First 'variable' service at exactly 12 months?

[Syzygy]

My 2010 S3 is displaying a service notice for dead on 12 months to the day that I picked it up even though its only done 7k miles. Called the dealership who insisted it on on AVS and this will be down to my driving style but I reckon they've switched it to fixed servicing during the PDI.

Can anyone confirm this doesn't sound right?

 

[paddy]

Variable would be 2 years ish and never @7k miles. 12 months to the day is a bit of a coincidence ....

 

[Syzygy]

Pretty much what I thought! I'd be interested to know if this is a common dealer trick to increase servicing frequency as I can't imagine it's easy to do by mistake.

 

[Sparky76]

I'm having a similar experience too...I bought a facelift 58 plate s3 SB a few weeks ago (it was serviced just before I picked it up) and took it back to the dealer for the same reason...they claim that they have checked it on both fixed and variable and it is now back on variable as requested, although it still says almost a year and 9000 miles until next oil change. He then tried to tell me that he'd never trust a variable service plan anyway!

He did say that over the next few thousand miles it should change depending upon how I drive it. I only do 5000 miles a year and was rather hoping it wouldnt need servicing every 12 months.

 

[h5djr]

My current A3 2.0TDI was new on 28 April 2009 and had it's first variable service on 13 July 2010 when the mileage was 19,510.

All of my previous A3s have been on variable service and have dome around 18-19k miles before the first service.

 

[paddy]

That sounds more like it Dave

 

[Syzygy]

Rang Audi customer services today who told me my car is on the new type of variable service introduced in 2008. Apparently this means the car can require an oil change as early as 6k!

Why the dealership doesn't know this I'm not sure but I can't find any mention of it in the sales brochure either. Anyone else heard of it?

Got the car on VCDS earlier which gave me the following info:

************************************************************************************************************************
Channel Description Unit Current val. New val.
02 Service Reminder Status 2 ---
40 Distance since Service km x100 114 ---
41 Time since Service Days 354 ---
42 Minimum Distance to Service km x100 145 ---
43 Maximum Distance to Service km x100 300 ---
44 Maximum Time to Service Days 730 ---
45 Oil Quality 2 ---
47 Soot Quantity km x100 0 ---
48 Thermal Load km x100 460 ---
49 Minimum Time to Service Days 365 ---
50 Basic Distance Value for Oil Change km x100 145 ---
51 Basic Time Value for Oil Change Days 365 ---
52 Basic Distance Value for Inspection km x100 306 ---
53 Distance since Inspection km x100 114 ---
54 Basic Time Value for Inspection Days 730 ---
55 Time since Inspection Days 354 ---
56 Day Counter Days 377 ---
************************************************************************************************************************

 

[paddy]

Its about time Audi admitted that 2 years for an oil change is plain daft. I am totally convinced that half the problems i had with my 3.2 was down to LL oil. Personally i think long life servicing was a marketing ploy that has backfired on them and anyone who really expects to go 2 years on their oil doesn't really like their car !!

 

[Syzygy]

I agree but think Audi should update their sales and technical material to state that 6k - 20k is acceptable range for a long life service rather than saying 'approx 19k'. Would be handy if the dealerships knew what was going on as well!