I'm having a bit of a disagreement with my regular mechanic and I'm not sure who's right. I drive a 2019 Japanese sedan, nothing too fancy, and I've always taken it to the dealership for peace of mind. They've been doing services every 10,000km and it's been fine. But I recently started going to a smaller garage for minor stuff, and the owner there was shocked I was going that long between oil changes. He insists that in Abu Dhabi's heat and dust, 5,000km is the maximum you should go. I tried to look into it objectively and found this detailed article about recommended vehicle maintenance intervals specifically for the UAE. It actually explained that both could be right depending on your driving habits, and that the "severe service" schedule in most manuals matches what my mechanic is suggesting. Now I'm wondering if I've been slowly wearing out my engine by sticking to the longer intervals. Does anyone here have a trusted source they use to decide on their service schedule?
