VW Passat Long Life Service Interval

[meesterb]

Could somebody please explain exactly how the VAG Longlife Service Interval works. I have just brought a 53 plate 130 tdi sport Passat which I am informed is designed for use with the long life service interval. Apart from using the different oil, do I have to do anything different? Is the car intelligent enough to actually measure oil quality for the service indicator or will it have to be reset twice if running to 20k miles service intervals? If anybody could advise it would be much appreciated.

[NicDale]

It will already be setup with longlife programming and i believe it does measure oil quality, for example at 17,000 miles from the previous service it might flash up with service required within 1000 miles, that 1000 miles quickly becomes service now within the next 300 miles i've found.

I ran my 1.2 Polo on longlife with just the occasional top up and the oil was like sludge towards the end of its life, didn't seem to do it any harm though, 70,000 miles in 2 years.

Ran my mk5 Golf GTi on fixed 10,000 mile services, the dealership had to switch it over to fixed servicing from the longlife settings as i didn't fancy 20,000 mile old oil running through a turbo charged engine. I believe you can switch back to fixed servicing if required.

[meesterb]

Thanks for the advice.

I agree with your comments, I think I may be changing beforehand as the longlife oil is almost twice as much anyway its not really any more economical. On a 120k TDI its also peace of mind!