telltom

I did the search and read all i can find on motor oil, but i'm more confused than ever. Is real synthetic such as Mobil 1 anymore beneficial then a quality motor oil. Is it just overkill?

doclaw

syn is overkill unless the manufacturer recommends it. even changing it at 3000 miles is a little overkill.

Protege52003

I think regular perto oil is good if you change it at least every 5k. I did a lot of research on syn vs petro and ended up changing to mobil 1 last month. I have noticed quite a drop in coolent temp, along with a little better milage. The engine runs the same though.

I figure change it every 10K instrad of 5k. Symthetic oil does not break down nearly as fast as petro products and mobile says every 20K with a filter chabge in between. seems a little to long for me.

figure for $20 at walmart for 4 quarts of mobile 1 (protege needs 3.7) and filter $4.XX, twice a year is not bad. Think an oil change at a mazda dealer runs between $20 and $27 (preto oil), every 3-5K.

I am happy with the synthetic and believe it is good for the high reving engine, especially if you drive the car hard.

-R

Laser5

In my '92 Accord, I switched from regular oil to Royal Purple and noticed a nice increase in gas mileage. I just replaced my oil for the first time in my P5 and now I am using Mobil 1 (for the lack of Royal Purple distributors in the local area).

KYREDP5

Actually it's $18.88 for a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 at Wal-Mart.

Protege52003

Yeah, but why buy 5 when you only need 3.7 and have to change the oil less frequently. I guess the extra would be good if your car burned oil.......

Each quart is $3.88 and when you get the 5 quart jug, each quart is $3.78. Not much saved.......

-R

KYREDP5

Yeah, but if you buy the 5 qt. then for your 5th oil change you don't have to buy any oil, you have enough left over from the previous 4 changes.

tradr

I've been on synthetic oil since 9,000 miles and I'm currently at 56,000 miles.. I've been varying intervals between oil change of 3,500-6,500 miles on synthetic and one of these days I mean to have the engine oil tested by a lab around 6,000-7,000 miles on oil and a huge amsoil filter to see how the engine oil holds up.

Looking back and knowing that complete junkyard 1.6L engines go for about $400 used makes me feel stupid for going with synthetic especially because cars hold up fine off dino oil, however I'm going at least double the mileage I would on regular oil and very safely, so it is the same cost in the end and in the winter my car is noticably better off.

nai8o5

i'm doing my second oil change tommorrow and am switching to mobil 1 full synthetic and also switching out all my fluids to synthetic, changing oil only twice a year sounds nice

Mike R

I use Mobil1, I put too many miles on my car to be changng the oil every 3-4 weeks. Not to mention I run the crap out of it also. Nice to have some added protection.

I buy the 5 qt at Walmart, and run it in my two cars. The leftover from the 2 is enough for another oil change. The 5 qt container is also good for storing the used oil-much better than a bunch of 1 qt bottles all over the place.

PJH

I have used both dino & syn. in different cars. Since I do alot of short runs, stop & go I like to change my oil & filter every 3000K or 5000Mi - In my new 5 I think I will stick to dino Castrol GTX 10w30 or 5w30. Don't know if I want to leave 'any' oil in the car for 6 months - 5 has a very small filter. For the cost 4 times a year min is best I think.

proman

if you drive your car hard all the time then you may want to use the mobil 1 but it is definitely not neccessary. if you only do normal driving then the regular is fine enough. Oil changes every 5000 miles is good enough on regular motor oil. so it comes down to how often you want to change your oil.

PJH

I somewhat agree, however, the Protege was designed by Mazda and shipped from the factory with dino oil - good enough for me! - not like some cars ie 'vetts....... that are designed and shipped from the factory with Mobil 1. With regular 'quality dino' oil & filter changes your P5 will last just as long as using the $$$ synthetic. However, yes, if you are driving constantly at the red line or in extremely hot desert temps / or arctic extreme cold for long periods of time it 'may' be worth changing to synthetic - maybe. For the rest of us I feel it is just a marketing thing by the big oil companies. It's like using 93-94 oct gas when you only need 87-89. Do you know that the profit margin is much greater on the 93-94. They charge up to 10 cents a liter more, however only costs approx 2 cents more to refine!

nai8o5

just got my second oil change and used mobil 1 full synthetic. I can feel a great difference in driving and acceleration, much better response and feel. Mobil 1 gets my thumbs up!

ChopstickHero

been running mobil1 5w-30 in my engine and there has been an improvement in gas mileage. plus the engine feels smoother.

i just put in mobil1 ATF and it has smoothened out the shifting too. definitely recommend both.