When to change oil

[Sanster1]

I have a '16 RAV 4 with 108K miles. I have had the dealership change the oil every 10K like Toyota recommends. I do typical driving, nothing heavy,  I'm old school so that type of mileage seems high. What do others do?

[Catlover]

After 10 oil changes and coming up for its 11th I wouldn’t worry about it. If it was bad practice it would have shown by now. The fact it’s ok shows Toyota we’re right.

Welcome to Toyotas Owners Club.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Toyota Owners Club is UK based with the majority of members in the UK. Think most members would stay with the manufacturer's recommendations (UK 10,000 miles, Europe 15,000km).

[Bernard Foy]

1 hour ago, Sanster1 said:

I have a '16 RAV 4 with 108K miles. I have had the dealership change the oil every 10K like Toyota recommends. I do typical driving, nothing heavy,  I'm old school so that type of mileage seems high. What do others do?

Hi David welcome to the forum. Having had the dealership service your car for the last 5 years, then it has been properly done and I would not consider 108K miles as high mileage. With modern engineering, modern engines are well capable of doing twice that and more. So no I would not consider it a high mileage car.

[ernieb]

Many cars are now 12k miles and the previous Skoda diesels I ran used long life oil and that would be changed at 18K. VW, Skoda, Seat etc., brands have been using the long life formulas for some time.

I’d certainly change as recommended either by time or mileage it seems a relatively inexpensive way maintaining the engine.

[Avalon]

26 minutes ago, ernieb said:

Many cars are now 12k miles and the previous Skoda diesels I ran used long life oil and that would be changed at 18K. VW, Skoda, Seat etc., brands have been using the long life formulas for some time.

I’d certainly change as recommended either by time or mileage it seems a relatively inexpensive way maintaining the engine.

VTS was just VW’s way of marketing to fleet buyers - one less service to deal with over 3 years. Anyone doing high miles or with an interest in longevity went with time and distance intervals still. Oil is relatively inexpensive, using the wrong oil isn’t. In the case of VW etc. they invented a bespoke long life standard, cam wear was a thing on the PD’s if the wrong oil was used. It takes a few years to become obvious, but one local independent garage that did a lot of private hire service work ended up closing after it turned out that most of the drivers who used him had cam issues as the miles stacked up. Then again we all had the Teves MK60 ABS failures to deal with 😞

[ernieb]

@Avalon, I probably never clocked up more than about 70K but I have plenty of friends who’ve clocked up serious mileage without issues and have used the long service intervals. You pay your money and make a choice I guess. 
I got a deal on a service plan when I bought the PHEV so covers the first 50k, probably 4+ years for me if I’m able to do my normal mileage.  My feeling is always go with the manufacturers recommendations especially during the warranty period.