Is it normal for my Skoda Fabia vRS to use a litre of oil every 1000 miles?

I purchased a demonstration model Skoda Fabia vRS, current mileage 3,500 approx, and it is using about a litre of oil per 1,000 miles. No sign of blue smoke or oil on garage floor. The dealer implies this is the norm, but not in my experience over many years and many cars. Is there an explanation as the cause? And what action do you suggest?

Asked on 12 June 2011 by DA, Stoke Gabriel, Devon

Answered by Honest John
Yes. Filling the engine with synthetic Longlife oil on the production line. This can prevent the piston oil rings bedding into the bores, turning the engine into an oil user. A smart manufacturer (or a smart dealer) would recommend trying a running-in oil, as VAG used to prescribe. In fact they beat a big drum about first filling their engines with recycled oil on the production line to help them bed in their oil rings. All that changed with the advent of Longlife oil, charged at something like £17 a litre. The company boasts about not needing an oil change for 20,000 miles, but at an oil usage rate of 1,000 miles a litre, the engine will have changed its own oil four times by the time it gets to 20,000 miles. This is not acceptable, and it would not be acceptable to a county court judge to expect a car owner to fork out £300 on oil every 20,000 miles.
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