Same Car Same Engine, Different Country Different Oil

NibbanaBanana

NibbanaBanana

Joined
May 23, 2016
Messages
473
Location
New England
Was thinking about doing the first oil change on my new 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage. Very reluctant to use the spec'd 0w-20 dinosaur wizz as good old M1 5w-30 and 10w-30 have been working so well for me for over four decades. YouTuber Turd Pails & Trails maintains a fleet of Mirages in Canada and said 5w-30 is fine and is actually spec'd in other countries.

An internet search landed me this result.
https://mitsubishi-motors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16MY-Mirage-Owners-Manual.pdf
A UK Mirage owners manual. It is a 2016 model year but has the same 3A92 engine. The manual seems legit as it refers to the "bonnet" of the car. Page 10-05 lists the recommended oil specs. Depending on temperature range it says to run anything from 0w-20 to 20w-50 in these things. If I spoke anything other than English I might be able to find other manuals.

Recent events in the motor oil world are leading me to believe that these super thin oils are a scam to eek out fractional fleet mpg's to satisfy carb mandates. I'm sure some people are doing well with these super thin oils but this car has a 3 quart sump and spec's 7500 mile OCI's. Call me skeptical.

I'll be sticking with good old M! 5w-30. My 2006 Aveo engine still running like new with over 266K miles. No oil consumption on 7500 mile OCI's.
 
NibbanaBanana said:
Was thinking about doing the first oil change on my new 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage. Very reluctant to use the spec'd 0w-20 dinosaur wizz as good old M1 5w-30 and 10w-30 have been working so well for me for over four decades. YouTuber Turd Pails & Trails maintains a fleet of Mirages in Canada and said 5w-30 is fine and is actually spec'd in other countries.

An internet search landed me this result.
https://mitsubishi-motors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16MY-Mirage-Owners-Manual.pdf
A UK Mirage owners manual. It is a 2016 model year but has the same 3A92 engine. The manual seems legit as it refers to the "bonnet" of the car. Page 10-05 lists the recommended oil specs. Depending on temperature range it says to run anything from 0w-20 to 20w-50 in these things. If I spoke anything other than English I might be able to find other manuals.

Recent events in the motor oil world are leading me to believe that these super thin oils are a scam to eek out fractional fleet mpg's to satisfy carb mandates. I'm sure some people are doing well with these super thin oils but this car has a 3 quart sump and spec's 7500 mile OCI's. Call me skeptical.

I'll be sticking with good old M! 5w-30. My 2006 Aveo engine still running like new with over 266K miles. No oil consumption on 7500 mile OCI's.
Click to expand...
BINGO! That's exactly what it is, only to satisfy fleet average. If I were in a warm climate I'd use 5W30 too.
 
The mirage is a great car. And yes it's typical for non EPA countries to let you run everything under the sun and make thinnie alarmists that claim an engine won't work right with a higher grade look stupid which I love seeing every now and then. I'm running my last of quaker state 5w-40 in a mitsubishi outlander sport instead of 0w-20 and the engine is in love with it, it has over 5k and the oil is still clearish looking but I have lots of castrol 5w-40 on the shelf and might change it next week. Sounded so loud and unhealthy with that thin oil. Definitely use at least a 30 preferably a euro 30 like M1 ESP 0/5w-30. Walmart carries it for cheap. Don't get AFE 0w-30.
 
This same situation applies to Honda cars outside the US. Personally, I'd move up a grade without hesitation, but I'm not keen on two grades. Just doesn't seem right or necessary.
 
There also engines that have started out specifying a certain grade then later having it changed to a thinner grade later. I think the Honda J series is one such example. Then there are the engines the call for one grade here in the US then a thicker grade everywhere else. So I agree with the run a grade thicker if the manual calls for a Xw-20 or thinner.
 
This is a heavily debated topic within the Subaru realm. For example the current FA24F engine (used in WRX, Ascent, Outback XT, etc) has 0w20 recommended for usage while the former WRX and Forester XT engine, FA20F, has a tighter clearance range yet recommended 5W30.

What I just said above, that only applies to vehicle sold in the USA. Elsewhere in the world you will commonly see, across the board, oil grades such as 0w30 recommended for the FA24F engine and I even have an email from Subaru of America that states that this oil grade can be used in the USA version FA24F without issue.

I know of countless people that have a Subaru with this engine that use Mobil 1 ESP 0w30 with no negative impact in terms of engine performance, maintenance concerns, or fuel economy with an abundance of UOA data to back it up.
 
For anyone who doesn't want to or can't open the PDF, here's the oil viscosity chart:

Screenshot 2025-07-05 141017.webp

Looks like 20w50 is okay to use all the way down to -10C in these engines!
 
VolkswagenFox21 said:
For anyone who doesn't want to or can't open the PDF, here's the oil viscosity chart:

View attachment 288117
Looks like 20w50 is okay to use all the way down to -10C in these engines!
Click to expand...
Easy posting that sort of thing. You are going to give the thinnies heart attacks when they find out that engines can run a broad range of oil viscosities. (Not just can do all the time because even 0w-16 oil is thicker at 70°F than 0w-30 is at operating temperature.)
 
Long time ago we used to run 10W-40 dino in Idaho cold winters and summers. Everyone I knew used 10W-40 dino. No one talked about CCS & MRV. Then the city boys invented 0W.

All cars are still running. Well, maybe not! :ROFLMAO:
My car had well over 400K miles. Lots of rust. Could see the ground on the driver side.
 
NibbanaBanana said:
Was thinking about doing the first oil change on my new 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage. Very reluctant to use the spec'd 0w-20 dinosaur wizz as good old M1 5w-30 and 10w-30 have been working so well for me for over four decades. YouTuber Turd Pails & Trails maintains a fleet of Mirages in Canada and said 5w-30 is fine and is actually spec'd in other countries.

An internet search landed me this result.
https://mitsubishi-motors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16MY-Mirage-Owners-Manual.pdf
A UK Mirage owners manual. It is a 2016 model year but has the same 3A92 engine. The manual seems legit as it refers to the "bonnet" of the car. Page 10-05 lists the recommended oil specs. Depending on temperature range it says to run anything from 0w-20 to 20w-50 in these things. If I spoke anything other than English I might be able to find other manuals.

Recent events in the motor oil world are leading me to believe that these super thin oils are a scam to eek out fractional fleet mpg's to satisfy carb mandates. I'm sure some people are doing well with these super thin oils but this car has a 3 quart sump and spec's 7500 mile OCI's. Call me skeptical.

I'll be sticking with good old M! 5w-30. My 2006 Aveo engine still running like new with over 266K miles. No oil consumption on 7500 mile OCI's.
Click to expand...
Why? 0W20 is fine you have proven data 5W30 protects better.
 
I'm running 5w-20 in my 2018 Mirage at a 5000-mile OCI. I'm sure 5w-30 would work just fine, but I bought the car for fuel economy. I regularly get 48-49 mpg.
 
chainblu said:
I'm running 5w-20 in my 2018 Mirage at a 5000-mile OCI. I'm sure 5w-30 would work just fine, but I bought the car for fuel economy. I regularly get 48-49 mpg.
Click to expand...
I have the factory 0w-20 in there still. Less than 3000 miles on the car. I do all local driving and get 44-45 mpg but drive very economically. If you're driving for fuel economy, why not 0w-20?

The normal service OCI's called for in the manual say 7500 miles. Seems like a lot for a 3 quart sump using 0w-20.
 
factorytuned2012 said:
Why? 0W20 is fine you have proven data 5W30 protects better.
Click to expand...
I would say that from the recent GM debacle, 5w-30 will protect better. But other than that my concern is that 7500 mile OCI's on a 3 quart sump using 0w-20 is pushing the oil too far. And I don't want to learn proven data the hard way.
 
NibbanaBanana said:
I would say that from the recent GM debacle, 5w-30 will protect better. But other than that my concern is that 7500 mile OCI's on a 3 quart sump using 0w-20 is pushing the oil too far. And I don't want to learn proven data the hard way.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t compare the Mitsubishi engine to the GM. You could always down your oci to 5k. Are you experiencing consumption issues? no direct injection on the Mitsubishi to worry about fuel dilution. Are you short tripping and dragging out a 7500 mile oci? If you’re getting to 7500 within 4-6 months no concern on 0W20.
 
factorytuned2012 said:
I wouldn’t compare the Mitsubishi engine to the GM. You could always down your oci to 5k. Are you experiencing consumption issues? no direct injection on the Mitsubishi to worry about fuel dilution. Are you short tripping and dragging out a 7500 mile oci? If you’re getting to 7500 within 4-6 months no concern on 0W20.
Click to expand...
No issues but the car is 1 year old and only has about 3000 miles. No short tripping but I just don't drive it very often. I'd like to stick to the 7500 mile OCI's but it will be a couple years, probably more. When my daily driver Chevy Aveo dies finally it will probably be roughly yearly OCI's in the Mirage.
 
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