Longlife or Time and Distance servcing?

[Legohead]

My car (143 ST Sport Tech) has done 14k miles and will be 2 years old in May, but I've lost my bottle and booked it in early for a Time and Distance service rather than waiting another 5k until the next Longlife service.

Going nearly 20k miles without a service doesn't sound healthy to me! Although I would assume the manufacturers have done their homework on engine life, I tend to agree with the more sceptical amongst us that Longlife servicing is not good for the car, but aimed more at driving down fleet vehicle costs.

Whats everyone else doing for a service schedule?

Oh, and it would appear a few of my local dealers don't know the correct service for the car given its age, even though the info is available on Seat's website

 

[SHADY-NINJA]

im quite skeptical about longlife servicing.
i did my last service 5000 miles early

 

[julianat57]

My car (143 ST Sport Tech) has done 14k miles and will be 2 years old in May, but I've lost my bottle and booked it in early for a Time and Distance service rather than waiting another 5k until the next Longlife service.

Going nearly 20k miles without a service doesn't sound healthy to me! Although I would assume the manufacturers have done their homework on engine life, I tend to agree with the more sceptical amongst us that Longlife servicing is not good for the car, but aimed more at driving down fleet vehicle costs.

Whats everyone else doing for a service schedule?

Oh, and it would appear a few of my local dealers don't know the correct service for the car given its age, even though the info is available on Seat's website

Hi, my 143 SE ST is 3 years old in May and has done 12k miles. I was given no other option than time and distance, but for my short journey usage, I would have changed it to this anyway. It is totally about the vehicle usage, a car regularly used on long trips would be perfectly happy on long life and would have to be in this day and age. I believe the 507.00 oil is the same for both types of service. My car is a long term private ownership and this is where a lot of decisions about servicing will be made, lease car etc going back in 3 to 4 years, what is your real interest? Where my car has cost me real money and I have to look after it....Julian

 

[mrkev]

Hi, like others have said, it really depends on usage. If for example, a car does 20K a year then long life would seem to be the way to go, otherwise if your only going to be doing 10K per year I'd stick with time and distance. You can also weigh in if it's for a car on private ownership that you intend to keep for a number of years or a lease car that's going to be returned after 3 or 4 years.

 

[Legohead]

Mine is privately owned I do ~12k per year and I intend to keep it for around 5 years, maybe longer providing nothing annoys me. For that reason I'd like to refresh the oil more often, but i was interested to see others views on Longlife in particular.

I fully appreciate a service schedule should be chosen on typical usage and indeed driving style too. I was not even aware mine was on Longlife until I pressed the service check button on the dash.

Interestingly Seat assistance is not included with Longlife servicing

 

[ibizacupra]

fixed interval servicing..
longlife sludges the engines up...

 

[stevea1234]

I'm happy with long life servicing. My 170ST will be two years old in April and will have done around 17K by then. Given the current price of fuel I rarely stress the car and it spends most of each day traveling 20 miles to work and then back at 60mph.

If I was racing the car I would probably have a different view, but I'm hoping they have tested the setup.

 

[DWaldie]

Maybe I'm the only one old enough to remember when cars had to be serviced every 6000 miles and we had to change gearbox oil before replacing the 'box. Modern engines are so much better made, with much tighter tolerances and the fuel we put in them so much cleaner, I'm happy to live with longlife. Which for me is about 12 months driving.

I struggle to accept that we know better than the German car industry. I'd feel different if it was a Fiat though

 

[Dark Andrew]

The problem for me is that the fixed time / distance servicing interval is too short. I do about 12-13,000 miles a year (mostly motorway and A-road driving) and the time distance interval on fixed servicing is only actually 9,000 miles (it's supposed to be 10,000 miles but the service due light comes on 1000 before its due). Ideally I'd like to get it serviced yearly but if I did then I'd be about 4,000 miles late. Similarly, going for the variable servicing works out at about 19,000 miles which is about a year and a half for me - so really I'm stuck on the "crossover point" between the two service schedules.

 

[M7R]

Fixed interval every time! Even if you are doing 30k a year plus! It's an extra £160 for a dealer oil change... It's hardly silly money! Or do like I do with my mums mini which is on the tlc scheme where all the services are paid for up front... Just do the oil and filter your self every 10k between official long life services... I have just done the oil (5:30 long life 3 oil) and air filter, pollen filter and oil filter on my a4... For less than 60 quid for genuine oil and filters from vw's parts outlets - the trade parts specialist (or Tps as its known) either way though oil in there for 20k or 2 years is bad!

Also the main point of long life was the please the fleet market... If you car can go longer with out a service the cost of the car over the life of the lease is less...and this can easily make the difference between getting the fleet contact or not.. But if your fleet you only need the car to last 100k tops with out major issue..

My old mk4 golf had been on short life services, it was fleet to 100k (short life services) and then had an owner like me who I knew to 160k then me.. Always run on gen oil and filters.. And that was at 200k when I sold it, no turbo issues, need used oil between services, and last I heard from the lad I sold it too was still going strong! Yet my old a4 which was on long life till 90k when I got it needed a turbo at 150k 6 months after I sold it... And my current a4 has just had a new turbo at 97k... Again long life for the first 6 years to 80k... I accept some turbo issue is also down to the driver no letting the engine run down, pushed from cold etc...but old oil won't help.

 

[ozz]

If I was doing 8k a year, and was going to keep it for >5 years, I'd probably change the oil and filter in between myself (every other year - no biggie)
I've just had first longlife service done at 18600 miles and 5 months old. I think I'm exactly hte person the Long Life Service was designed for. Leas car, 143 TDI. 90% of driving is motorway or dual carriageway at 1500-1800rpm. I'm not going to soot the oil up doing that.