new owner - which maintenance schedule?

S

socalcx-5

Member
Bought the car a few weeks ago and I'm a bit torn on which maintenance schedule to follow. It is my wife's daily driver and her commute is only 3 miles each way, but it's in heavy bumper to bumper traffic pretty much the whole way (so constant breaking, low speeds). Usually takes her about 20-30 minutes each way, and the rest of the day the car sits in a parking garage. On the weekends we use it for errands and the occasional road trip. We live in Los Angeles.

Which maintenance schedule would you follow, schedule 1 at 7500 mile intervals for "normal" use, or schedule 2 at 5000 mile intervals? I'm leaning towards schedule 2 because we plan on keeping this car a long time and I want to take good care of it, but I'm worried it might be overkill and a waste of $$.
 
Page 6-4 of your owners' manual says the following:
Follow Schedule 1 if the vehicle is operated mainly where none of the following conditions
apply.
l Repeated short-distance driving
l Driving in dusty conditions
l Driving with extended use of brakes
l Driving in areas where salt or other corrosive materials are used
l Driving on rough or muddy roads
l Extended periods of idling or low-speed operation
l Driving for long periods in cold temperatures or extremely humid climates
l Driving in extremely hot conditions
l Driving in mountainous conditions continually
If any do apply, follow Schedule 2 (Canada and Puerto Rico residents follow Schedule 2).
Seems pretty obvious to me; you're a Schedule 2 kinda family. Also, it sounds like you may be putting on closer to 10k miles/year than 15k, so your maintenance intervals (in terms of months) should be shorter. I pretty consistently drive 10k miles/year mainly in town/suburbs. So I change my oil every 5k miles (per schedule 2) which is right about every 6 months.
 
I agree--schedule 2 would be best for you--but I have to ask--20-30 minutes to go 3 miles? I thought NY/NJ traffic was bad....
 
haha yeah, we happen to live in one of the more congested areas of LA. My wife has to cross under the 405 on her route, which makes it a slog.

Thanks for the input, guys.
 
I agree with paris1 and andyg regarding recommended schedule 2. And because of the low monthly mileage you might have to change at 4 months before reaching 5K.
 
Last edited:
CX-SV said:
I agree with paris1 and andyg regarding recommended schedule 2. And because of the low monthly mileage you might have to change at 6 months before reaching 5K.
Click to expand...

Isn't it 4 months / 5K?

I've been following schedule 2 until now but it seems strange to replace a synthetic oil after only 4 months. Service advisor said 6 months should be OK despite stop & go traffic, but I don't completely trust his suggestion.
 
ALafya said:
Isn't it 4 months / 5K?

I've been following schedule 2 until now but it seems strange to replace a synthetic oil after only 4 months. Service advisor said 6 months should be OK despite stop & go traffic, but I don't completely trust his suggestion.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct, SCHEDULE 2 calls for 4 months. I will correct my post above accordingly so it's not misleading.

btw- To me I see following the 4 (or 6 month) interval as a warranty measure, but that could be considered as a separate topic.
 
ALafya said:
Isn't it 4 months / 5K?

I've been following schedule 2 until now but it seems strange to replace a synthetic oil after only 4 months. Service advisor said 6 months should be OK despite stop & go traffic, but I don't completely trust his suggestion.
Click to expand...
5k miles @6 months is plenty frequent enough using synthetic oil. These are all approximations and no dealer/manufacturer is going to raise an eyebrow if you're 30 days or 1000 miles off either way.
 
paris1 said:
5k miles @6 months is plenty frequent enough using synthetic oil. These are all approximations and no dealer/manufacturer is going to raise an eyebrow if you're 30 days or 1000 miles off either way.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Most automakers allow up to 12 months with full synthetic oil. 6 months (versus 4) will not be a valid reason to deny a warranty claim in reality. And once the warranty expires I will go to 7.5K/12 months (whatever comes first which will usually be the miles) using recommended full synthetic of course.
 
When I had my 2008 VW Rabbit, they said that I have to change it every 5k miles. Later on they changed the warranty on VWs and it became free maintenance, but the car was basically the same and they switched the oil changes to 10k. So if you have to pay, then you have to do it at 5k, but if they have to pay, then it's fine up to 10k.
 
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