Having just read through this whole thread, the one thing that has surprised me is that people don't check their oil weekly. Why not? Its part of owning a car. Where you not taught to when you learnt to drive?
Please tell me you check your tyre pressures weekly, and your brake fluid, and your washer fluid, and coolant and battery acid level every week. I can understand some people not checking, but these are the ones you see broken down by the side of the road waiting for a recovery truck for a flat tyre because the spare is flat. I thought people on car forums were enthusiasts, who by nature, would look after their pride and joy.
Sorry, rant over, didnt mean to offend anyone, I just amazed about the number of people who don't check something so basic.
It is pretty important. If you actually go down to no oil, then you will quickly run the bearings and need a new engine, at a four figure cost. The light is a pressure light, NOT a low level light. When that comes on, you are already doing damage.
Some cars have level warning, most do not. They are not actually reliable nor accurate in most cases, so I would still dip the oil every week. More of a gimmick than anything else. How would you know if it did not work, until it was too late? I would not say that not fitting a level warning is being a cheap skate. The one car I had with a level warning, it did not come on, even when the sump was drained when changing the oil. I will never trust one again, unless I have done a similar test and found it works.
There are loads of reasons why some engines burn oil while other engines of the same type, don't. The type (quality) of oil used, how heavy the drivers right foot is (especially when cold), how much idling, how much high revs, how often the oil has been changed etc.
Our Leon FR (2.0TFSI) has been topped up once in the 6 months / 2,000 miles we have owned it. That is more than some cars (some dont use a drop) but by no means the worst car I have owned. I cannot give you a consumption, as I topped it up when it was on min on the dipstick, but when we bought it, it was quite a way below the max.