quote:
Originally posted by Accord2005NJ:
I just told you (above) that my father's accord (Kentucky build I believe) in Europe recommends three different grades.
But wouldnt the accord sold in europe be the Acura TSX sold here? Are the engines offered different? Apples to apples, lets just be sure.
IMO, one issue is that viscosity is a bit more a quantifiable characteristic, as compared to chemistry. People can put faith and understand how viscosity will protect better, but they cannot see or understand how chemistry can do the same thing.
Cars did get 20w oil years and years back. Were tolerances and whatnot way different? I bet so!
But I cannot say for certain in this argument, same as anyone else. But I will make one guess: Joe Schmoe at wal-mart oil change shop isnt smart enough to figure out what kind of driving characteristics or temperature range a vehicle to be serviced will see. Joe Blow, the car owner doesnt care enough about anything for it to make a difference. Joe Blow also will not keep the vehicle more than 5 years anyway, so longevity is a moot point. As a consumer base whole, if cars are going to be turned over every 5 years anyway, and the resources and whatnot are going to be expended to produce new goods for the folks who like to rapidly turnover their cars anyway, than what is the one thing that can be adjusted in the amount of fuel consumption that is occurring during the use of that vehicle.
Cars are being made, cars are being scrapped. Cars have some typical usable life, and consumer sentiment will have a good deal of effect on how long a car's usable life is, and that is one of the few metrics that can easily be quantified. So, given all the pollutiuon to produce and scrap, and given the relatively short lifespan, as compared to what the car could really do... why care? The manufacturers know how long people keep cars, and how many miles they typically extract. It is in fact irrelevant of the quality of the vehicle, it is a consumner issue. SO, if they can up theif CAFE numbers, and the country can use a few less gallons of fuel, why not?
What everyone needs to understand is that anytime that you engineer anything, it is a tradeoff. There are tradeoffs that need to be considered and balanced. It just turns out that we are an abnormal bunch that is irrelevant to any tradeoff study or similar thing, and so we have these arguments.
JMH