One of my last cars was a Nissan with a 2.7L sump capacity and a timing chain reputedly made from cheese. I changed the oil & filter every year despite it only doing around 5K miles.

I had another car that I used in off-road competition. It was road legal and often used locally. That would only do 2-3K miles a year, had a timing belt and got its oil & filter changed a couple of times in six years. I used to regularly take it to 7K RPM and the only thing I ever broke was the diff.

It all depends on variables.

Cheers chaps. Decided to play safe and give it a miss. Like Falkirk Bairn mentioned, knowing myself it would play on mind and cause a bit of anxiety after agreeing a deal.

PLenty more around, just slightly further afield. Going to keep a close an eye on auto-trader!!

Seem to get a fair bit of car for your money really with the Avensis. Took a local one (slightly out of price range) for a spin. Surprisingly felt more agile and better handling than my Golf TDI. Didn't feel like you were driving a bigger car at all.

I have son in the USA (on secondment but it could last a lot longer). He has 2 BMWs (X5 & 430) and has the car serviced 2 x per year - roughly every 10K.

Some of his work colleagues are into "a lube service" every 5/6,000 miles as this was the schedule on cars 30/40 years ago - NOT a bad idea especially as the oil change seems to be loose change even in new & expensive cars.

Unlike the UK where an oil change can cost £200+ for a Porsche Cayenne BUT at the same workshop a lot less if it was a Tourag. Glass palaces are expensive so too is the oil & hourly rate.

Yes twenty years ago mineral oil was like that. I used to change the oil twice a year and had to use Ford spec oil, otherwise I’d have problems with the hydraulic cam followers. Thankfully fully synthetic is cheap these days and even after two years in an engine still drips and runs all over the place during an oil change.