that they say i'm afraid.

It's strange Skoda uk are the only ones with time limit!!! I think there outnumbered by all the rest tho

All VAGs have the same limitations. Seems stupid but I didn't take the risk and had it done. But VAG didn't get the money other than for the parts.

If you did 1000 miles in four years would you leave it 480 years before changing the belt?

No because i'd be long dead..Oh and the 4 year rule was made up by VAG,some years ago when they fitted nylon or plastic jockey pulleys, to certain makes of cars,think its was the 1.6 engine.instead of admitting the fault,vag issued a blanket change on belts,tensioners,pulleys,waterpump,jockey,every four years or whichever comes first..

No because i'd be long dead..Oh and the 4 year rule was made up by VAG,some years ago when they fitted nylon or plastic jockey pulleys, to certain makes of cars,think its was the 1.6 engine.instead of admitting the fault,vag issued a blanket change on belts,tensioners,pulleys,waterpump,jockey,every four years or whichever comes first..

Exactly....

No because i'd be long dead..Oh and the 4 year rule was made up by VAG,some years ago when they fitted nylon or plastic jockey pulleys, to certain makes of cars,think its was the 1.6 engine.instead of admitting the fault,vag issued a blanket change on belts,tensioners,pulleys,waterpump,jockey,every four years or whichever comes first..

You're missing my point here, what was said was that you never need to change the belt if you never hit the mileage interval, or essentially the belt will go the lifetime of the car. However for me a well looked after car could last 20 or 30 years and that would just be too long for a cambelt IMHO.

You're missing my point here, what was said was that you never need to change the belt if you never hit the mileage interval, or essentially the belt will go the lifetime of the car. However for me a well looked after car could last 20 or 30 years and that would just be too long for a cambelt IMHO.

I'm not saying don't look after your car either,if you want to change the belt then go ahead,but too much scaremongering is going on into changing the belt too early,or if you happen to go a little bit past the mileage.If you want peace of mind then have a long life cambelt fitted,But most modern cars now are being fitted with such belts,made with materials in them like HSN highly saturated nitrile rubber,Ford were designing a belt a while ago,lost track of what happened about it though,which will do one hundred thousand miles plus,or get a Gates belt fitted 150.000 miles,best check your pulleys etc though..