You will have a printed service book which was supplied with the car. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations given in this book.

There is no mention of a 4 year change period - this is a VAG (M-K) generated scam to produce revenue lost by VAG's variable service regimen. They know perectly well that beyond 4 years, such jobs will be done by the independents.

I changed the cambelt and all associated parts (including water pump with metal impeller) on my diesel Superb at 5 years/60k miles. The job was a complete waste of time as all parts removed were in perfect condition. The logic behind doing the job at this time was simply that for my projected period of ownership, this car will just have two cambelt changes. The next belt will run to 80k miles.

If and when you have the belt changed on the Golf, ensure that the torque to yield bolts are renewed at each belt change and correctly tightened. It is a very silly, marginal design and the engine can break loose if assembly is performed incorrectly.

659.