Well guys for what it is worth I have actually contacted Volkswagen in Germany asking them about oil change intervals and associated "severe" conditions. I was driven to that action because of all the contradictory info I was reading and hearing. The Germans were very polite and said that they appreciated my concerns and that they had passed my enquiry to Volkswagen Australia for them to answer my questions.
Uh-oh I thought - here we go - on the merry go round... never to be heard from again..... BUT... I was pleasantly surprised and contacted by a customer service rep to discuss and work out a solution to my concerns. I told him that I was worried about 15,000km / 12 month servicing as I considered my car operated under severe driving conditions. (90% of trips are of less than 15 minutes duration).
He said he would talk to his technical people to see what would be appropriate for my car. The end result was that the car should properly be serviced at the 15,000km / 12 month interval. The oil in the car's new engine was indeed a special running in oil and was not to be changed prior to the specified interval. The engine and the oil are designed to operate efficiently and safely under the recommended schedule. It is interesting to note that this advice was exactly the same as I received from my selling dealer when I queried it with them some months ago - at the beginning of this saga.
So, I guess, take it or leave it - I used to change the oil in my WRX and Forester XT at every 2500kms - overkill to be sure.... I still have nightmares about leaving the oil in the engine for these new long periods, but at the very least I have names and written documents to support the advice if ever something happens in the future. Of course I desperately hope that it never comes anywhere near to that....I have to place my faith in those engineers and oil technicians and rely on the fact that they don't spend millions of dollars on research for no reason.... My 2c worth folks......