Service every year?

[Billy_Whizzzz]

981 Spyder, I do about 2000 miles a year. Up until this point I have always serviced every year but wondering if that is mad and actually fine to do every other year. What do other people do with relatively low miles between services? Every year irrespective or keep to every other ?

[Boxstercol]

Personally I keep to the manufacturers 2 year service recommendation but have an oil & filter change in between the actual services. My Boxster only does circa 1500 miles per annum & usually the oil comes out as clean as it went in.

I follow this with my daily as well. I don’t like the idea of oil staying in an engine longer than 12 months. Some might say it’s a waste of money, maybe it is, but I’d like to think that my cars are well looked after.

[Armitage.Shanks]

It's a complete waste of money especially if you're paying an OPC to do it - but it's your money so do what you want.

If Porsche who designed and built the engine have decided the service interval is 2yrs/20k miles (other than on track) then why would you not stick with that?

[Ezra]

A service isn't just about changing the oil. It's an opportunity for someone to look over the car and maybe spot problems before they happen. At least a good indie who knows what they're doing would. Its a false economy not having this every year or so with a car thats, what, approaching 10 years old?

[Softsand]

I’m in Australia.

You may find it funny but here 12 month servicing is a requirement…

Servicing every two years would put you outside warranty guidelines.

Bizarre I know…

[reddiesel]

Ezra said:

A service isn't just about changing the oil. It's an opportunity for someone to look over the car and maybe spot problems before they happen. At least a good indie who knows what they're doing would. Its a false economy not having this every year or so with a car thats, what, approaching 10 years old?

Two ways of looking at this unfortunately , regarding this spotting of problems . The last GTS which I bought new had an oil change at every 5000 miles from an Independent . I sold it at just over 20,000 whereby Porsche Wolverhampton gave it its first OPC service then selling it with a full Porsche history .
Personally I am always a bit anal regarding frequent oil changes so I stumped up the necessary money . I always think it's a positive experience for any future buyer when they find this additional paperwork in the wallet , it just shouts out careful owner

[MDL111]

I have my car serviced every 2 years per the schedule. When looking to buy a car, I am already positively surprised if that has taken place - most cars have missed services as Germans it seems like to service them based on mileage as opposed to schedule. Am in the process of buying a car that had its last service in 2015 and little mileage done since then (it will get a new service and be checked through prior to taking delivery). While I would love a car to have perfect service history, it is very rare outside of the UK imo (for cars that are not driven [tens of] thousands of kms a year). I'll rebuild its (recent) service history over the next few years, so then it will hopefully not matter as much anymore.

[LiamH66]

I tend not to exceed the standard service intervals in either earlier or later than suggested, but I do stick to suggested time or mileage, whichever is sooner.

I look at it as the suggested intervals allowing Porsche to make a profit from warranty, both new purchase and extended, and still allow the dealers to make a profit from servicing. If an annual oil change were in any way necessary, it would cost them a fortune in warranty claims.

As far as getting the car checked over annually goes, great idea. When I've had a warranty, any potential issues I've asked to be looked at have been accompanied by a good all round health check on the car. If you step outside factory warranty, I'm sure good indies will be happy to check the car over annually for a realistic cost, and without changing the oil.

30 years ago I was a big advocate of an annual oil change. Fortunately oil, oil filters and crankcase ventilation have come on a bit since those days. The service intervals got longer because the cars don't need such regular servicing. If it gives you peace of mind, it's not a great cost, but I don't think it's necessary.

Liam

[rlw]

Softsand said:

I m in Australia.

You may find it funny but here 12 month servicing is a requirement

Servicing every two years would put you outside warranty guidelines.

Bizarre I know

Heat related? It does get warmer than the UK there...............