15,000 km changes

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The logbooks for the Australian Toyota Camry, Holden Commodore Ecotec V6, Ford Falcon OHC 6 and the Misubishi Magna 3.5L 6 all say 15.000 KM changes for oil.

These books usually have some comment about "less for extreme conditions" and usually specifiy an SL grade oil. Some specifiy 10 - 30 but say that you can use thicker oils with the only detriment being to fuel economy

Considering governemnt and fleet buyers will use the cheapest 44 gallon drum grade SL dino for these cars, would you feel safe about buying one at 3 years old ?

Would there be much difference in the life-span of the engine if you bought one new and used Mobil 1 synthetic or the like and considered city driving as extreme (govt and fleet buyers do not consider stop-and-go city driving as extreme)?

The difference in cost for a Holden Commodore is:

a) $AU 33,000 - 36,000 (New)
b) $AU 25,000 (Dealer 3 y.o with warranty and 60,000 KM)
c) $AU 22,000 (Auction, 3 y.o, no warranty and 60,000 km)

[ April 03, 2003, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: Andrew ]
 
In my experience, government vehicles were always subjected to "extreme service" duty and were always serviced at the "normal service" interval. As a consequence the engines were always used-up, wrecked-out hulks at 60,000 miles. No, I would not buy a used vehicle from the government.
 
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