Engine Oil

Right "fixed" and "flexible" servicing, "fixed" is fixed by fixed mileage and time, maybe 10,000 miles or 12 months, service warning will can on when one of them has been passed. "flexible" is dependant on how the car is used, ie so many cold starts, short journeys, miles and ultimately so many months - in average use this might roll out as 15,000 over 18 months. The dealer was meant to alter how the car was set up after seeing how you ended up using it in a bid to cut your motoring costs. Special oils that could "keep good" for extended periods of use were used for flexible service, and normal oils were used for fixed service. Now, I think, to avoid any confusion, only long (flexible) service oils are used. Fixed service is best for a longer engine life, flexible service is better for fleet manager's budget! I'd stick with using either Castrol, as named on the filler cap or Mobil 1 ESP and use 5W-30 to save energy - a bit.

I think that I've read that Mobil 1 ESP was used by Audi in my 3.0TFSI - so I'll stick with that. Maybe look up "oilman"s site as he seems to sculk around most car web forums!


Of course, as I come from 2/3 of the way up the country, maybe I should use 5W-30 and you should use 5W-40 - but I'd be surprised if that is true!