my motor oil tastes have changed over the years

[Joe1]

I used to pay attention to group lll vs IV oils and go out of my way to find group IV. Nowadays, l find the cheapest oil that meets specs for my car. I don't care if it group III or not.
I've recently switched to supertech 0w20 @5 quarts for 15.98 and don't stay awake at night worrying if l should have purchased something else.
Ten years ago, l would have never considered doing this, but as l get older, my attitude towards certain things have changed over time.
I enjoy ordering online at Walmart and doing in store pickup to avoid the long lines.

 

[Papa Bear]

Same here, Joe.
My stash is full of "close-out" bargain conventional oil.

 

[Zee09]

I never liked the taste of motor oil until SN plus came out

 

[Zee09]

On a serious note I agree.
Right now I don't have dexos needs and used to buy only the best of the best.
Now Chevron Supreme is what I buy. Great oil.

I do only use Ultras however.

 

[Patman]

Because we're a forum of oil nuts, a lot of us try to find the "perfect oil" that has all the magical properties we desire, but truth be told the average driver who might not even hit 100k before trading in their car, will do just fine running Supertech synthetic for reasonable OCIs.

That being said, I'm hoping to put over 250,000 miles on my Corvette, and I think I have a better chance of doing that running a dexos2 certified oil like M1 ESP Formula (in either 5w30 or the new 0w40) or Pennzoil Euro L 5w30, than I would running Supertech 5w30 synthetic.

 

[Joe1]

Originally Posted by Patman
Because we're a forum of oil nuts, a lot of us try to find the "perfect oil" that has all the magical properties we desire, but truth be told the average driver who might not even hit 100k before trading in their car, will do just fine running Supertech synthetic for reasonable OCIs.

That being said, I'm hoping to put over 250,000 miles on my Corvette, and I think I have a better chance of doing that running a dexos2 certified oil like M1 ESP Formula (in either 5w30 or the new 0w40) or Pennzoil Euro L 5w30, than I would running Supertech 5w30 synthetic.



Agree with your philosophy for the Corvette. My current vehicle is a 2015 impreza. I plan on running it until it gets too expensive to repair. Any in spec oil should suffice for my driving style and needs.
I used to really enjoy reading your enthusiastic contributions to the site when l joined 15 years ago. It is good to see that you are still here. I visit here once in a while, but don't really keep up on the latest and greatest oils out there.

 

[Patman]

Thanks Joe! It's good to see we've still got members from the early days popping in from time to time!

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted by Zee09
I never liked the taste of motor oil until SN plus came out

I like RP grape flavor, myself. But that Brad Penn lime stuff is just nasty.

 

[Chris142]

I used to only use valvoline. always 10w40 in winter and 20w50 in summer and never a fram filter. now for my gas engines i use 10w30 and whatever filter I found cheap.

 

[Smokescreen]

Mine haven't changed much. I bought Petro Canada oil in the beginning (early 2000's), but after a year or so I found Pennzoil Platinum on sale regular enough that it became my 'go to'.

I may change to Quaker State Ultimate Durability this year for fun..which really isn't much of a change as it is still SOPUS, just with more moly.

 

[Nick1994]

Yeah I don't really care anymore either.

Just bought 4 gallons of diesel oil with a good rebate and some 5w30 and 10w40 Mobil conventional with a good rebate.

Don't know what's going where yet lol.

 

[dogememe]

When it's time to dump the Valvoline in the Crown Vic it's going to get Royal Purple HPS for the rest of its life. On the Escape once I dump the Castrol Edge EP I have buckets of random leftover oils that I'm gonna put in. And yes I'll run it 10K+ miles and yes I'll UOA...

 

[csandste]

When the site changes were made to BITOG I went back and looked at some of my earliest posts in 2002. I had been posting on Edmunds and had gotten an Edmunds member named BOTGERS to come over from that site (he hung around for about four years then disappeared). One of his first posts (and mine) was whether group 2 oils with a better ad pack were actually better than group 3. Discussion was centered around whether a good group 2 like PYB (if memory serves right) was actually better than a no-name (SuperTech was mentioned but this was before Warren--was made by a QS subsidiary, bought by them before the Shell buyout). Most of the discussion favored the additives trump base oils argument.

Don't think you hear this argument today. We all sort of assume that group 3 oils are all up to the job.

I use MaxLife blend because I'm old and live in a condo and can't change my own oil. Could I do so, I'd buy the cheapest group 3 I could find. Oil change places around St. Louis still price around the $20 conventional, $30 blend, $50+ synthetic price points--way over the buy 5 quarts and do your own spread. I expect in five years (if I'm still alive and driving), synthetics and blends will push to lower price points, I guess that's happening already if you figure that most SN+ oils including VWB are semi-syn already.

I'm also influenced by the Blackstone position that they've been unable to determine any real difference in wear rates in any oils they've looked at. In other words VWB does no better or worse than Royal Purple or M1.

 

[PandaBear]

Oil has gotten much much better and more expensive. Now with all the new spec even the cheap 0w20 are much much better than the middle or upper middle tier oil a few years ago. If you are not doing super long drain (i.e. 15-20k) to save time you are not getting your money worth using the more expensive oil than the good enough, meet spec oil.

 

[StevieC]

When I get to retirement age and my mileage drops largely from where it is now I will lease and let the dealer do whatever... Till then I change my own oil in an attempt to squeeze as many miles out of my vehicle as possible and bank everything after the car payments have ended and it keeps running.

 

[BossMoss]

Yeah I think we just need to be more alive with our limited time on Earth.

Elon Musk said he needs a reason to wake up everyday. When asked about why he has so many projects.

I think our attention and dedication is a bit misplaced.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by Joe1
I used to pay attention to group lll vs IV oils and go out of my way to find group IV. Nowadays, l find the cheapest oil that meets specs for my car. I don't care if it group III or not.
I've recently switched to supertech 0w20 @5 quarts for 15.98 and don't stay awake at night worrying if l should have purchased something else.
Ten years ago, l would have never considered doing this, but as l get older, my attitude towards certain things have changed over time.
I enjoy ordering online at Walmart and doing in store pickup to avoid the long lines.


I suppose the new attitude may also depend on whether you keep your vehicles from birth until old age, meaning first and last owner.

If I were the typical Joe that sold or traded-in my vehicles every 5-10 years, I wouldn't lose any sleep over oil choices either.

 

[WillB]

I never fell victim of the GM Dr os shakedown when I owned my 11 Sierra, bought it by the required grade/S*.

My Ram gets 5W20 syn, trying different brands - not oil obsessed like I used to be.

 

[scm]

I have had some changes in taste over the past 7 years (I'm 24, so I've only been driving for a short time.)

Started out using Mobil 1 EP - and ONLY a Hyundai filter for my ‘02 Santa Fe. (Car is still in the family on her third driver.) Got a newer Elantra and kept the same thought process (tried PP, wasn't a fan at the time.)

2 years ago I decided to take my Grandfather's advice (small engine mechanic) and swap over to Castrol Edge EP and decided to give Fram Ultra a try. About a year laster, after looking up how much people here talk highly of Fram Ultra (given that it filters better than they Hyundai Blue filter by a long shot), I made it my exclusive filter and eventually made the switch to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and didn't look back... until now. I think I'm going to swap to a D1 Gen 2 oil, either Edge OR PP. Stash is low, time to bulk back up I guess. (Especially given the fact 3 out of 6 of the cars I maintain are TGDI)

At the end of the day, I like knowing I bought the "best" for my cars. It cost a few bucks more per oil change, sure, but those few $$$ are nothing if it actually helped. Of course, I could be wasting the money too, never know.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Well Pennzoil has good rebates Castrol rebates suck.