The VW 502 oil specification is a standard for a high performance motor oil for VW gasoline engines. This specification has also been adopted by other European auto manufacturers, such as Skoda and Audi. Advances in synthetic oil formulations led to a revision of the specification, now called VW 504, which has the same performance characteristics, but has additives that will significantly enhance how long the car can go between changes. Most commercial synthetic oils will list what standards they are compliant with on the label; for the purposes of your VW engine, 502 and 504 are comparable oil grades.
Among the British Petroleum oils that meet the grade are the BP Visco 5000 brand, the BP Visco 7000 Sport, and the BP Visco 7000 Turbo Diesel Sport – these are all 40 weight engine oils. BP changes the names of its oils in different countries; the BP EuroSpirit, BP Visco 7000 and BP Visco 5000 C are alternate names for these grades of engine oils.
Castrol manufactures and sells engine oils in the American market and is one of the major brands with significant consumer awareness. The Castrol engine oils compliant with the VW 502 standard are the Castrol Edge Sport, the Castrol Edge Turbo Diesel, the Castrol SLX Turbo Diesel and the Castrol TXT 505.01 (which takes its name from the diesel engine version of the 502 specification). Other Castrol engine oils that work include Castrol Syntec (a widely available brand), Castrol TXT Softec Plus SL, and most of the Castrol SLX and Castrol Magnatec lines for gasoline and diesel engines. All Castrol engine oils that are compliant with the 502 or 504 specification will state this on the container.
Chevron's Havoline brand name of engine oils come in both 30-weight and 40-weight engine varieties, and all of the Havoline oils will conform to the 502 specification, including the Havoline Ultra line, and Havoline Fully Synthetic.
Mobil Oil makes a number of synthetic oils that are compliant with the VW 502 standard, including the Mobile System S, Mobil 1, Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel and Mobil 1 arctic and Super 3000 X1. All Mobil Oils will list the VW 502 or 504 standard that they meet on the bottle.
