cali, how much is your engine worth?
140,000 miles on my Mazda. If the oil was changed every 3,000 miles as claimed, he changed the oil about 45 times.
Regular oil- $1/qt x 5 qts. every 3,000 miles. $5/filter every 3,000 miles.
Synthetic oil- $5/qt x 5 qts. every 25,000 miles. $10 filter every 12,500 miles.
Regular - 46 oil changes $233 in oil. $233 in filters. 233 quarts of oil.
Synthetic- 5.6 oil changes $140 in oil. $112 in filters. 28 quarts of oil.
Total : Regular $466 Synthetic $252
Even if you double the interval of synthetic, and change oil and filter at 12,500 miles, it's cheaper at $392.
Which is cheaper again? And which is better for the environment, when you consider how much used oil we're disposing of? Even if you change the oil every 12,500 miles because of hard driving conditions, it's still cheaper, better for the environment, and it gets done much less often.
So the oil is superior, the filters are superior, and the cost is actually LESS over time. And yet you'd argue that synthetics aren't worth their cost?
If there is a problem with my numbers...if you think they're off, just say so. I'm open to other calculations, but I think mine are quite reasonable.