one thing to remember ...

the longer the oil change interval you choose, whether for synthetics
or dino oils, the longer the time between looks under the engine.
:(  this means YOU don't get to see small problems before they become
big problems.

in the old days, we had to adjust the valves on our buses every other
month or so. which was ok, cause we had to change the oil in the
engine anyway, and there was always that last half-quart left over for
the air filter. yup. oil bath air filter. :) worked great, big mess to
clean up if you lived in dusty areas. ;)

so every other month or so, you had to crawl around under the engine,
adjusting this and draining that, and just basically looking. you
could see the cv joint boots and the transmission and all sorts of
things that needed looking at now and again.

then came hydraulic valve lifters. we didn't have to adjust valves on
a regular schedule now. so we quit crawling around under the engine.
little problems went unnoticed ... until they got big enough to grab
your attention on some dark road late at night. :( and one sorta minor
problem that grew out of this was valve cover gaskets. in the valve
adjustment days, we always replaced the valve cover gaskets. that kept
oil from leaking out onto the heater boxes.
but with no valves to adjust, we ignored the gaskets. and finally,
after 5000 or more miles, they'd get dried out and start leaking ...
and we'd get really upset at having to replace something like that.
on the watercooled engines, the gaskets last even longer before they
start leaking. but eventually, they'll leak. because we learned to
ignore them. like the valves.

funny thing is, the valve cover gaskets for the watercooled (and
aircooled) engines are exactly the same as for the old beetle engines.
:)

anyway, just a reminder: every now and then, look at the belly of the
beast; see what's dripping and what's dragging and fix that sagging
brake cable to the rear wheel. :)

unca joel