Mobil 1 success

I believe the useful life of vehicles is increasing. I see all kinds of stuff with 200,000 miles that's still on the road. 30 years ago that was quite exceptional.
According to many BITOGers though, 20 grade and below oil and DI turbos have reduced the useful life by a significant margin 🤣
 
Pre-and-Post-2008-Recession, normal everyday vehicles were priced in the realm of affordability. Something like a fully-loaded $30K Camry was considered a foolish purchase back then. I have a few friends who have spent their entire lives in the car business, and I learned a few things from them. One of those things was that the average American would trade in their vehicle and buy a new one every 3.5 years, or exactly at the point where they absorbed all the depreciation. However, that didn't matter so much to the average buyer of an average car, because a vehicle was viewed as an appliance, a consumable item. When your bare-bones mid-size sedan is $30K and a small SUV is $40K, that's no longer the case.

The useful life of the vehicle has a lot to do with how well the owner cares for it. Maintenance entails more than oil changes (when the owner remembers) and filling up the car with gas, and the occasional tire change at Walmart. There are Hyundais and KIAs running around with over 200K miles; however, their owners took care of them. Most of these vehicles do not make it to such high mileage, not because they were bad, but rather because of who bought them. I'm talking about mid-2000s examples. Folks who spent a few thousand more on a Toyota or Honda usually cared for these vehicles a bit more.
 
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Mobil was selling inferior oil right after Katrina that didn’t even meet the specs on the bottle. The bottles stated ”could meet SM spec” at the time when their Louisiana bottling factory was damaged. They cared about their profits over quality control.
 
Mobil was selling inferior oil right after Katrina that didn’t even meet the specs on the bottle. The bottles stated ”could meet SM spec” at the time when their Louisiana bottling factory was damaged. They cared about their profits over quality control.
How is that any different than every auto manufacturer on the planet who keeps churning out product despite known issues, recalls, TSBs?

If you’re looking for a company which has not, or will not do that, you will be disappointed. Self preservation is the number one priority of every company, or individual for that matter.
 
How is that any different than every auto manufacturer on the planet who keeps churning out product despite known issues, recalls, TSBs?

If you’re looking for a company which has not, or will not do that, you will be disappointed. Self preservation is the number one priority of every company, or individual for that matter.
How about Aircraft manufacturing where doors just leap out of the planes at over 20,000 feet?
 
How about Aircraft manufacturing where doors just leap out of the planes at over 20,000 feet?
Funny how those were due to bag monkeys not properly securing the doors. One was created from techs not properly installing the door modification.

It’s not about manufacturing, this is about human complacency and poor training. Long after the tube was manufactured.
 
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Funny how those were due to bag monkeys not properly securing the doors. One was created from techs not properly installing the door modification.

It’s not about manufacturing, this is about human complacency and poor training. Long after the tube was manufactured.
Don't leave out outsourcing to break the union and disregard to quality.
 
The older I get the more I realized we are really a slave of our own perception. You can be tricked into believing all sorts of things and it becomes a reality for you. Delicious food, fast car, beautiful woman, happy family, medicine that cures you, etc can all be hypnotized into you if done right. This is why double blind tests are needed for almost every scientific research.

About oil. Your newer standard oil Walmart SuperTech today is likely better than your older standard M1 from the 90s for a new car today. What does the brand image of M1 since the 90s do for you? I don't know but it doesn't do much for me anymore than Marlboro cars from Formula 1 in the 90s do for me (or RedBull Formula 1 today). Redbull doesn't keep me awake more than a $1 coffee from McDonalds in a double blind test.

The engineers at the car manufacturers did the test on spec oil already so we don't have to. We have oil standard today, so we have SuperTech oil that meet the spec at a good price, nice! If you enjoy M1 feel free to use it, if you enjoy your Rolex watch wear it. I will keep using whatever works at a good price for me, and not overthink it.
 
I keep hearing people talk about Ollie’s and how they have some great stuff, but I haven’t had the same experience. Must be my local Ollie’s sucks (I’m 10 mins away from murdermore I mean Baltimore) and the only stuff I find I mine is shudderfix, and STP oil cleaner. Very depressing
Check their prices on wiper blades. Here they're well below Walmart prices on basic ones.
 
Also, Mobil 1 changes their packing and naming as much as anybody else. Their current "Triple Action" advertising is only what, two years old? That came with a whole labeling design change.

They've offered (some successfully, and some unsuccessfully) in the past few years, some currently:

Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic
Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy
Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
Mobil 1 Annual Protection
Mobil 1 Hybrid
Mobil 1 Extended Performance
Mobil 1 High Mileage
Mobil 1 Extended Performance High Mileage
Mobil 1 ESP
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck

They utilize brand extension all the time, and actually tend to offer a more redundant product line than their competitors. They're the Tide of motor oil.
Yes. But the main part of their marketing still says Mobil 1. The other names are off to the side. Like Honda. Have the H in the center. Trim and model on the sides. There other brands back to Castrol. In the 90s it was Castrol Syntec. Duh. Synthetic. What kind of name is Edge? How does that represent synthetic? Valvoline was Syn Power. I believe the name syntec was sold to O’Reillys
 
Yes. But the main part of their marketing still says Mobil 1. The other names are off to the side. Like Honda. Have the H in the center. Trim and model on the sides. There other brands back to Castrol. In the 90s it was Castrol Syntec. Duh. Synthetic. What kind of name is Edge? How does that represent synthetic? Valvoline was Syn Power. I believe the name syntec was sold to O’Reillys
This is seriously splitting hairs. There are tons of products with let's called them abstract names. A "Whopper" isn't called a "Burger King Cheeseburger". Names are names, they're chosen by marketing teams to convey certain feelings or attributes. Why doesn't Honda just call their more upscale models Hondas instead of calling them Acuras?
 
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