Hi guys,

I have a question regarding which service scheme you would recommend I have the car set to. Its a brand new VRS TFSI

As I understand it, all skoda's are filled with fully synthetic, long life oil from the factory. When I picked up the car last Saturday I was advised that the car had been set to a fixed servicing schedule - every 10k or 12 months; whichever was sooner. He said that this is what they advised for the VRS petrol engine.

However, when I popped into my local dealer this morning to get a 1 litre top up for the car; they advised me to run the car on a variable servicing schedule. I mentioned that I only do around 6-7k a year and most of it was town driving and they said it would still be advisable (and cheaper for me!). They offered to change the setting for free but I said I'd have a think about it. Hence my question here....

With the sort of driving I do, would there be much advantage in setting it to variable or would it probably end up being once a year anyway? My understanding was that if you did a lot of motorway miles there was a big advantage going variable (2ok + miles) but the dealer this morning said they never see one in before 16k - even non motorway runners.

So, fixed or variable?

Please advise.

Lee

I am a big fan of variable servicing, its saved me loads of money. I do a lot of miles, and my car is on variable and serviced once per annum due to the high mileage rather than twice. My cars first service was at 18K. and the second at 36K. My car is an ex rental (alamo) so we can all guess how it was driven before I got it, and it still went 18K.

For you, at 6K per annum you will also save money, although you will most likely reach the 2 year limit which is the max time between services for variable.

My old mk1 vRS was remapped and run on variable serving for 5 years before it left the familly, and it was still perfect.

Brilliant info - thanks Mannyo

So does everyone agree I should get it changed over to variable?

Lee

Are you on free servicing? If so then you must have it set to Fixed. They will then pay for 3 10k services.

Variable will normally give you around 14 - 15k miles or 2 years.

Hi Stu, no, at last minute I decided not to take the solutions finance offer and hence the free servicing got dropped. Reading above it appears that it would be in my best interest to move to variable servicing and pay for a service every two years (ish) as opposed to annually.

Yep, variable, then you will most likely be serviced every 2 years with the mileage you do. I'm on variable, and just like Manny, mine now only needs servicing every 12 months (20k or so) rather than twice a year.

As Stu rightly says, if you were under the free servicing offer, it has to be on fixed.

I just had my Octy serviced. It was on variable and under the free servicing scheme but I was told when I picked the car up they'd done a 10k service and changed it to fixed.

They'd also installed a software update to the ECU.

Don't forget that variable services are more expensive though as they use Long Life oil.

I only do around 6-7k a year and most of it was town driving

Doing mainly town driving, the oil is going to get very dirty so if it was me I would stick to fixed servicing and have the oil changed every six months irrespective of the mileage. I would also use Mobil 1 oil.

Having said that, if you don't intend to keep the car long and don't give a stuff about what happens to it after you've got rid of it, then stick to the variable (cheaper) option.

Don't forget that variable services are more expensive though as they use Long Life oil.

My last variable service at my local Skoda main dealer cost me £187, which I dont think is to bad especially as it wont need another for 18K miles.