It is approaching the time for my 10,000 mile oil change. I want to switch to synthetic but don't know what to buy. There were far too many choices on the shelves! I will take the car to a local mechanic but the doesn't stock synthetic.
My 10,000 is coming up and I plan to use Mobil 1 synthetic 5-30 (as I did at 5,000). That one seems to pop up a lot in posts.
I do what bigj3347 suggested. I go to Costco and pick up whatever there is. Usually, they carry Mobil-1. The differences among all synthetic oil are not that large. Especially you really don't intend to race your Prius or anything like that, do you?
A lot of it also depends on where you live too. In most climates the factory recommended 5W-30 should work just fine, and oils like Mobil 1 appear to be quite stable in use. Here in Winnipeg, it's prudent to run a 0W-30, which I started using after a 16,000km "break in." I'll probably run a 0W-30 year round, though for just this winter I'm trying Mobil 1 0W-20 as a "winter" oil. I'm going to perform Used Oil Analysis on the test with 0W-20 in mostly cold winter city driving to see what effect there is on wear metals. I would NOT recommend using a different viscosity unless you are also willing to closely follow up with a used oil analysis, especially a viscosity quite a bit different than what the maker recommends. An interesting and surprisingly good choice here in Canada is a HD motor oil made by Esso, called XD-3. It's available in 0W-30 and 0W-40, and is SL rated. Mobil 1 costs $8.25 a litre at Canadian Tire but I can get Esso XD-3 0W-30 for only $4.20 a litre. http://www.imperialoil.ca/Canada-English/F..._Xd-3_extra.pdf You'll notice Esso isn't afraid to go into detail about their product.
Don't forget about getting a GOOD filter. K&N, Mobil 1, Bosch Do not get FRAM, or AC Delco. Purolator is OK if you can't find any of the above.
What matters is getting the correct weight of oil. Pretty much any synthetic, if you go that route will do you just fine. But unless you are living in exceedinly cold climates 5w-30 should do you just fne. As for filters; I have used Purolator, and more recently, Purolator PureOne filters for a long time. They are a quality product. Not just kind of better than the stuff from Fram, but up there with the premium filters, without the Premium price.
