Thanks. I'll only have about 40k on the clock when it’s 5 years old so I’ll see how brave I feel!
What are others doing on here - anyone ignored the 5 year recommendation and lived to regret it?
Mine is currently 7 1/2 years old and 60,000 miles, and I haven't changed the belt. As already said, they made a thing about the belt effectively never needing replacing when they launched the engine, the handbook and My Audi (ie everything under the control of Audi HQ) still have no time limit, and only Audi UK have said 5 years.
Personally I'm going with what the manufacturer says, and I'm gambling on this 5 year thing just being Audi UK wanting more money for their dealers every 5 years, and so am ignoring it. Just like I ignore the Audi UK's "regas air con every 2 years" requirement, having had that done once, last year, when it stopped being quite as cold and started making a new fluid noise instead.
Everything that is in the official service schedule I do as and when it says, every time.
I may or may not get the cambelt changed at 10 years - wait and see how I'm feeling about it then!
Obviously it's all a risk/reward trade off, and my one example of having been fine so far is proof of nothing, but there is also the risk of them messing something up to throw into the risk/reward balance, as well as the cost of getting it done.