FAQ - GC ( German Castrol )

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: TJPark01
Castrol does a poor job of marketing this product in the united states. They could use some lessons from Mobil. Perhaps they figured it will be a word of mouth thing, or that the market is too narrow to allocate a lot of advertising resources to this product. It's a shame because clearly, as evidenced by this thread and others like it, there is a dedicated following.

They would have to completely rebrand it to accomplish this. Otherwise it would be difficult for them to explain to an average consumer that one particular grade of Syntec is superior to all the others. The easiest way to do this would be to group it under the "Edge" moniker, but then it'd cost as much as all the other Edge grades, so I'm actually kind of glad they haven't done that.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
They would have to completely rebrand it to accomplish this. Otherwise it would be difficult for them to explain to an average consumer that one particular grade of Syntec is superior to all the others. The easiest way to do this would be to group it under the "Edge" moniker, but then it'd cost as much as all the other Edge grades, so I'm actually kind of glad they haven't done that.

I'm fine with it as well. I guess they figure the people who are going to change their own oil in European cars, are going to figure it out. I asked a guy at Pepboys if he had "0W30 Castrol Syntec" (as the GC moniker is not widely used outside this forum). He responded, yes, you have a BMW, right?
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
They would have to completely rebrand it to accomplish this. Otherwise it would be difficult for them to explain to an average consumer that one particular grade of Syntec is superior to all the others. The easiest way to do this would be to group it under the "Edge" moniker, but then it'd cost as much as all the other Edge grades, so I'm actually kind of glad they haven't done that.


I see your point, but I'm not so sure. I wouldn't want to see the price go up relative to other Syntec varieties. After all, Mobil 1 0w-40 goes for the same price as regular Mobil 1 5w-30. I suppose both products have to rely on people who need (or want) certain specs and actually know what meets them.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: TJPark01
Castrol does a poor job of marketing this product in the united states. They could use some lessons from Mobil. Perhaps they figured it will be a word of mouth thing, or that the market is too narrow to allocate a lot of advertising resources to this product. It's a shame because clearly, as evidenced by this thread and others like it, there is a dedicated following.

They would have to completely rebrand it to accomplish this. Otherwise it would be difficult for them to explain to an average consumer that one particular grade of Syntec is superior to all the others. The easiest way to do this would be to group it under the "Edge" moniker, but then it'd cost as much as all the other Edge grades, so I'm actually kind of glad they haven't done that.


They probably are losing customers in that guys like me, who had negative experiences with Syntec back in the '90's, are turned off of the Syntec brand name. Since the GC base stock is very different from other Syntec's, they should create a different brand name, because it makes it a very different product. This is marketing turned upside-down. Normally companies are accused of putting a better wrapper on the same ol' product. Castrol is putting the same ol' wrapper on a better product.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
They probably are losing customers in that guys like me, who had negative experiences with Syntec back in the '90's, are turned off of the Syntec brand name. Since the GC base stock is very different from other Syntec's, they should create a different brand name, because it makes it a very different product. This is marketing turned upside-down. Normally companies are accused of putting a better wrapper on the same ol' product. Castrol is putting the same ol' wrapper on a better product.

+1 Very well put. The regular castrol syntec gets no love, and even though the GC has the same wrapper it's a much different product. I guess they decided to try and start all over with the Edge product here in the states. But,"That's thinking with your dipstick Jimmy", is a really strange ad campaign.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman

They probably are losing customers in that guys like me, who had negative experiences with Syntec back in the '90's, are turned off of the Syntec brand name.

Hey, GC is in short supply in many places, so the fewer people that know about it, the better for the rest of us in the know, especially at the current Syntec price.
smile.gif
Then again, when on sale, you can get M1 0w-40 for about the same as GC on sale.
 
Over the weekend, I finally used up 12 quarts of GC purchased almost 2 yrs ago. Can't wait to see how my cars run with it, I've tried virtually every off-the-shelf syn but GC prior to this.
 
I'm expecting them to quit offering GC in the US one way or another. Or rebranding it under a different name and jacking the price up some more.
I base this assumption upon Castrol USA's shady marketing practices over the years. They just can't help themselves.
 
hey guys, here's hoping that there's a sale on filter and oil for first week of January or second week of january when I make the trek down there.
 
From what the Autozone girl told me, the Syntec/K&N deal is running through Jan 15.

In Europe GC is called Edge 0w30....is that available up in Canada?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: dparm
In Europe GC is called Edge 0w30....is that available up in Canada?


All I've seen here is the same GC bottles that are sold in the States. There might be subtle labeling differences (French and metric, for instance).
 
To all my Canadian friends here, Syntec 0w30 is on sale at Canadian Tire for $6.99/L. That means:

- You can buy them for 30% off regular price from CT
- Price Match them at Walmart for the same price
- Price beat them at Partsource and that $10 off coupon off $35 or $40 spent that they email out frequently --> cheapest option

I lucked out, got an idiot cashier at Partsource and he priced it wrong (I said nothing) and got 2 cases for $60
 
I don't know if this is old news, but Castrolusa now lists the minimum HTHS instead of the actual. I couldn't remember whether or not GC and 5W-40 were the same or different. They don't even list the minimum as 3.5!

Castrol Data Sheet .

-Dennis
 
Originally Posted By: bluesubie
I don't know if this is old news, but Castrolusa now lists the minimum HTHS instead of the actual.

Yeah, they've been doing it for years now.
 
Originally Posted By: m4gician
To all my Canadian friends here, Syntec 0w30 is on sale at Canadian Tire for $6.99/L. That means:

- You can buy them for 30% off regular price from CT
- Price Match them at Walmart for the same price
- Price beat them at Partsource and that $10 off coupon off $35 or $40 spent that they email out frequently --> cheapest option

I lucked out, got an idiot cashier at Partsource and he priced it wrong (I said nothing) and got 2 cases for $60


Too bad It is never in stock at Canadian Tire or Walmart here in Fort McMurray
mad.gif
 
Originally Posted By: bluesubie
Oh that's right. I think we found out the original HTHS from Terry or Bruce. ??

-Dennis


No, we just know that it's 3.5+ because of the particular ACEA cert it carries.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

92saturnsl2
Who remembers Green GC 0w-30?
4 5 6
Replies
106
Views
14K
addyguy
N
  • Locked
Looking for the truth. 2021 M5 Competition 5w30 vs 5w40.
Replies
9
Views
4K
dnewton3
J
Fork oil differences besides viscosity?
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
ChristianReske
A
Oh no, what happened while i was gone (castrol content...)
2 3
Replies
56
Views
6K
edyvw
TiGeo
2018 tuned/tracked Golf Sportwagen 100K/4K OCI HPL Euro 5W40 - uh-oh.....
4 5 6
Replies
113
Views
6K
TiGeo
Back
Top