Gas Mileage and my first oil change

[clark1566]

Just thought I would post a little testament to the gas mileage of a matrix for anyone reading that is considering buying one. I have an 06 XR. I just got back from a family vacation at Disneyworld. I drove my Matrix from Atlanta to Orlando with 5 people (2 adults and 3 teens), luggage piled to the ceiling in the back and the A/C on and STILL got 34 mpg! Awesome car. The trip did bring me to my first oil change, though. I am considering putting synthetic in and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about regular oil versus synthetic and what brands of synthetic others use.

[acrylucs]

dont use synthetic. once the synth is in, you can only ever use synth thereafter. if you plan to sell it, not everyone is keen on synth. Plus, the benefits are marginal

[trdbryan]

It is a myth that once you go to synthetic oil you can never go back. In my 99 tercel i have switched from regular oil to synthetic back to regular oil many times and never had a problem. If you look on the back of most synthetic brand oil jugs it will say "fully compatible with conventional, synthetic and synthetic blend motor oils"

The Advantage to synthetic oils is that in the winter they stay more fluid at cold temperatures, allowing easyer start up and the oil flows to all critical engine parts faster than conventional oil, as well as in extreem heat synthetic oil does not break down as easy and also lasts longer than conventional oils. Hope this helps

B

[ksbrace]

trdbryan is absolutely right on both counts. Synthetic is fully compatible, and its main advantages are that it flows in extreme cold (easier cranking at -20 F) and tolerance of high heat (important if you have a turbo, the internal mechanics of which can get very hot). At normal operating temps the differences between synthetic and normal oil are tiny. I ran synthetic oil one winter in my Saturn here in New England, and on a couple mornings it was minus 10 F it started and sounded and felt like normal, whereas with regular 5w30 it took a minute to sound and feel normal (previous and later winters). But at 0 F I couldn't feel any difference. I use regular oil now. I'm still in New England, but I have a garage now, so I have no extreme cold starts anymore.

Clark1566, I can't think of any good reason for you to use synthetic oil in Georgia. No extreme cold, and no turbo. Normal hot weather is not a problem for regular oil.

[wantin150]

Synthetics allow for longer drain intervals should you want to go that route. Mobile 1 touts 15k or 1 year. Amsoil is 35K or 1 year. Synthetics outperform dino oil in all aspects, except price. If you change your oil every 3-5k with dino, you should be fine. If you go the 7500 route, IMO, I would use synthetic, especially if you tow or idle a lot. Synthetics resist sludge a lot better than dino oil also.


EDIT: I response to below, I dropped my factory oil at 1k and went Castro dino. At 5k I dropped that and went Castrol Blend. At 10K, I switch to Syntec (which is NOT full synthetic). I am currently at about 46k and will be switchingto the Amsoil 0W30 Series 2000.

[clark1566]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm an aircraft mechanic and work with synthetic oils all the time so I'm a big fan of them. I was mostly curious what others used. I may go with regular oil for my first oil change and put synthetic in later. Heat and sludge are more of an issue here than anything else. Atlanta has obnoxious traffic and an hour a day or more in stop and go can be a little brutal. Thanks again for the input.