Originally Posted By: bigjl
Though I wouldn't be surprised if that led to the US products being down-specced for the US market.
After all what is the point of trying to sell a product full of the latest additives that is designed to last 15/20k miles when the US consumer would simply change it out after 3/4k and potentially replace it with dino if that was all they had to hand.
Partly true, I suppose. Obviously, SN/GF-5 isn't the same as A3/B3/B4, so that may be considered a down-spec or a different spec, depending upon point of view. However, in North America Mobil 1 0w-40 and GC are the same price as normal Mobil 1 and normal Syntec. The rare, European brands, however, tend to be significantly more money. I've seen Motul (don't remember which one) for $75 a gallon here.