Ok, so, as a practical matter is there a purely Grp III synthetic that is as good as M1 PAO? Or do they get to call cheaper stuff Syn, charge the same, and really they're just shamming us?
Is there a grpIII syn that's substantially cheaper than M1? If it's as good for cheaper, M1 is starting to feel like good money after bad, truthfully. Here, it's $6.25/ qt for SS, and $6.87 for the EP stuff. It has gone up radically the last couple of months since my last OCI. Isn't worth it, unless of course, M1 really IS ideal for my 7500-10K OCI.
But the Castrol syn is no cheaper than M-1, or only by a little. Valvoline Syn, the same. I think the PP is PAO? It's just shy of M-1 here, price-wise. Is getting the REAL DEAL worth the extra buck a quart when we're talking the GRPIII syns are $5-5.50 a quart anyway?
I know all these are good oils, and adequate, but at what point is it throwing good bux after bad? IS the extra money worth it? And now from deeper reading, I find that even $1.58/QT Havoline is a mix of GrpII/GrpIII in 5W20 with a pretty good additive package to boot? I'm getting educated right out of M1 (and even the GrpIII "syn") if these oils are THIS close to one another, especially in a non-performance, non-critical application as a 4-banger roller-skate.
The logical destination for all this is, if it's all equivalent, jeez, I might as well go buy, I dunno, 6 cases of Havoline 5W20 API-SM for $118.00 with tax for my 7500 OCI, and call it a day, oil-purchase wise, for the life of the vehicle.
Not to be disloyal to M1 or anything, but why shouldn't I?