RippleChip

He drives a 325 and it has a chip that tells them when the oil change is to be done. Dealership won't do it before 24,000kms, I figure its just because of the scheduled maintenance period and he could pay to do one earlier if he wanted.

Anyone else think that length is a little excessive. What do you guys all run?

April

environment with lots of stop and go as well as stop and start, most see a change every 5000 to 7500 miles. Of course when we track a car, it gets a change immediately after.

Look for oil analysis near airports that service small planes, or send to Blackstone Labs, etc.

davecheng

If lots of highway, I would be comfortable running synthetic past 10k.

XSQRD

in older cars they suggested different intervals for different driving conditions.

most of us are in "Harsh driving conditions", city driving.
the suggested length is for "OK" or "Good" conditions. long 30 minutes drives, no stop & go, HWY driving.
if you are in that category, then yeah it is ok to do it at 24k.

So i would say half of what is recommended, is more realistic for most people...

Carmine_S4

to 8000, say, but I only drive about 15ks per years so the oil changes usually coincide with an tire switch or another maintenance item so I just get it done.

Both are synthetic, FWIW. Mobil 1 0W50 for the S or something like that and Castrol 5W40 for the Passat

CdnTT

I drive the car about 7k a year these days.

afretes

15,000 km or a year.

B_S373N

I change when the car starts sounding very strange and smoke starts pouring out of the hood.

stef2.7T

Every 5K...synthetic.