Cost of Servicing

[RichPassat]

I didn't buy the Passat to worry about sevicing costs - as mentioned before there are a large number of components that will require a once over and you expect to pay accordingly.

I had a Mazda Bravo prior to the Passat that I serviced with a intermediate at 5000km and the log book service at 10000km and that would cost me $250 and $600 respectively. I will still get the Passat done at an intermediate of 7500km for oil and won't be complaining of the price as I personally believe that clean oil is good for a diesel.

[Rocket36]

I personally change the oil in all my vehicles (2 cars, 1 bike) every 5,000km.

[richdave]

$495.95 for the 30K service done recently.

I can tell you that so far this car is cheaper to service than the BA XR6T I used to have

[ron]

I personally change the oil in all my vehicles (2 cars, 1 bike) every 5,000km.

me too. every 5000k's regardless of time. except my hiace its now like 10000klms overdue, slackass

[ron]

Ron, are those are "turbo" $$$?

no, that was a 996 911 carrera s, then he got a 997 turbo in auto. Now changed again to a Vanquish S, i am still waiting for my 1st test drive.

[Benem]

no, that was a 996 911 carrera s, then he got a 997 turbo in auto. Now changed again to a Vanquish S, i am still waiting for my 1st test drive.

your friend got done on the clutch...but judging by his stable his hip pocket would hardly have noticed it

I am salivating at all those lovely cars

[ron]

your friend got done on the clutch...but judging by his stable his hip pocket would hardly have noticed it

I am salivating at all those lovely cars

yep me too. i guess i cant afford those things but lucky enough to know people that have em.

[Cro]

The DSG component isn't $1200.

The DSG oil change is only required at 60K (not time based) and costs ~$400.

If done at the time of the 60K service the total price will be ~$1000-1200.

Well that's a relief

[passatpout]

Well that's a relief

Yeah, but at my rate of clocking up mileage, I'll be up for it around about March next year...

[passatpout]

What I don't understand about servicing costs is that people complain about them at all!!! You're buying a car that has thousands of parts all working together. Seriously, is it a surprise that servicing our ever increasingly complex (yet also ever increasingly comfortable, safe, refined and better performing) cars are getting a little bit more expensive to maintain. Not many people get to a scheduled service interval more than once a year. If it's an average of $500 a service that's about $1.90 per day ONLY COUNTING WEEKDAYS. Sure Petrol is on top of that, but seriously it's still bloody good value for the sorts of cars we have.

I spend more that two times that on Coffee! lol

Agreed on that. Compared to other forms of transport (planes, ships, trucks, trains), as a proportion of operating and capital cost, cars are actually cheap to maintain, and getting cheaper in real terms. That's probably because of economies of scale, or market forces dictating cheap prices. How many people still need to do a valve grind every 10,000km or an engine rebuild after 100,000km nowadays?

In general, with a train, its maintenance costs over its life will be about 1.5-2 times the original capital costs - so a $7 million loco will cost between, say, $10-14 million to maintain over 25-30 years, in the base dollars of the year of construction, without any future present value alterations. I haven't seen any car yet that costs, say, $50,000, and is going to cost $100,000 to maintain over 20 years.

Note that's only for maintenance costs, not operating costs, so things like fuel, consumables (tyres, etc), aren't counted. Only considering things that would normally be changed during a service - filters, brake pads/rotors, etc.