whats the evidence to show the belt needs changing at 4 years or 60k, whatever comes first?
is this a cleaver ploy for VW to get more service work and make money?
I dont think this is a clever ploy - perhaps long term testing by VW has shown wear on the belt after 60k or 5 years was higher than they wanted so they revised the intervals for changing.
If VW didn't revise the intervals and people were getting failures before the 120k mark, people would still come on here slagging off VW for neglecting their duty of care... damned if they do, damned if they dont.
On the flip side, the mk4 R32 has a chain which is a non serviceable item.... they also break... ask some of the lads on the r32oc forum.
For those who says its a way for VW to make extra money, if you feel so strongly about it, you could easily go to a non dealership garage and use non genuine parts, this way, VW wont make a single penny from you. The car is out of warranty so it doesn't matter where you take it and what parts are used.
Rich