I have never had particularly strong feelings about oil and oil changes (perhaps to my detriment). I have a new 2007 Outie LS and the first oil change is not too far out, so I seek the advise of those who have thought more about this than I on the following issues:

Natural vs. Synthetic
Brand?
Mileage, every 3500 or 7000? (different for first or first few oil changes?)

For reference, I put on 150 highway miles per work day

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

Mobil 1 Synthetic every 3500 miles

 

I would go w/ Sebba moble 1 oil and filter every 3,000 to 3,500 miles

 

You're gonig to get ALOT of opinions LOL

You'd be perfectly fine with a quality named petroleum oil and using the maintenance schedule. Mitsu is confident enough in this that they give us the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty

Personally, I like to use Mobil 1 (and perhaps switching to Pennzoil Platinum after my stash runs out)anda Purolator filterand the go with the regular schedule. (whichfor me is the 6 month mark and < 5K miles, but since I have a 4 mile commute insuburban driving it's probably a little rougher on the oil, so that's why I go syn)

I think using a synthetic and changing so often is only wasting money. I've seen many Used Oil Analysis with 10K miles on Mobil 1 and the oil was still good. There's one test out on the net using Mobil 1 in a Camaro and they got 18K on the oil...but they did change the filter (at 12K) and retop the oil level, which they state is how they got the extra 6K miles. They end up recommending 8,000 if you use zero oil. Here's the link

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

 

I personally am going with every 4500 miles or4 months, as it was one of the options I couldset the infodisplay to.I did the first oil change at 3k, but now I am going to the regular schedule. I think that 7500 miles is a little too long, and 3000 is too often. I don't know about oil, my first oil change was at the dealer, because I had other issues they had to deal with, and I figured that I'd just get the oil done at the same time, but I think that Synthetic is a better choice, and I am sure that it can go longer, but for an extra $40 a year, I'd rather keep my car running well.

 

Mobil 1 every 7500.

As an anecdote, when I lived in GermanyI had a 96' BMW M3 Evo (321bhp Euro version) that had 135,000 miles on the clock when I sold it. Mobil 1 from day one, daily driver and hammered up and down the autobahns at speedsup to 155mph, only changing the oil when the light came on to say you should change it (between 9,000 and 11,000 miles depending on how it was driven for that period). When I came to sell it, the engine still burned absolutely no oil and appeared to have lost no power whatsoever.

So a plug for mobil 1 and a plug for the manufacturers knowing what they are saying when they say when to change the oil, which is why in the Outie I'll do it at 7500. They built the car, not the dealer, or jiffy lube.I'm sure regular oil at 7500 would be just fine also, its just that I am fan of mobil 1 after that BM experience.

Much more important than oil change interval over the long term is not racing your car till its fully warmed up - I religiously babied that BMW until the oil temp was up to where it was supposed to be before I let it have it.

 

No way at 7500....

 

Interesting to see how much it can differ - the recommended interval in Sweden is 9320 (15000km) or once a year if you drive less, both for petrol and diesel versions. Many people find this odd though, as VW (Audi/Skoda/Seat) go for twice that distance (slightly more or less depending on hard you drive the car, the on-board comp will tell you when it is time).

Finally getting to pick up my Outie coming Friday, and not a moment too soon, as we have had some snow and ice already.

 

Its recomended 3500 miles or 3 months.

 

damn 150 miles to work and back in 1 day.....i drive about70 roundtrip and i thought i was crazy