The Basics

The basics for any car always come down to maintenance. One of the most common things you heard from gear heads is "oil changes save engines" and truer words have never been spoken. This might as be the 1st amendment to anything cars. But beyond oil changes what should you be doing? Ignoring everything until something breaks? Well of course not, every manufacturer has a "Maintenance Schedule." Most owners never even realize they are following this schedule because they just take their car to a dealer and they just proceed with the recommended Maintenance. But as a DIY'er you have to know these intervals and follow them well. Sometimes ignoring a service interval is okay. skipping an air filter when your old one is still clean won't hurt anything. But missing something like a timing belt replacement may be catastrophic. Missing something as major as that(which is usually a 100-120k service interval) can be like driving around a ticking time bomb. That's why it's important to at least reference a Maintenance Schedule of some kind. For me, I follow the schedule in my owner's manual, but if you don't have yours you can always use an online reference. Something like this:  Audi Maintenance Schedule Lookup. However, even this might not be enough. If you are a bit of a spirited driver then changing heavy wear items more frequently than suggested might be the way to go. Things like oil, ATF, brake pads, and spark plugs are good items to replace on shorter intervals than suggested if you like to drive hard, but it is always a good thing to have a starting point for any maintenance-related things. Preventative maintenance is the best maintenance.