Originally Posted by OVERKILL
. . .
The oil that used to be in that position, along with its 0w-30 sibling were spun out of that product line and into their own under the "Advanced Fuel Economy" heading some time back.
No substantial disagreement here, now we're slicing and dicing semantics, at least in our positions (unless you're an E-M engineer and haven't told us!). In a sense, all the flavors are simply off-shoots of the original, "monolithic" M1. Then add to that the fact that they tinker and alter formulas frequently. I kinda long for the days when it was just Mobil-1 and you picked which vis worked for your application, and that was it. Now we get to let our heads spin as we try to sort through whether there are meaningful differences between this type or that of a particular viscosity. Will a Ford truck explode if you use "Advanced Fuel Economy" in it instead of "Truck & SUV"?
And if you stop and think about it, don't pretty much ALL 0w-20 oils deserve to be called "Advanced Fuel Economy"?
EDIT: The logic of what you're saying is clearer to me now, especially since neither of the other AFE grades (0w-16 and 30) appear in the "plain" M1 line. If my hair were long enough, I'd be trying to pull it out now. . .
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Originally Posted by y_p_w
. . . The way I see it, the "plain vanilla" are the ones targeted for a manufacturer's recommended OCI in fairly recent cars. The price points do seem to merge to some degree, but there are at least 3 different price points.
. . .
I get what you're saying. Now, alas, we're even further into "clouded by semantics" territory. There's nothing in what you posted I can point to and say, "factually incorrect." That acknowledged, apart from a couple brief detours (like the seven years using my own overstock of green German Castrol...
), I've been using Mobil-1, one vis or another, since around 1985. Back then, of course, it was just "Mobil-1" with a couple viscosity choices. Then came the "racing" varieties. Then the floodgates opened. So
in my eyes, "plain vanilla" M1 is the stuff without the added "qualifiers." The good news for all of us is that at least there aren't any bad choices in the bunch. I'd readily use one of the other M1 0w-20s or even one of the 5w-20 varieties, if it was OC time and my preference was not in stock.