Which Oil Do You Use?

[Trim]

My Polo's due for an oil change and not sure what oil to put in? It’s the 1.4 16v 100bhp engine.

VW have it registered on 0w30 but I haven't had it serviced at the dealer whilst owning it.

I top up using 5w30
My mechanic uses 10w40

What do you recommend?

[RITCHAT]

0w30 fully synthetic oil well worth the extra cost, however I doubt that good old blighty will get down to -35 degrees so probally you would get away with 10w30.

[ihpj]

FWIW, I would not look to chop'n'change between fully synthetic and semi-synthetic oil; too much risk of possible damage IMHO switching between the two.

I would stick with one as in the long run, if you are changing oil frequently enough it wont be an issue if you have one over the other. For example, in my Mother's 9N, I have made the decision to use fully synth. VAG 507.00 (5W30) spec. oil - but change it once every 12 months regardless of mileage. OK so her car is a petrol, but I'd much rather chuck in the expensive oil as it can't do any harm!

[RUM4MO]

FWIW, I would not look to chop'n'change between fully synthetic and semi-synthetic oil; too much risk of possible damage IMHO switching between the two.

I would stick with one as in the long run, if you are changing oil frequently enough it wont be an issue if you have one over the other. For example, in my Mother's 9N, I have made the decision to use fully synth. VAG 507.00 (5W30) spec. oil - but change it once every 12 months regardless of mileage. OK so her car is a petrol, but I'd much rather chuck in the expensive oil as it can't do any harm!

I totally agree with the above posting, I have used fully synthetic oil, initially Synta Gold - then changed to Fuchs Titan fully synthetic - same "weight" - once a year maybe 8,500 miles on my wife's 1.4 BBY engine.

[Trim]

Thanks for your advice.

Think I mite stick with 10w40 instead of changing back to Fully Synthetic as that’s what my mechanic used the last couple oil changes. Plus the oil gets changed every 5,000miles. Feels like it would seem a little bit of waste to put 5w30 for 5,000miles.

Either that or I meet in-between and start to use 10w30.

What do you guys think?

[RUM4MO]

If I were you I'd tell your mechanic to only use 5-40 on that engine, preferably fully synthetic, is the 5,000 mile oil changes yearly - if not then I'd think that you should use the oil I suggested and change every 10,000 miles or 12 months.