The difference between Middlebury Garage and a dealer is that we truly care about our customers, their safety, and want to help our customers’ vehicles last as long as possible, not just upsell on a new vehicle. Every technician at Middlebury Garage has the competency to diagnose and repair any vehicle that enters our service bays.

Higher octane fuel or premium burns hotter and with that you have a better chance of proper, complete combustion. With lower octane fuels, improper combustion will cause unnecessary wear and tear on an engine. This could leave behind unburnt fuel, which can contaminate the oil and cause thinning of the oil. Thinner oil can and will ruin the bearings within the engine and cause premature failure.

Premium grade oils are very important for maintaining the life of your engine and allowing for proper manufacturer service intervals. Due to tight tolerances in manufacturing today, using cheap oils could contribute to premature engine or parts failure. Lower grade oils often do not meet manufacturer cleanliness standards and could potentially introduce harmful contaminants into your engine, and cause premature lifter wear, valve chatter and ultimately, ruin your engine. No different than consuming unfiltered water over filtered and purified water. As water is your body’s lifeline, oil is your engine’s “blood.”

This is a very common question, which is difficult to answer fairly. All of us here are partial to European vehicles, mainly Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes for superior engineering and build quality. We always reply with; “What car can you see yourself driving?”

As with any vehicle purchase, due diligence is always recommended. We suggest, no matter what you prefer, having a PPI (Pre-purchase inspection) done to check for engine and other issues that might not be visible or audible. This always gives you a better idea of what you are purchasing and a leg up to negotiate a fair price.

Yes! Middlebury Garage proudly services luxury SUVs and performance utility vehicles with the same precision and care we bring to European sedans and sports cars. Our technicians specialize in the maintenance and repair of premium SUV models, including Range Rover, BMW XM and X Series, Audi Q and SQ models, and Mercedes-Benz G-Class and G-Wagon vehicles. Whether you're looking for expert diagnostics, scheduled maintenance, or performance tuning, we offer SUV service designed to keep your luxury SUV running strong, safe, and smooth.

Anything from general service and repair, advance diagnosis, engine service and rebuild, programming and coding, and performance modifications. See our Services page for more information.

When a manufacturer suggests service intervals based on mileage, it is because they have done extensive testing on the vehicle to allow it to perform at its optimal level in a safe manner. To keep your vehicle running at its best and your family safe, we don’t just go by mileage, but we check all service history and perform a physical evaluation of your vehicle. This allows us to confirm the need for the suggested service or see whether to vary the interval based on the current status and health of your vehicle.

We recommend 5000-mile service with a synthetic oil because we have seen firsthand what happens with longer service intervals. With tighter tolerance manufacturing, vehicle complexity and harsher weather variables here in New England, we generally find atypical wear patterns on engines throughout all manufacturers.

The timing chain is a critical part of the engine and without proper service, it can lead to total engine failure. In our experience, we’ve seen premature wear issues with the timing chain systems in newer vehicles and feel it is better to be preventative before a larger problem occurs.

All direct fuel injection vehicles require the intake valves to be periodically cleaned. What happens is carbon builds up on the back of the intake valves because fuel is injected directly into the cylinders opposed to being injected on the back of the valves as other vehicles are designed. When fuel is not injected onto the back of the valves, carbon can build up because typically the fuel acts as a lubricant and washes the valves as it is injected. This is very common and left untreated it will cause the vehicle to run rough on a cold start, misfire, skip, or not perform at peak mileage efficiency in a drive cycle.

Every service at Middlebury Garage begins with a comprehensive vehicle assessment to ensure we fully understand and address any and all issues before work commences. The diagnostic process allows our technicians to identify the problem accurately, order the appropriate parts to complete the project and perform repairs to our high standards.