Originally Posted By: bkbenjy
From VW.com
The right motor oil that meets VW standards:
* Helps keep your engine clean.
* Helps your engine "turn over" more easily.
* Provides optimal protection under more extreme driving conditions.
* Coats and lubricates vital engine components helping reduce friction and increase horsepower.
* Helps improve fuel economy by 5% or more.*
* Allows engine parts to move more freely and helps reduce heat and overall wear.
* Remains more stable at higher temperatures instead of beginning to break down early.
I would think any high quality synthetic oil would meet these qualifications.
I would agree that most high quality synthetics would meet those qualifications. However, VW/Audi don't rely on qualifications. They rely on specifications. Check the manual. I almost guarantee that there will be some proprietary VW spec required for oil. The most common oils that meet the varying VW specs are GC and M1 0w-40, if I recall correctly. I believe the specs are met by PU, in their European grades only, which are very hard to find.
From a warranty perspective, running vanilla PU or M1 is as contraindicated as would be running old SB from the dollar store. That's not to say that those wouldn't be better choices than the dollar store stuff, but if one doesn't meet the specifications under warranty, that's at one's own peril.
In a more general sense, sure, synthetic might be "better" in a turbo engine. However, there is a lot of agricultural equipment out there running eight to twelve hours a day at full boost using HDEO 15w-40. For my Audi turbo, I've gone on highway runs and changed the oil immediately thereafter, spilling on my hands without burning them.
As for synthetics being better in the short term (i.e. short OCIs) than conventionals, I'm not convinced. For that to be true, the engine would have to be facing some rather peculiar circumstances.
