Okay, so the oil topic has been beat to death. I think we all know that. Here are my two pennies.
1. Change your oil on time - VW recommends 10k intervals. This is exactly how often you should be changing your oil. There is no way the engineers got this wrong. You are just wasting money by changing it earlier. Unless you had a track day or something, you should just stick to what's recommended. Synthetic oil doesn't break down, it just gets dirty. Check the dip stick between changes to make sure you are at the proper level. Also, dirty oil is NOT an indication of how well it's lubricating.
2. Use the dealership's oil. VW has their own formula now. It used to be Castrol, the new bottles look like Mobil 1, but that's not been confirmed. Get your oil from the dealership. Less of an issue if you ever need to use your warranty, etc. It costs about the same, too. Maybe a dollar more per quart. There is absolutely no benefit to running Amsoil / Royal etc. It's just wasted money.
3. Check your sticker under the hood for oil weight. There are many different variables that can dictate which oil weight you need, but you can't go wrong if you just use what's on the sticker. For example, VW has the Golf R required oil weight different in at least 3 places. The manual says to run 5w30/40, the sticker says 0w30, and the dealership had 0w20 in their system due to a "memo update." There is a reason the sticker says what it does, and the techs performing oil changes are trained to use what's on the sticker. It's fool proof.
4. What you are referring to as "Oil Grades" are actually oil standards. Some of these include API, ACEA, etc. They vary depending on where you are in the world and how strict emissions standards are. There are some really great videos on YouTube about this and some excellent forums / websites you can visit depending on how much you are trying to learn.
5.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ Visit this page. Anything and everything you could ever want to know about oil. Also send your oil to Blackstone to have an UOA done on your next oil change. This will tell you exactly what the frequency of changes should be. The test kit is free, and the analysis is only about $30. Well worth the $$$ if you ask me.
- Watch this video. This dude has sent in multiple samples, one of which was at 10k interval. Blackstone stated his oil was fine and could have gone longer, even at the 10k mark!
