UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

monkeyhanger wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:58 am With 9 VWs owned from new, they've all had excellent mpg (relative to official figures) and insignificant oil consumption between services, except 1, which sat on the motorway for its first 800 miles.

2005 GT TDI 2.0 140ps. Picked it up from Burney Lookers (Broker buy), drove straight down to Southampton (my Dad now lives there), got the Southampton to Cherbourg ferry for a hypermarche fill up of cheap French booze (when the pound was mighty!). Straight off the ferry with 350 miles on the clock, the car demanded an 800ml oil top up (yellow warning -low oil, top up!). Drove back to Southampton, stayed a few days and then drove home to Tyneside. Once home, the car demanded more oil, another 800ml added.

From thereon in, the car went through a litre of oil every 1200 miles and mpg was 15% down on expectations. I had no oil leak.

Do try to avoid doing motorway long trips for at least 1000 miles.

Leif wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:25 pm I can't see anything in the VW Polo manual.

Andy Beats wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 11:20 am

monkeyhanger wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:58 am With 9 VWs owned from new, they've all had excellent mpg (relative to official figures) and insignificant oil consumption between services, except 1, which sat on the motorway for its first 800 miles.

2005 GT TDI 2.0 140ps. Picked it up from Burney Lookers (Broker buy), drove straight down to Southampton (my Dad now lives there), got the Southampton to Cherbourg ferry for a hypermarche fill up of cheap French booze (when the pound was mighty!). Straight off the ferry with 350 miles on the clock, the car demanded an 800ml oil top up (yellow warning -low oil, top up!). Drove back to Southampton, stayed a few days and then drove home to Tyneside. Once home, the car demanded more oil, another 800ml added.

From thereon in, the car went through a litre of oil every 1200 miles and mpg was 15% down on expectations. I had no oil leak.

Do try to avoid doing motorway long trips for at least 1000 miles.

I promise you, that was because it was 2.0tdi and nothing to do with running in.
Look up 2.0tdi oil consumption on google, it's a very big subject (nearly 600000 hits!)
Our company had a fleet of 2.0tdi engines and oil consumption varied from 1800 miles to 4000 miles per litre.
The MD got so fed up of drivers buying litre bottles of oil at £13 a time that he bought a 205 litre drum of miller oil to the correct VAG spec and let everyone top up from there.
My 2.0tdi was the only car I've ever had where I had to make sure I had spare oil in the boot.
I got to know that when the low oil warning lit up, shoving in a litre would do me another 1800 miles.
https://www.google.com/search?q=2.0+tdi ... e&ie=UTF-8

monkeyhanger wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:09 pm 7 of my 9 VWs bought from new were TDIs, and 5 of those were specifically 2.0TDIs in various outputs, both PD and CR fuelling. That one which went to France and Did 800 miles in my first week was the only one that needed topping up between services.

A lot of TDIs are likely to be destined to do high mileage on the motorway as company cars. For personal use, I would still avoid running in on motorway miles.

Leif wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:25 pm I follow the recommendations of knowledgeable people such as manufacturers:

https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/running-in-a-new-car
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/engi ... 91979.html

Apprarently Ford recommend a ~1000 mile break in period. I can't see anything in the VW Polo manual. However, I err on the side of caution given that I keep car for over 100,000 miles. These long service intervals for example were created for fleets who like to keep a car for a few years then sell it on, so they don't care so much about longevity.

Andy Beats wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:31 pm

Leif wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:25 pm I can't see anything in the VW Polo manual.

German manufacturers don't bother recommending any breaking-in period.
I'm sure 99% of the reason is because they feel their engines don't need it.
But maybe 1% because their roads are fast and they feel it would be silly to ask people to take it easy?
With regard to long service cars, oil technology simply allows it now and it doesn't affect high mileage examples at all.
My bro-in-law's taxi A6 was sweet as a nut when he got rid of it at 180000 miles, you'd never have guessed it was that high a mileage - tight as a drum.
His Kia is doing equally well at 100000 miles (as of yesterday), but it doesn't use long-life oil like the Audi did.

Leif wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:06 pm Oil changes are not black and white as you claim. There is a widespread belief among many knowledgeable people that the long service intervals are not so good for the engine, especially the first interval from new. That is why I do the 10,000 mile service plan. The oil is the simplest way to keep the engine healthy. Long service intervals are there because people demand them, especially fleets who don't want to bother servicing a car.

stevereeves wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:43 pm Check all fluid levels weekly, tyres & brakes at least monthly, that's pretty much it, look after your car and it should give you good service....

Andy Beats wrote:

stevereeves wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:43 pm Check all fluid levels weekly, tyres & brakes at least monthly, that's pretty much it, look after your car and it should give you good service....

How do you check the brakes monthly....?
Do you jack the thing up and remove the wheels....every month....?

Adam_013 wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 4:37 pm Have a peak at pads, how do you think they check them on a service. [emoji39]