Mobil One

[RogerKlugerAus05]

I have no doubt Mobil 1 is still a fine product, but here in Australia Castrol Edge (grp 111 synthetic) is half the price of the Mobil 1 equivalent. My money and faith is in Castrol's camp for now anyway. If my engines expire before 400k miles I will repost here that I was wrong.
Roger

 

[LouDawg]

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In this case, however, I'm not sure that even if Mobil is guilty of mendacity in this case, that it's anything legally enforceable.

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To my knowledge, no one ever suggested that it was a matter of legality...rather one of business practice (blatant hypocrisy?) and market dynamics. As for mendacity, remember there are lies of *commission* and lies of *omission*.

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The vast majority will go right on using it.

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Probably so, but most don't know about it being a potentially "downgraded" product (and I confess to using the the term loosely).

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Further, I find it inconceivable that a large company like Exxon Mobil would risk the position of what has been THE big brand in synthetic oils over the years by introducing an inferior product.

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You said, "The vast majority will go right on using it," right? It is precisely for this reason that XOM probably feels there is little "risk" to their position as THE otc synthetic by switching to GIII (if indeed they have). Which is to say, they'll be even more profitable, and there is nothing wrong with that in a free market...in and of itself.

And "inferior" is such a subjective term...inferior to what? Dino? Syn Blends? GC? PP? Boutique oils?

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Well, the pricing issue is getting hinky.. Ma lives down near Charlottesville, I'm in No. Va, near Dulles A.P. Up here, at AA in Herndon, Va, a 4 quart jug of M1, 5W30, $23.83. M1 Quarts $6.29, PP quarts, $5.78. Valvoline and other Syns were also $5.89 and 5.99/quart. Brand name dinos are all $2.69 and up, syn blends $3.49 or $3.69. MC, of course, $2.29. During the Katrina aftermath, I tell ya, the EP M1 was 8.99, and M1 SuperSyn was $7.99 at it's peak here a few months ago, summertime, say (which is why I was SO happy to see the HomeDepot giveaway). So yesterday, circumstances take me through a little burg named Orange, Va, twenty miles south of Culpeper Va. There's an AA I stop in on the last month or two, when the PP 2-4-1 deal was on, and yesterday looking for more Havoline (they were out, totally). Lo and behold, there's 4 quart jugs of 5W30 M1, $18.99 "Ready to go pricing". That's STILL $4.50 a quart, but reasonable. Individual quarts, dino and syn, pricing was identical, but the jugs were way cheaper. AA is a chain, why ya think they drop the price on jugged M1 so much down there? Strange indeed..

 

[ITY]

Regarding the inclusion of GIII oil into Mobil 1 Synthetic products. Lets assume for one minute that the Japanese versions of Mobil 1 are the same composition as the US versions. Then the only products affected are the 5W-30 and 10W-30 oils (both ACEA A1). The other products are shown as using PAO only, and there is no mention of GIII oils.

For example, 0W-40 (A3) and 0W-20 (A1) may not contain any GIII base stock at all. So why use any group III hydrocrack in a proven product? My guess is that the shareholders took one look at their competitors profits (those using #@$%! GIII "Synthetic") and screamed.

Now, if you mix some GIII in with your GIV and still retain (for example) the ACEA A1 rating - bingo! you make more money and at least on paper, disappoint no-one. Remembering that (I'm guessing) 5W-30 and 10W-30 are 80% of their production, your talking about a lot of money! My guess is the bean counters made this call, and probably under protest from the engineers.

I was confident enough to have just changed my oil and stayed with Mobil 1 (0W-40 - seven quarts).

 

[goodvibes]

Maybe we can still blame Castrol for this. By opening Pandora's box they have put Mobil in an uncompetetive position that had to be corrected. I'm not being completely serious here. Mobil can probably do a grpIV for close to the same price as a blender can do grpIII. The issue here is bait and switch. People feel deceived and that's never a good feeling. Until this issue was brought up very recently, Mobil's defenition of synthetics excluded grpIIIs implying that their full synthetic formulations didn't contain any. As for my blaming Castrol, grp III was going to happen eventually and Castrol could point their finger right back at Mobil for holding them ransom on grpIV prices, forcing a switch and then crying foul. People are taking it personal, not due to performance issues but because they've been lied to. When ther's lots of great products out there, integrity is as good a reason as any to choose a product.

 

[brucelee]

Lets keep this simple. Most of us who are annoyed at Mobil don't like the WAY in which they made the switch. For many of us, that is sufficent reason to switch to some other oil. For me it is Red Line.

As a consumer, I don't need to be rational. I can take my money anywhere I want.

And I am.

Cougar is free to send his money to Mobil, who I understand really really needs it.

And the band played on!

 

[bigbadboss101]

Ok, I haven't been paying enough attention to the post here. Are you saying Castrol put out some syn oil at low price, so Mobil had to do the same. Doing so they lowered the syn oil grade to similar to grpIII oil?

Thanks in advance>

 

[MatchboxCar]

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well, i am risking 2 engines on 10k and one on 20k with mobil1. otherwise, what Rico567 said.

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Yup, me too. I am running 10K OCI and, like I said, I have the good UOA to prove it.

CG is not available in the stores to the specification my Honda requires... (At least I cannot find it) So, no... It does not count as a consumer available motor oil.

 

[AndyH]

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CG is not available in the stores to the specification my Honda requires... (At least I cannot find it) So, no... It does not count as a consumer available motor oil.

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As you've found, GC is only available as a 0W-30 oil. If you buy Castrol Syntec 5W-20 it won't be the vaunted GC.

 

[yannis]

I am thinking what would have happended if XOM came one day (before this fiasco) and announced they were putting 50% Group III in and there was no real performance drop in the product.
Wouldn't buyers like us assume that Mobil or XOM didn't know their job all those years when they insisted on the group 4 superiority?