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Comment by throwawayboise | Hacker News Reader

Maybe the oil sold in Europe is more uniformly higher grade?

If I go to the local auto parts store here, I can spend ~$1.00/qt for oil or more than $10.00/qt for oil. Guess which oil most people will buy?

Also I don't really have any confidence that the dealers are using factory specified oil. I think they probably use the cheapest bulk oil they can buy. That's why I change my own oil, that way I know what is in the engine.

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Amazing. Not only do the dealers I've used not use bulk oil (unlike most 3rd party shops) but I get the leftover (new) oil in the original metal can they used. It is definitely the factory specified oil. The specific car is part of the paint scheme directly on the can.

Seems to me reading the thread that the difference is because US dealers use crappy oil so they specify more oil changes? Or maybe it's just greed.

A counterpoint to this is that my car is manufactured in a single plant in Europe. It ships with engine oil in it (because it's driven on and off the transport ship). So I presume one sold in the UK and the US have the same oil in, yet Land Rover will tell you to change that exact same oil in the exact same engine after 20k miles in the UK and 5k miles in the US.

There’s a weird subset of Americans who are very “passionate” about motor oil. They argue about oil filters and formulations… almost audiophile like.

My guess is the guidance is to avoid some PR nightmare.

Fuel and oil quality is a lot more variable in the US, so are the environmental conditions, so you have to set the guidelines according to the minimum likely to be encountered.

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