Not so long ago, MB and others jumped on the sealed for life bandwagon, now miraculously the previous recommended is stated as 30k, a bit like politicians and their media mates rewriting history, and ignoring the bits we'd rather YOU forgot, to suit.

These makers make the rules up as they go along, its because of expensive experiments/guesswork that i shall continue to take little notice of the latest fads in servicing requirements and use common sense, good maintenance if done sensibly (avoiding the main dealers apart from that all important stamp whilst under warranty) is still much cheaper than the alternative, and i can't see that changing.

I agree with the OP's plan.

edit, i have been renewing the auto box oil on the Outback, owners forums recommend doing it 3 times (unable to drain the TC, and i'm not getting involved in pumping one lot in other out via cooler pipes), each time the gearchange improved noticeably, and it started off with clean looking red oil, i shall now do an annual single change to keep it sweet.

Edited by gordonbennet on 15/07/2014 at 09:46

I thought MB recommended 40,000 mile changes. This is the first I have heard of it being 30,000.