Originally Posted By: rclint
I guess I would be the odd sheep here... as I don't maintain my car as well as many of you here seem to do !! I do NOT check the dipstick at every fill up, and many times not even once a week.. yet I put on a lot of miles during the week. I try to get the most money I can out of my oil purchase, and filter, however I also want to protect my engine, so I follow the manufacture recommended schedule, and dictate that to be non severe at around 10k with a filter change every other oil change when running conventional.
Those wanting to see million mile engines on dine or synthetic I don't see the point. A million mile engine means nothing to me as i don't plan on keeping my car, or engine for a million miles. All of the conventional, synthetic, 3k or 10k changes mean nothing... it's helpful to give information to others on how you or I go about an OCI, however those of us that have been here for a week or so have pretty much will not change how they go about maintaining their car.
I for one think looking at the manufactures owners manual is the best place to start, and if you drive somewhere between severe/non severe meet in the middle, non severe do the non severe.. It's not to hard in my opinion to pick out a schedule for oil change.. If a special circumstance arises then by all means rise to the occasion either way more or less miles..
and last but not least saying 3k OCI does not hurt anything well pushing that towards others that do not have your unique circumstances may well indeed cause another to spend money needles.. When talking about clean engines, million milers, or whatever 3k changes will not get you there any more than a 12k change if the oil is still good in the engine at 12k.
The benefit of maintaining a car so as to have it last is that when the payments stop, and your warranty is up, you can continue to enjoy the ride and put the car payment money into other things. It doesn't need to last a million miles for good maintenance to pay off in terms of longevity and reduced frequency of repairs and consequent downtime. New car novelty isn't a draw for everyone.
Even for those not planning to keep it, the maintenance put into it will pay off through a higher resale value.
Either one results in a lower total cost of ownership and is a win. And there is your why.
Edit: I actually prefer older cars: easier to work on, fewer parts that can fail. My '79 Rabbit I had to sell is still the gold standard for me and that had no frills at all. 4 speed manual, no tach, AM radio, no AC, no power anything. Even the usage of fabric for interior trim was kept to a minimum. That car had 350,000 km on it when I bought it, and still ran like new 2 years later when I sold it. Taking into account the difference I paid in price when purchased vs when sold, and adding in the couple things I replaced, total cost of ownership over that two year period was $900 tops. A newer car would have done essentially the same thing, but I'd pay what I paid over 2 years within the first 3 payments.
Different stokes.
-Spyder
