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Do the recent Auto Bild mileage tests indicate why less frequent oil changes are recommended?
I wonder if you have looked at the Auto Bild 100,000km tests? They ran a Golf and an Astra to 200,000km and the results make me wonder if manufacturer's oil change intervals are perfectly adequate after all. Like you, I have always believed in more frequent oil changes. Maybe they got away with so few (it appears the Astra was only serviced four times!) because the mileage was racked up very quickly.
Asked on 14 August 2010 by Stephen Hutchinson
Answered by
Honest John
Not recently. Good to do that. A car taken to 200,000km rapidly at the rate of 100,000km a year will not need such frequent oil changes as one that clocks the kms up slowly, because it will hardly ever get cold and most oil contamination occurs on or after a cold start. That's why taxi drivers can get away with 20,000 - 30,000km oil changes, but someone doing just 20,000km a year can't.
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