DT

Imported a new MY01 WRX. Dutch dealer said the 1000m service we do in the UK is unnecessary and they do 1st service at 7500m. Service manual seems to confirm this. UK dealers recommend the 1000m service and seem to charge £70-£90 for what amounts to an oil change. Shell Helix was the oil used and it's not a special running in grade. So whats the score? If all it is is an oil change might as well do it myself.

Andy W

DT,
If something goes wrong with the car who do you expect to rectify it if you are going to take the car back to Holland then You could Ignore the 1000 mile service, If you expect Subaru Uk to fix the car under the 1yr warranty then I would suggest do the 1000mile service. ( If it was me I'd get the service done My 1000 mile service was only £40 as labour was free on this one. Money well spent IMHO)

Gastro

I agree with Andy on this one........
Its seems silly to potentially invalidate your warranty for the sake of £80 !!!!!!!
Dont scrimp and scrape when you've already done the expensive bit - bought the car

Gastro

Chip

DT,
Working in the engineering business myself, the main reason to change the oil at 1000 miles is to rid the engine of any tiny particles of metal that may or may not be floating around in it.These particles are basically from where new components are meshing together in your engine and some are hardly detectable to the eye. This oil change should be done on all engines. Avoid it at your own peril.
What,s £50 against a £20K car anyway.
Also if £50 hurts then wait til you get to the major services.

Cheers

Chip.

Shark

Very - in a word

The UK cars are supplied new with a very thin grade of oil esp for running in. It is important this is changed at 1K. Not sure what oil comes in Euro cars from the factory, but chip is spot on, always a good idea to change at 1K with any engine.

Also as said, your warranty is at stake. If you had an engine failure at say 6K you could have problems. I very much doubt your dutch dealer is right when saying Shell Helix is fitted on the production line.

David

DT

Cheers chaps, points well made. Service booked. Nuff said.

Jza

Your MAD not to get it done mate. Has the dealer put his comments in writing so theres fallback at a later date. My dealer was adamant that i came in with my MY01 WRX as close to the 1000 miles as possible. It costs pennies compared to the potential problems down the line!!

Jza

chiark

Glad to hear you're booked in...

As EU imports are exactly the same as the cars that Subaru UK (IM) get their hands on, does anyone know for sure that the oil is actually dropped in the UK and replaced with running in stuff? Or is the running in stuff dropped in Holland and replaced with standard stuff?

It isn't really that important as I'd advocate the service in all instances, but I'm just curious as to why there's two different approaches and where the "thin running in oil" comes from.

Tim Skerry

It is true that engines these days are made of much better materials and to closer tolerances than in the past, so there will be fewer metal particles floating around and being trapped in the filter, but I think it would be a false economy to miss this one. It probably matter more to the person who wil have the car at 90,000 miles than to you, as I don't think the sort of stuff that gets past the oil filter would be likely to cause acute problems - just slightly more wear. But if you did have a catastrophic failure, you would kick yourself.