I was upset with Castrol when it turned out that most grades of Syntec were no longer PAO/ Ester. I do feel like it is bait and switch to tout the benefits of Synthetic oil and then switch to Group III.
If it wasn't for BITOG and the good info on GC, I never would have purchased Castrol again, nor stocked up on green GC 0W-30.
But even now that I've learned that Castrol does make a few good products like GC, Transynd, probably the custom blends for VW and BMW....I still feel ripped off by Castrol and don't trust them as a company anymore.
Mobil 1 and Castrol convinced us that synthetics oil was superior, but made from expensive ingredients so we had to spend more money for the best oils.
Now that our buying habits have changed and fully synthetic oil is established as a $6.00 / qt product, and the Syntec and Mobil 1 brand names are established, I feel cheated and ripped off by companies making the $6.00 / qt product with cheaper ingredients and not lowering the price or telling the customer the truth.
I have a hard time with buying expensive oils made with cheaper ingredients .... and the best the companies can offer is that they used better additives or that Group III is full synthetic, when I think Hydrocracked Synthetic is more truthful and informative .
So what is Mobil 1 thinking if they really do start to change the formula of their 'fully synthetic' Mobil 1?
I can believe that Group III might perform nearly as well as Group IV or V in some circumstances, and possible even better than Group IV or V in certain narrowly defined areas.
But don't expect consumers like me not to be angry and lose confidence with a brand name like Mobil 1 when they 'bait and switch'.
This throws the conventional / synthetic oil buying process into utter confusion.
Other than oils like Redline, and my stash of GC...I don't know who to trust.
If full synthetics are not full synthetics but hydrocracked synthetics……and most GF-4 / SM rated oils are so much better….then this makes buying oils on sale like Chevron, Havoline, TropArtic, Motorcraft, Pennzoil Platinum seem more reasonable than paying $6.00 /qt + for Syntec and Mobil 1 .
What will Mobil 1 or Synthec have to offer [ other than Marketing Hype ] if the contents are increasingly more and more similar in terms of actual production cost or real world performance?
Looks like I'm buying Redline, Amsoil for full synthetics, and Pennzoil Platinum for premium Group III, or Havoline/ TropArtic, Motorcraft for great value oil with some Group III content.
Castrol and Mobil 1 are going to have to produce some incredibly compelling proof of performance and value to convince me to buy their Syntec or Movbil 1 brands again.