superswiss

Unfortunately, this keeps being excused by many manufacturers as normal. Yes, a certain amount of oil is burned as part of the combustion. There's oil on the cylinder walls for lubrication and some of that burns as part of the combustion, but what Audi and others consider normal is increasingly being viewed as BS. I also excused it as normal in the past. Both my last two Audis burned oil. Anywhere from about a quart every 1000 miles with my B7 S4 (normal according to Audi), and about a quart every 3-4k miles with my RS5. I somewhat excused the latter due to the high revving nature (8.5k rpm) of that engine and I redlined it almost every day. But I now have a '19 C63S coupe and the AMG V8 doesn't burn oil or at least not enough to fall below the min level between regular oil changes. I don't even need to bother to check. Among other things, this engine also still has a proper dipstick. I personally think it's poor engine design. Audi specifically got caught using inferior piston rings in the 2.0TT in the past and had to replace them under warranty for many owners. Let's be honest, these are relatively cheap engines produced for the volume models. They are driven by aggressive fuel economy objectives and low cost to maximize profits. Compare that to the engine in my AMG, which costs $70k if it needs to be replaced.

toomanymc

Doesn’t Mercedes say normal oil consumption for their engines is up to .9qt per 1,000 miles?

all modern gas engines consume oil, it’s just the way things are as we push for more power, less emissions and greater fuel efficiency

superswiss

It's very possible for their regular volume engines. I know MB has issues with cracked pistons in their 4 banger, so yeah I'm not saying all their engines are good. I can only speak for my AMG (well not just mine as the AMG V8 in general doesn't have this issue), and comparing it to my previous RS5 for an apples-to-apples comparison. Both high performance variants of volume base models. I also drove an R8 V10 for a while and the oil warning came on in the middle of a canyon run. My Audis were the only cars where I carried a quart of oil in the trunk at all times, and had a supply in my garage. Glad I don't have to deal with this anymore. Audi knows its a problem. To ease the burden all dealerships offer free top up to reduce customer frustration, but you still have to take time out of your day and stop by the dealership.

rohan737

thQ5...Next time you do an oil change...use Motul VW508 specific oil or Liqui Moly 6200 Top Tec VW508 oil and you will see the difference. The OEM oil does not even come close...my personal experience.

AgentOfQ

Our 2020 Q5 is burning about the same amount of oil. We had one situation where the "add oil" light came on one day and then two days later the car wouldn't leave the driveway because we hadn't added any oil. Our Q5 has stranded us twice now. Once because of a pre-sense issue and once because of the oil.

You can't predict when you will need a quart. We now travel with an extra quart in the trunk in case we run low while on the road somewhere.

thQ5

No, not all modern engines consume oil: On our 4th RAV 4--never burns oil; had many Camrys, never burned oil. I'm retired and my driving is mostly in town, slow speeds. Still having to add a quart of oil every 6-7000 miles to my 2020 Q5 bought new. Ridiculous!

Kris Hansen

I truly believe that part of the consumption issue is down to driving style. These engines are designed to run boost, and revs. If the engine never warms up, never gets boost, the rings don't seal correctly. I was actually able to reverse or slow down consumption on my '14 allroad by changing my driving style. More frequent HARD acceleration runs (favorite on ramp) and fewer short trips cut the consumption from a quart every 1000 to a quart every 1500 or so (within a 20k mile time period).

I feel that if you drive it like you're afraid to break the car, you're actually making it WORSE for the car.