ffbacker

Hey all
new to the forum, picking up my 2010 Mazda 3 touring on Saturday morning. Unless you have any advice to the contrary, I plan on putting full synthetic oil in right away. Also, in addition to the factory warranty, should I opt for the extended "bumper to bumper" warranty?

Thanks in advance!

StewPitt

Why are you putting in synthetic oil? I do not own a mazda3, but I am looking to buy new 2010. I currently own a grand prix gtp that requires synthetic everything and its a pain and costly. I finally went back to regular cheapo oil and I've seen no change in performance.

ffbacker

I've read a lot of the debate between dino and synthetic, and my personal preference is synthetic. Since I've put it in my wife's trailblazer, gas mileage has gone up and engine noise has gone down. Not trying to start (another) war lol, it's just my personal preference.

StewPitt

lol, no war. Just giving you my input.

gio64

Given that oil change intervals and usage characteristics will greatly affect the need for a certain type of oil instead of another and consequently suggest a type of oil rather than another, I think there is very little to debate about which oil is better.
Synth, hands down.

I was participating to a conversation in another forum and I was recently able to gain yet some more knowledge in this area.

If you are going to purchase synthetic oil for your 3 (I have a 2010 HB with 700 kms on it), I would suggest that you carefully look into the following 2 things:

1) Oil viscosity. The recommended oil for this car is 5w20. I learned that this oil doesn't provide enough protection for the engine (any engine, not just the one in this car) as it is too "thin" when the engine reaches operating temps. This leaves very little margin for protection of vital components like bearings, as hot day, 4 people in the car and air on could be enough to cause the 5w20 to break down. I have also read that the recent recommendations made in North America in regards to new cars' oil specs (manufacturers indicating 5w20 rather than 30) is used to achieve better gas mileage and stay within government prescribed limits and it doesn't guarantee long engine life. I read one example that clearly outlines how Chrysler reverted back to 30 grade oil from 20 after they had a significant number of engine problems under warranty that they traced back to oil failure. As a matter of fact they sent a bulletin out saying that the 5w20 was to be used only to break in the engine and then the 30 oil had to be used. It is interesting to note that the same cars are recommended to use 30 grade oil in Europe and here in North America they are "spec'd" to use 20 grade. For those of you who might not know, there really isn't any difference between climate (generally speaking) in Europe and here, as well as no real difference in terms of geography to justify the different specification. Furthermore, if there is any notable difference, that is that there are some hotter pockets of climate in North America, for instance in the "desert" areas that are absolutely non-existent overseas.
Continued use of 20 grade oil will lead to very short engine life, but it will give you a 1% better gas mileage.
It's your choice.

2) Oil change intervals.
I have also recently read that it would be advisable to perform an oil change after the first 500 miles (800 Kms). Judging from your intentions, I guess if would be great to put 0w30 or 5w30 synth in your car at that time and from thereon. My intention is to do that around Monday/Tuesday next week, when I will be around that mark. I also decided that I'll do an extra change after about 2500 Kms, just to clean up anything else left from breaking-in. After that, I'll follow the manual (every 8k kms or, I guess 5k miles) and I'll continue to use synth.

StewPitt is right when he says that using synth is "impractical" as it is more costly (I was at Wal-Mart an hour ago and a 5L jug of Mobil 1 5w30 costs 41 CDN dollars...). Truth is, if you do 3 oil changes a year (that means you drive no less than 15k miles -24K kms, you'll end up blowing an extra 75 $ CDN on oil per year.
This at the advantage of a much better engine protection and durability.

Ultimately, it depends on your priorities, but those are some things you should look at.

I will leave you with an interesting reading on "how to break-in your car", since you're going to have to do that soon.

http://www.novustechnic.com/breakin_1.htm

I hope this helps. If you want to, I can give you a few links to discussions and articles about Oil.

ffbacker

Wow thanks that is some good info. Is it possible to own a Mazda 3 and keep the throttle toned down for 500 miles? Lol

Does anybody know what A Mazda mechanic's take is on the oil? Will 30 void any warranty? And on that note, any thought in purhasing the extended warranty?

gio64

Well, just keep it under 3K and no more than 50% throttle for a couple of hundreds of miles, possibly city driving, then you can probably go to 75% and 4.5K rpms...

I am in Canada, so there might be some differences.
I know for a fact that there is an "act" in the US that more or less says that you are allowed to use the oil you want without repercussions on the warranty (some conditions might apply however you are going to ask for a higher grade oil, so...)
I did email the dealership here and they said to me that I could use 5w30 (apparently the user manual -which I haven't re-checked- says that 5w30 can be used when 5w20 is not available) of any brand (I strongly suggest Mobil 1). Regarding the mineral vs synch, I believe that the user manual (again, I have to re-check) talks about oil simply from a grade stand point, with no mention of what type of oil (synth or mineral). This should pretty much settle that argument with the dealership, but I don't see why you would have to have one in the first place.

I am not a fan of extended warranties. They usually won't cover the things you'll need to replace, or they'll cover the parts and not the labour, or some other stupid crap like that. Also, you could want to change your exhaust, and then have to contend with the warranty if you have an issue.
Perhaps I am biased, but my sister in law had a 1998 VW Jetta (purchased new) and the car was the epitome of a lemon. They had got the extended warranty and no matter what f**ing problem the car had (and believe me, there were so many that one wouldn't believe it), it wasn't covered by that extended warranty.
I would look at what it would cost over 5 years and then evaluate what that money could pay for in case something goes south after that period of time.

Remember, these are my opinions, what looks or sounds good for me is not necessarily good or rational as a matter of fact.