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... unless, as Dick suggests, non-synthetic oils available in the US are junk compared to what's available here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. None of the cars I've ever owned had a manufacturer-recommended oil change interval less than 12000 miles. Of course, when I was rather younger, some people in the know would suggest that a 6000-mile interval will be even better, but who knows whether it really was?
When I was a student, my Mini 1275GT got more frequent oil changes by virtue of me taking the engine out every other weekend to tweak something or install an uprated something-or-other, but that's about it. Because of this (and the fact I was skint) I used cheap oil.
I believe there are some cars on the UK market now that have oil changes specified at 25K or 30K miles.
I believe BMW's '70s turbos had a recommended 3000-mile oil change in Europe, and perhaps the early Saab turbos too (any European 99 experts here?) but that was old turbo engine technology and old oil technology - all at the leading edge at the time.
My two previous 9000s ('87 2.0T and '90 2.3CDT) had 6000-mile intervals specified. I believe that in the case of the '87 it was partly because of the oil-cooled turbo, but in both cases simply because the available oils were not quite as good as they were later (I believe the interval was extended to 12000 miles in 1992). There must also have been an element of consumer pressure to extend service intervals.
I'm really not criticising anyone for recommending short oil-change intervals, but rather trying to make sense of something that I've been grappling with since I first came to this board. I feel I'm getting closer to understanding this now.
By way of comparison, 5 litres (about 5.5 US quarts) of a good quality mineral oil (i.e. non-synthetic) would cost about £20-£25 (US$30-$32) in the UK. The same volume of synthetic (Mobil 1) costs around £30 (US$45). There are also cheaper synthetics available, which I'm sure are also pretty good. Is it the case that you pay less for the oil, but have to replace it more often and the cost all evens out in the end? As a benchmark, my UK-spec '96 Aero costs me about £35 (US$50) every 12000 miles in synthetic oil and filters.
posted by 62.253....
, Fri, 19 Apr 2002 16:42:16
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