Finally, ALL Quantum oils are NOT authorised for 'workshop use' - Quantum oils are only supposed to be 'sold over the counter' for independents or home users. All VAG franchised workshops must only use either Volkswagen genuine oils, or oils agreed from an official contract supplier, such as Castrol, Shell, Fuchs, etc.
Take it further. Like I said, Quantum oils are NOT approved for VW (and Audi, Seat and Å koda) official franchised workshops.
Quantum oils generally are very good oils, and they are actually made by Castrol for Volkswagen UK. But nip across to Germany, and I doubt you could buy Quantum - because it isn't listed in ETKA. The part numbers are a dead-giveaway - Quantum oils have the prefix "ZGB" - and Z simply means "non-standard or non-OEM" part, and you can work out what GB means! 
Oi! Damn local dealer gave me the Quantum stuff when I asked for a 1l bottle. Thought they'd have given me Castrol SLX like the dealers where I bought the car from. At least the local dealer used Castrol for the service (at least that's what it says on the invoice).
Why did they give me Quantum?
They probably gave you Quantum because it is much cheaper. Unless you specifically asked for a litre of "Castrol LongLife 3", or a litre of "genine VW LongLife 3", then they can give you ANY LongLife 3 oil.
"GVW 052 195 M2" is the 1 lit genuine VW oil (in 'Volkswagen' logod pack - GAU and the rest for the Audi logo on the bottle) - this retails at £14.37 (plus the extra the One-Eyed Jock needs to support his cronies expenses for watching porn!), and trade is £7.90 +vat
"ZGB 00V 500 001" is the part no for 1 litre of genuine Castrol SLX Professional Powerflow LongLife 3, retail £10.46 +vat (though that is an old price)
and
"ZGB 115 QLB 005 00" is the 1lit pack of Quantum LongLife 3 - don't know the retail price (perhaps you can let us know), but the trade is £5.11+vat.
Sooooooo - you can see how they vary in price - they probably just wanted to give you the cheapest one.
Why not Castrol like my usual dealer?
If Castrol make Quantum, what's wrong with it? Why doesn't it meet the spec?
Ok, OK, OKKKKKK. What do you know about car engine oils? Especially their approvals?
Right, you may have heard of either the American "API" ratings (such as SL/CF), or the much better European "ACEA" performance and quality classifications (such as A3, B4). With both the API and ACEA - an oil company can submit their oil 'brew' to absolutely ANY indpendent oil testing facility, and providing it passes the relevent tests, it will be awarded the relevent API or ACEA (or both) rating. Some of the larger oil companies, particularly the Yankie ones, actually test the oils 'in-house' (read into that what you will, but it is just one of the many reasons why I never trust, nor recommend Yankie originated oils). But because there are a number of 'competing' test houses, then naturally, price for these tests remains competative.
Now, onto 'manufacturer-specifc' tests, such as the VW oil standards (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, PSA {Peugeot sh!troen}, Ford of Europe, and General Motors Europe also have their own oil standards). But with the VW oil standards (I'm not 100% sure on the other OEMs - so I ain't gonna stick my neck on the block
), ONLY VW themselves can test and approve their own standards, and they are firkin expensive too. Another issue with the VW standards is that it is ONLY applicable to
one specific name on the bottle - so to take Castrol LL3 brews - at your VW stealer, it is called "Castrol SLX Professional Powerflow LongLife 3", yet the identical brew sold in retail outfits such as Halfrauds is called "Castrol EDGE 5w30". Each of these requires a separate test and approval at VW. So this might explain why not all Castrol oils are on the 'official' VWAG lists.
Just having a quick look at the November 2007 issue of the 504.00/507.00 approved oils from Volkswagen Germany, there are
twelve Castrol brews - including, get your tounge around this one - "Castrol Longlife III Hochleistungsmotorenöl".
Should I go back, return it and demand ask for Castrol?
That is your call. If you are just using it for top ups, then I personally wouldn't bother. But if you were using it for oil changes, and wanted to keep a 'history' of using only Castrol oils, then yes. But if you do get the dealer to change it, be prepared to open your wallet again.
Is the Quantum safe for use as top-up or should I stay away from it completely?
It is perfectly safe to use, both as a top up and for complete oil changes.
Quantum is simply a manufacturer developed (Volkswagen UK in this instance) 'consumer brand' - just like say Ford use Motorcraft and British Leyland used to have Unipart. The simple fact that VW UK officially sell it should reassure you that it isn't crap. But as I said earlier, Quantum lubes should NOT be used in an official VW workshop (though peer through the MoT inspection window into the workshop of most, and you will no doubt see tins of Quantum White Grease spray, and the likes). One of the reasons you pay a higher price at a genuine stealer is that they should ONLY use genuine parts, and that includes genuine oils. If an individual comes to some prior agreement beforehand to use non-genuine parts, or Quantum lubes - then that isn't a problem.
I wonder whether I told them the car had been changed from LL to TD had any effect.
You'll never know - the mind of a stealer employee works in mysterious ways!
There's a local VAG parts place that seems to flog Quantum - again, why?
Because Quantum is 'officially' supplied by Volkswagen UK, and like I said, Quantum oils are made by Castrol. Indeed, if you need to fone up the Quantum Lubricants Technical Helpline, it goes staight through to the Castrol Techincal at Pipers Way in Swindon.
