Passat Oil Consumption Worry

Hi can anyone help me with my problem passat;
I recently purchased a 2001 2.0 SE (115 bhp) petrol Passat Estate with 51,000 miles. All was fine until the warning oil level light came on after approx 1000 miles. It has taken approx 1.25 litres of oil to fill it up again and seems to be using oil at this rate of consumption.
I have also noticed that the engine temperature guage gives a lower reading now that i have been topping the oil level up.
I am not sure what the problem with the car is and am concerned that its burning oil, though there isn't any blue smoke or associated oil buring smells.
The garage have suggest that it could be the breather pipe blocked? Does anyone have any ideas as i would like to get some impartial advice on this.
thanks

From my experience (skoda) the 2.0 115 bhp engine is known to have piston ring problems which could result in excessive oil consumption.
Its entirely possible that it's something other than this but I would suggest its unlikely to be a blocked breather unless the car has been poorly maintained.

:biglaugh: