New car, getting ready to go synthetic, I'm lost.

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Chris93Si

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Well I'm looking for some oil recommendations, here's a little background on me.

I've owned Hondas for the past 10 years and have always used Mobil 1. I recently purchased a 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, I have about 7k miles on it now (have used Castrol GTX 5w-30 for the first two changes) and am getting ready to do my 3rd oil change. Now I'm wondering if I wanna stay with M1 or not. The only thing really keeping me from using M1 is it seems that all of the other cars I've used it in (especially in 5w-30) it burns like crazy. I hate the stress of constantly checking oil and wondering if it's low, I want something I don't have to worry about.

Okay here's what I know...

- 2009 Subaru STI
- Subaru calls for a 5w-30 (I think SM and GF-4) with a 3,000 mile interval.
- I live in WV so the car will see warm summers and cold winters.
- My daily drive is only about 8 miles one way, probably take 2-3 35-45 min trips a week.
- I will participate in probably 3-4 HPDEs yearly.
- I drive the car hard (after proper warm-up) but do no abuse it.
- I would prefer a synthetic oil but am open to suggestions.

I've picked up some GC for my next change (will be doing it sometime this week) but would definitely pick something else up if it's recommended by you guys. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
You have made a good choice, IMO. The only problem might be the SL rating, and chances are your warranty may require a SM rated. Lots of great choices out there. Experiment and see what your motor ends up liking the best. BTW Nice Ride.
 
With 3,000mi OCIs, getting the spendy oil seems like a bit of a waste of money.

A good conventional oil that meets the specs prescribed by Subaru (e.g. Mobil Clean 5000, Pennzoil, etc.) may fit your needs (though I do worry about with the track time -- you'd know better about that than I) and save you a bit of money.

If you want a synthetic and want to stay away from Mobil1, Pennzoil Platinum seems to get good reviews and is available relatively inexpensively (a few bucks cheaper than M1 at Wal-Marts near me, if purchased in the 5-quart jug). There's plenty of other choices out there as well.
 
I would not use a non HDEO conventional with a turbo. GC is good as is Mobil 1 5w40 TDT, Mobil 1 0w40, or the new Rotella T6 5w40. I would stick with HDEOs.
 
Well German Castrol is not made or imported into the USA any more so can we call it Castrol Syntec 0W30 and not continue to call it by the wrong name!

Second Honda's burn oil no matter what you put in them if they have VTEC so not M1's fault!This is especialy true if you use the upper RPM range on a VTEC engine and most do!

Third if that engine is going to use oil GC will do no better then M1 of the same or simalar viscosity. GC 0W30 is almost a 0W40 and holds it's viscosity very well. On the other hand M1 5W30 is about as thin as you can make a 5W30 it was not far off from being a 5W20.On top of that you have not even tried it so hard to tell.

Forth acording to Amsoil I thought Castrol Syntec had a higher NOAK then M1EP 5W30 or their 0W30?


So before we go predicting how an oil is going to perform you have to start with a level playing field and compare like products with reguard to Cst,HTHS and Viscosity Index etc...not the front SAE rating that is dreadful way to compare oils.I mean we are oil nuts and we are supposed to have higher standards and more understanding of oil then the regular Joe so lets compare apples to apples not apples to oranges. You also need some data points as in you have to try the oils and see what you get. If M1 had a formula isssue that was making it a high consumption oil I doubt Honda,GM,Mercedes and Porsche amoung others would use it as factory fill! If you used M1 for 10 years in Honda and they all consumed oil that tells me that Honda's consume oil not that M1 has evap loss isssues? Followme?

In the end it should not matter much but lets not write off M1 before you have even tried it!
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Let me start off by saying some of that was a little over my head and I'm not familiar with some of the acronyms used. HDEO, HTHS and Cst specifically.

Also the Castrol I purchased was a 0w-30 weight and said "Made in Germany" on the back, is this not the GC that I've been reading about?

Thanks again for all the advice, maybe I'll try the GC this time, send it off to Blackstone then give M1 another shot.
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning

Second Honda's burn oil no matter what you put in them if they have VTEC so not M1's fault!This is especialy true if you use the upper RPM range on a VTEC engine and most do!


That doesn't fit with my experience. We have two Hondas in our family and they rarely use more than 1/4 quart between 5k mile oil changes. One (a TSX 4 cylinder) has about 50k miles on it and the other (an Accord 3.0 V-6) is just shy of 100k miles now. I also do routine maint. work for two friends with Hondas and neither of those cars is ever anywhere near being down to the add oil level when I do oil changes for them per the Honda OLM (which usually is every 6k miles or so). All four of these vehicles have Honda's VTEC valve train system in them.

Admittedly none of these cars is driven hard, but they all get plenty of local stop and go driving, higher speed freeway runs and trips up and down the local mountain passes.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris93Si
Let me start off by saying some of that was a little over my head and I'm not familiar with some of the acronyms used. HDEO, HTHS and Cst specifically.


HDEO stands for "Heavy Duty Engine Oil", and is the type commonly used in demanding applications like heavy equipment, diesel trucks, and so on. It tends to be considerably beefier than PCMO (Passenger Car Motor Oil), as it's designed for heavy use, long oil change intervals, etc.

Trucks are able to get considerable time out of their oils because they have several oil filters, one standard "full flow" one like your car, and a second filter with a much finer filter media that removes even very tiny particles. They may have more.

cSt stands for "centiStoke", and is a measure of Kinematic Viscoscity. See here and here for more information.
 
The only oil on the shelf I'd avoid is M1 5w-30.

For the best light synthetic oils, look for the ACEA A5 spec. M1 0w-30 does not carry it. Edge, PP or SynPower are the contenders. If you want to try something different, you can find Motorcraft Synth at PepBoys, fwiw.

Once GC is not available, that leaves just a few Euro oems oils, Mobil 1 0w-40 and 10w-30 Hi-Miles as heavier 30 weight oils, without the jump to a 5w-40.

If you want to go with the best dino oils, consider Motorcraft and Pennzoil.

If you mod your car or have extreme climates, that changes things a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
Well German Castrol is not made or imported into the USA any more so can we call it Castrol Syntec 0W30 and not continue to call it by the wrong name!


Did I miss some news? Audi Junkie and you sound like GC is going away. Is that true, say it ain't so.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
The only oil on the shelf I'd avoid is M1 5w-30.

For the best light synthetic oils, look for the ACEA A5 spec. M1 0w-30 does not carry it.


I respectfully disagree.

Mobil's Product Data Sheet clearly indicates that their 5W-30 clearly meets ACEA A1/B1 and A5/B5.

I'm currently testing this very oil in my Camry, and happen to have a bottle of it right here (purchased in the last month). Observe:

IMG_2883.JPG


IMG_2884.JPG


Please ignore the box of breakfast cereal in the background of the second picture. Clearly, I need to take out the recycling. The blurring is due to using 1/8 second exposures without a flash.

Edit: Oops. I mis-read the previous poster's statement. Please see the follow-up post on the next page.
 
Last edited:
Ah, pardon me. I mistakenly thought that you recommended against the 5W-30 as it wasn't ACEA A5 rated, but you clearly indicate you were referring to the 0W and simply didn't recommend the 5W for unstated reasons.

I sit corrected.

On that note, why don't you recommend the 5W? It has the ACEA A5 rating you indicated as being good.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris93Si
Thanks for the replies guys.
Also the Castrol I purchased was a 0w-30 weight and said "Made in Germany" on the back, is this not the GC that I've been reading about?


Yes that is the stuff.
 
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