Don’t agree on their timing belt and water pump. Yeah, they CAN last a lot longer than the specified replacement schedule.
However, IF the timing belt breaks on an interference engine, it is toast. Since you can’t see the belt without taking off the timing belt cover, the interval is set to where they feel most belts won’t fail.
Replacing the $25 belt is expensive because it is all labor. The water pump is driven by the timing belt and takes the same amount of labor to replace. It would be foolish not to replace a timing belt and water pump per the manufacturers guidelines.
Had an old Rabbit that the timing belt broke on. It wasn’t an interference engine, so no engine damage. It was kind of a pain to replace!
