Reasons NOT to use Kirkland 0w-20 or 5W-30 Synthetic...?

[silversport]

2025 Subaru Touring XT with of course the 2.4 turbocharged engine...I will be changing the oil next week and with the Costco sale coming up Wednesday April 9, 2025 for 2 - 5 quart jugs for $30ish I am curious if this oil is worth the buy or should I be using something else???

this is my first oil change since buying the Outback new last October and I am at about 4K miles...I plan to change the oil every 3-4K miles only because this car does more short trips and is not my only driver...I also plan on using OEM Tokyo Roki oil filters but may also go to Microgard Select/STP Extended filters...

any thoughts or experience you care to share is appreciated...I'm not really new to turbocharged engines but I am new to flat/boxer engines and want to protect mine as best I can...no towing and mostly just day to day driving...

thanks

Bill

 

[Urshurak776]

For 4K? Nope. Rock on. Choice of a PG filter is excellent also. Good plan.

They're building a COSTCO 2-1/2 miles from me. When the time comes, I may be doing the same thing.

EDIT: Yeah, yours is a Turbo. Maybe look at Mobil offerings as @Patman says below. Sorry, I missed that it was a turbo.

 

[Patman]

To be honest I don’t think Kirkland oil is good enough for the stress of a turbocharged engine, especially if it’s a Subaru. You will be better off in the long run using something like M1 ESP or one of the other Euro oils (or Amsoil or HPL)

 

[JavierH19]

To be honest I don’t think Kirkland oil is good enough for the stress of a turbocharged engine, especially if it’s a Subaru. You will be better off in the long run using something like M1 ESP or one of the other Euro oils (or Amsoil or HPL)

I agree. But some on here will say "but hundreds of thousands have ran cheap pcmo in their turbo engines without issue" which is true though some have been subject to timing component issues but I don't like regular pcmo in turbo gdi engines. I'm biased towards thicker euro oil in them if i actually care about the vehicle and want to own it for as long as possible.

 

[Patman]

I agree. But some on here will say "but hundreds of thousands have ran cheap pcmo in their turbo engines without issue" which is true though some have been subject to timing component issues but I don't like regular pcmo in turbo gdi engines. I'm biased towards thicker euro oil in them if i actually care about the vehicle and want to own it for as long as possible.

There are definitely a lot of higher mileage turbo engines running cheaper oil out there but I always say what condition are these engines in? In a lot of cases they might be burning a lot of oil, have stuck rings and so they are down on power and getting worse fuel economy than they could be getting if they had used something better all along.

 

[goblin]

One and only reason: oil snobbery.

It's a good and valid one. I'm an oil snob. I am fully aware of my condition, so at least I use common sense when I can. Ex: as much as I dislike Valvoline, I am stocked on VRP.

You'll be absolutely fine with Kirkland for the usage you make of it.

And one more thing: Costco is NOT an inexpensive store. Their products are NOT cheap. They usually have an amazing bang for the buck, given the package quantities, but the stuff they sell is good.

Kirkland, specifically, is a brand I have yet to see a bad product from. If you take their nuts for example (cashews, pistachios, stuff like that) - they are absolutely top notch, and very high grade. And specifically in the cashews department - they seem to be proprietary as well.

One other example - during the short time Costco sold a Nutella equivalent under the Kirkland brand - it was pure Nutella.
This is not a big thing in the US, but in Europe everybody and their brother sells some Nutella-like spread. Some are good, but the taste is never the same. The reason being that Nutella has, or at least used to have, their own hazelnut supply, which is proprietary. So you can do better, you can do different, but not the same. The Kirkland spread was 100% the same. They just got the correct stuff from the get go. And there are plenty of suppliers they could have sourced that from.

So I am not sure what the UOAs say for Kirkland oil (well, I'm quite sure it's not repackaged Amsoil or Red Line), but I'm confident it's good to spec.

 

[64bawagon]

To be honest I don’t think Kirkland oil is good enough for the stress of a turbocharged engine, especially if it’s a Subaru. You will be better off in the long run using something like M1 ESP or one of the other Euro oils (or Amsoil or HPL)

I ran it in my 1.4L Cruze turbo and tested it at 5000 miles. Good test and the oil still had plenty of life left. I wouldnt hesitate to run it 7500 depending on use and conditions.

 

[JavierH19]

There are definitely a lot of higher mileage turbo engines running cheaper oil out there but I always say what condition are these engines in? In a lot of cases they might be burning a lot of oil, have stuck rings and so they are down on power and getting worse fuel economy than they could be getting if they had used something better all along.

All true, they might be running but in bad shape. My 341k yukon burns almost nothing of oil, just regular pcv consumption and has strong compression on all cylinders and is silent at hot idle. I've ran mostly hdeo in it and some euro 5w-40 instead of pcmo 5w-30 which is ok but engines that ran on that aren't in as good as shape as mine. haven't done headgaskets or valve seals either. All internals are original except for the timing chain which was changed out of fear right after the chain snapped on my ranger which killed that engine. But this chain was hardly stretched compared to the new one but i put the new one on anyway.

Some engines might be so well designed that they won't have issues with cheap oil in the long run but not all are solid engines and some people have been saved from the stuck oil ring headache caused from poor design by using much better oil on top of changing more frequently and same with chain stretch like on the early 3.6. Those that used better than required oil were better off than the rest.

If one knows that the engine design is solid because its existed for a long time and others haven't had issues in the long run then they could get away with it. But if they're buying a whole new engine design they can choose to not gamble and get some insurance by using something better and wait and see how it goes for the other owners of the new engine design who used basic 0w-20.

The new chrysler 3.0 has two oil specs. One is basic non euro 0w-20 for the "standard" output which still puts out a ton of power and euro 0w-40 for the high output and iirc the high output has an extra gdi pump in the valve cover along with other small changes but everything else is the same. If I owned the standard output I'd only be using what the high output one specs.

 

[OilUzer]

What does your owner's manual specify or recommend?

That would be a good baseline or a starting point and since you are a bitog member, you can then move up a notch (quality, applicable approvals, grade, shorter OCIs, etc.) if you like.

btw, I have bunch of Kirkland 5W-30 and it's API SP, ILSAC GF-6A and D1-G3.

 

[I<3oil]

It broke into my house and ate my cookies as well as got my dog pregnant.

1/10, would not recommend

 

[jayjr1105]

For 4K OCI's I'd do it and sleep like a baby

 

[GRUMPYDUDE2]

Yes it will work fine if you change at 5k or less. I would not trust it for longer term/mileage.
If I had just bought a new expensive car, I think would pay a little more for top tier oil brand, at least for the first few years of ownership.

 

[ATex7239]

It will work fine. But I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

You find Supertech cheaper at walmart ? Looks like at $15 a jug ... not the case. I'd buy it

 

[ATex7239]

One and only reason: oil snobbery.

I don’t think that’s fair. It’s no more snobbery than a person saying they’d rather have coffee from a coffee shop vs 7-Eleven. Or a person saying they’d rather have a burger from a restaurant vs McDonald’s. Or a person saying they’d rather drive a Lexus vs a Hyundai. Some people have higher standards others but doesn’t unto itself make them a snob. Thinking you’re better than someone else for making different choices is what makes you a snob. And calling someone to snob for not picking the minimum standard that is required could be reverse snobbery by your logic.

 

[Glenda W.]

Very nice Subaru!! IMO Subaru is not a good vehicle to run cheap oil in. I own an oil burner and maintain several that are varnished from previous oil choices. 5k oci’s to boot.

It’s all engine dependent as Kirkland works fine in most vehicles, I just can’t recommend it in Subaru’s.

 

[nascarnation]

You'll be fine with Costco Kirkland just like you'd be fine with WalMart Supertech.
Blended with love by Warren with a Dexos qualified add pack.

 

[TomYoung]

There are no reasons for a well-adjusted person not to use the Kirkland products.

 

[TomYoung]

I don’t think that’s fair. It’s no more snobbery than a person saying they’d rather have coffee from a coffee shop vs 7-Eleven. Or a person saying they’d rather have a burger from a restaurant vs McDonald’s. Or a person saying they’d rather drive a Lexus vs a Hyundai. Some people have higher standards others but doesn’t unto itself make them a snob. Thinking you’re better than someone else for making different choices is what makes you a snob. And calling someone to snob for not picking the minimum standard that is required could be reverse snobbery by your logic.

Your point is tricky to discern, because your examples are bad. Are you suggesting that it is only a head game to choose a sludgy, engine swapping Hyundai to a top of game Lexus? You are comparing a "burger" from a "restaurant" to a burger from McDonald's. McDonald's is a restaurant, and sometimes you have a Big Mac Attack. That's just a different experience from getting a fresh, high quality Cali Burger from the diner, and still different from a burger served at a steakhouse. None of these things speak in any way to high personal standards. I remember years ago when a company was trying to sell me some computers, and was told that he was selling the "Cadillac" of networking capability. My boss said "Is that a good thing?" Then went on a vaguely politically incorrect rant about how Cadillacs were once at the pinnacle of the automotive kingdom, but were now fundamentally garbage aimed at clueless people.

 

[goblin]

... And calling someone to snob for not picking the minimum standard that is required could be reverse snobbery by your logic.

Someone who would rather drive a Lexus than a Hyundai is not a snob.

Someone who would drive a Lexus because they would not be seen dead in a Hyundai is a snob.

"...the minimum standard..." is the key here. Presuming that the Kirkland oil won't meet them throws the narrative completely. Of course we shouldn't use it if it doesn't meet the standards. Do we have a confirmation of this ? I'm new here, possibly there were UOAs that confirmed it doesn't meet them?

I am mentioning oil snobbery in an all other things being equal context, and have to disagree with the notion that by definition this oil will not meet the standards required. It's a much more apple's to apples comparison than comparing consumer goods where subjective sentiment and passion is involved, such as cars.

So for a 4k miles OCI, I think there's little objective reason to not buy it, if there are objective reasons to buy it - and the OP wouldn't have opened the thread in the first place if they were not considering it already.

As for coffee - I am a coffee snob to a large extent.
My snobbery consists in a very simple rule: if I have to learn a foreign language to designate product and size, and/or have to make a sentence that is more than five words long to order a coffee (that would be quantity, size, color, "coffee" and "please") to order a coffee - I walk out

On very snobby days I can go up to six words, if I have to specify temperature, but there's a lot of guilt associated with this so I don't do it often.