The VW Owner's Manual says that normal oil usage can be up to about a pint per 100 miles (that's 7.5 quarts per 3000 miles!)
Rob commented -
That seems like a lot to me. In my experience it has been more like one litre per 3000 miles. I occasionally get a puff of smoke on start-up, but there's no smoke trail when it's warm and the plugs stay clean.
Dave wrote -
I don't know how far my son drove between oil checks, but I think his oil usage is somewhere between the two extremes. The Bug does blow a little blue smoke occasionally, usually only on startup. The mechanic who tore the engine down to replace the case and crankshaft said the pistons and rings were good.
Disclaimer stuff: Rob and Dave have prepared this information from their own experiences. We have not assumed any specialised mechanical knowledge, but we DO assume that anyone using this information has at least some basic mechanical ability.
We hope you find this information useful, but we don't take any responsibility for anything which happens to you, other people, your VW or any other property or goods resulting from your use of this material.
Feel free to print off any of this information for your own use. If you intend to link this material to another site, reprint it, or in any other way redistribute it, please leave the information complete, including this disclaimer section, and provide a link to this Web site.
Last revised 6 May 2004.