Something ap0gee posted on the megane 225 thread made me think of this.

Sure I read in Auto Express new American cars have to have at least a 50k service interval by law.Some of their cars having 100,000 miles :eek:

Might be another one of my odd dreams,but I am pretty sure thats what it said.

I worry about my Octy vRS on variable and not having had a service for 18 months now.Surely long life oil or whatever they use can't be that brilliant :confused:

Don't know that those service intervals are by law......

I do remember though I was rather surprised to read that the previous generation of Cadillac STS', using the Northstar V8 engines had service intervals of up to that range due to essentially shutting down banks of cylinders whenever practical.

They could also run without oil or water for a not insignificant number of miles.

Given the limited intelligence of some of our american cousins, it's not really that suprising that they require that level of idiot-proofing.....

A lot of Cadillac (and other GM group vehicles) have an oil-life monitoring system similar to those fitted to VAG cars. But, from memory, I think the max oil change limit is something like 12k.

I think the 50K service interval refers to things like sparkplugs, coolant, brake fluid etc. You still need to change the oil & filter at 'normal' intervals.

Having said that, a big proportion of American car owners are still stuck in the 1970s, having oil changes every 3000miles/3months. Needless to say, many of the dealers and oil companies don't tell the owners that they can go 9-12k between oil changes 'cause they obviously make more money if they're doing 3 or 4 oil changes a year instead of just 1 :naughty:

My Superb is set to service every 30,000 miles! which amazed me.