My 2002 1.6 Petrol Octavia is pretty high mileage - 119k, and it seems to be getting through oil pretty quickly, it was filled 2000-3000 miles ago and today was pretty much empty again.

Doesn't appear to be leaking oil, haven't noticed anything on the road where it is parked, although I do get an oily smell in the car when the blowers are on and the car is not moving. Garage had a quick look under the bonnet and couldn't see a leak, they advised to just keep topping it up with oil as if its burning oil it would be expensive to fix and not worth it on a car that's only worth £1500.

Does that sound right? Anything else I can do or check for? Do I just put up with this until one day the car will finally give up!? It does seem to be running ok otherwise.

thanks!

also to add, when idling, the car sometimes revs high and low by itself, does this indicate the piston seals?

120k isn't really high mileage these days, Mine was smelly when idling or after a run - the rocker box gasket had failed and was leaking oil onto the exhaust, hence the smell and lack of drips. Don't know about the revs, although I very much doubt its mechanical.