Thanks for the info Chris.
See, here is a classic case of giving the fleet managers what they want, and in doing so sell more cars, which you can forgive in this cut throat business.
Extending the service schedule means less services in the life of the company vehicle, and makes for good figures in the servicing budget. Unfortunately further down the line when they are three years old or more unsuspecting buyers are now taking ownership of a vehicle which has not got a very sound service history.
Taking the Audi Service Schedule as an example, and you Chris will be aware of this with your A2. My TT's have two servicing regimes. If the owner does less than 9k miles per year he will have a fixed service every year If he tends to do a higher mileage, as in my case, you can opt for the Flexible Service Schedule which is every two years or 19k miles.
So in this instance does that mean if I cover 9k miles i Service my car at 9k which is pretty good. But if I do 11k miles a year I can go another 8k miles before I need a service. Can you see where I'm coming from. All of a sudden, for a couple of thousand miles per year more, I've eked out an extra 8k before I need to change the oil.
Needless to say even tho' I average 35k per year I have an oil change at 9k regularly.
If its a new engine design and its built to cope with extended service schedules fine. But I bet, and this is true of some of the German engines, and I wouldn't imagine that the French Diesel engines are any different, no matter how good they are, and I know they are good, were suddenly capable of doing another 4k miles without any detriment to the oil.
For followers of my rantings on here, some I might add are justified, others, tongue in cheek, will realise borne out thro past experience of owning three previous Citroen Models (GS Pallas & two CX's) and one Peugeot (505 GTi). I have a loathing for anything French, especially French Electrics.
But as pointed out on here, things are a changing and I'm willing to forgive and forget. With the new car imminent, to protect it's warranty it will need regular servicing. That's OK, no problem with that. But I for one will probably be slipping in a oil and filter change around the 8k mark.
Just as a point, I dropped into the dealer yesterday to sign some paperwork in readiness for tomorrows collection. And I asked if it would be serviced before we picked picked it up, even tho' it's only 6 months old and only done 2000 miles. In fairness he did say yes, they can do that and give it a 65 point check, ensuring its not due a service for the next 12 months or 16k miles.
Top marks for that Mr Dealer, off to a good start.