Best engine oil for car - Toyota genuine? Honda genuine? 0w-20 5w-30?

You work for Toyota?!

 

Toyota has back-specced the 2nd gen Prius for 0w20 (See this file). Unless you are taking your Prius on the track while towing another car in 125 degree heat while leaking coolant, 0w20 will perform just fine.

 

IIRC - The Toyota branded synthetic oil (0W-20) was originally (~2009-2010) sourced from Nippon Oil. A few years later they began sourcing it from Exxon-Mobil. In any case, it is formulated to Toyota's specs.

 

I just did my first oil change and used Castrol 0w20 full synthetic. It had been done by the dealer before so I assume they used Toyota brand. I haven't officially checked it but seem to be getting about 2 mpg better than last summer but haven't been running the A/C much. The A/C didn't seem to have much effect on it last summer running in eco mode.

 

.....by the lowest bidder.
It's a branding thing.....nothing else.

I use a 5,000 mile oci and Castrol.
I monitor for oil use and pretty much don't worry about lubrication for 150,000 miles or so.
I don't use Castrol because I suppose that it's superior, or cheaper, etc....
I use it because it's ubiquitous.

You can get it anywhere, and since oil snobs hate Castrol, I can use them as my Canary to alert me if there's a problem with QC down at the Castrol plant....which they would gleefully report.....on CNN.

OEM branded oil?
I don't use HD (although it's allegedly VERY good oil) or GM....or Yamaha, or Honda myself but it's probably not a bad way to go, if you use dealers for maintenance, but I don't do that either.

YMMV

 

$22.88 for the 5-Quart jug at Walmart.




$25.47 for Extended Performance 0W-20

 

$18 (Canadian) for 4 liters of bulk Toyota 0W20, from my local Toyota dealership. About a wash on the (everyday) cost. One plus: I re-use the bottle, not putting oil-soiled plastic in the recycle stream.

 

In the USA for Gen2 we have 5W-30 spec with 5000 mile drain interval
...a few years back one member here posted a letter from Toyota USA saying 0W-20 (or was it 5W-20?) is OK but you have to stick with Gen2 5000 mile drain interval,

My personal comments from reading seems like Gen3 is tighter engine tolerances, so for Gen2 we have little more fuel getting into the oil to make it lighter. So I like to stick with 5W-30 (or 0w-30) figuring its gets to lower visc all by itself. I use the Mobil 1 but Toyota brand seems to be top notch. I usually go over 5000 miles but not as high as 10000 miles for drain.

As far as different brands and who makes what for whom, to me they are constantly changing specs and formulations so I assume it's pretty hard for the public to know what is happening "behind the scenes" with any accuracy. If we knew it, it could change the next month anyways.

 

do you?

 

Thanks for this! I missed this in searching around. It seems I will be using 0W-20 in on my next oil change

 

that info is false. that backspecification is a myth. see the 2011 document from toyota.
it doesn't matter much though. 5w30 oils routinely shear down to the 5W20 range.

 

Its not false. Its just issued by Toyota of Canada, not Toyota America. Canadian summers can get pretty warm, and they have approved 0w20 for year around use in the 2nd gen Prius.

 

now i know what you are talking about, the infamous Canadian poster that is hosted of various 3rd party sites (never official Toyota sites), but when Toyota was asked if it was legit, they answered it was not official and they were not aware where it came from. some people think a clueless Canadian dealer made that poster and a picture went viral. do some research and don't blindly circulate rumors.

full disclosure: i do not think 0w20 is harmful, it was just never officially recommended for 2nd gen in USA.

 

Found this on my hard drive, not sure of it's origin. I'd be inclined to stick with the original oil spec, myself.

 

Your vehicle shows as "Other Non-Hybrid". It's a second gen?

 

I've done plenty of research on the image, even to the point that other posters on other forums say they have actually contacted Toyota Canada and heard back that it was real.

 

The thing to remember with oil specifications is that what is "correct" is geographically contextual.

It is all about the ambient temperatures through the year.

 

0w-30 is fine for the Mobil-1 AFE (Advanced Fuel Efficiency grade). I think the label says its good where 5W-30 is recommended. The normal 30 grade would be 5W-30.