What oil should I use?

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1. What kind of vehicle you have
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
3. Where you live
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
6. Whether your car has any known problems

If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.

2007 Chevy HHR with a 4 cylinder 2.2L ecotec engine
Calls for 5w-30 GM6049 (change by the oil life monitor)
NC
Easy and slow, with an occasional aggressive pull out at intersections
mostly a 9mi trip/12minutes... and the once a month trip of 80 highway miles
no known problems

I'd like to use a synthetic/store bought/as run it as long as i possibly can
 
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....or, if you are partial to one specific brand, stock up on that brand when it is on sale. This is usually what I do.
 
Follow the above advice on buying synthetic oil on sale, as long as it meets the GM standard. Also buy a quality filter - check the sale & rebate section for options.

In terms of running longer, your short-ish daily drive will limit how far you should extend your OCI. I'd follow the oil life monitor and call it good.
 
You say you want to run it as long as you possibly can. If you want to run extended drain intervals, say 10,000 mile intervals, or yearly intervals, then you really want a quality PAO synthetic.

Personally, due to it being available all over the country, and being one of the best tested oils on this site, I recommend Mobil 1 Extended Performance. Amsoil would be my second choice.

You cannot go wrong with either.

Family has been running Mobil 1 with yearly changes in all our vehicles since the late 70s, and we didn't even know about oil analysis back then.

I do yearly drains on all my vehicles with M1 EP, and would recommend this stuff on any mechanically sound modern vehicle.

Why go with the cheap stuff? You can get a 5 quart jug of M1 and your special ecotec filter for around $35 at Walmart. That is potentially $35 a YEAR if the UOA says your good to go. If not, then it couldn't be more then $70 a year, if you do two changes a year instead. Doesn't get much cheaper then that for the best stuff out there.
 
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