Why does non-synthetic oil still exist?

This is not an ideal place to chat with tech savvy-people. This is a Prius forum that's 10 years past its peak era and most of the regulars are old folks who are retired and have plenty of time to take the initiative on what you call "nonsense" and in this case I consider it an interesting discussion. But yes @bwilson4web and the guy with a Dunce cap in his profile photo have indeed posted lots of nonsense that sometimes makes me mad, but complaining about it has never changed anything. It's not the internet. If it's not making you mad.

 

reciprocal treatment......
works great in marriage - too
whatever you do - don’t take the high road

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I'd rather it be said than have it go unsaid so it doesn't go undiscussed. Having fun on the internet and trolling someone who deserves it can be quite enjoyable. But there's always moderators in one form or another judging / trolling us for how we respond to what other people do. Kinda like a never ending troll fest!

 

Ha ha, that’s different.

 

Reminds me of:

Do two people who know nothing about a topic know more or less than one person who knows nothing?

Click and Clack, famously concluded that two "know-nothings" can know less than one, as their combined lack of knowledge can lead to elaborate but incorrect theories.

 

We have a good spectrum of know-nothings, experts, and anything in between on PriusChat.

If you are talking about the White House though, it is nothing but know-nothings, and you are right in that they form a resonance together in a colossal state of ignorance and wrong actions.

 

except present company - of course ....

 

Regarding synthetic vs. conventional, you first need to understand what it means. It is too long to discuss here. But rest assured that today’s conventional base oils are of very high quality. They are Group II as opposed to Group III, and they are only marginally worse in oxidation resistance, which is made up to a large extent by the antioxidants in the additive package anyway.

You will not get less wear with a synthetic oil, period, which is determined by the oil viscosity and additive package. Synthetic base oils in fact sometimes result in somewhat higher wear than conventional base oils. The main advantage of synthetic oils is that they might allow longer oil-change intervals due to higher oxidation resistance of the base oil, but this is probably only the case if they also come with a high antioxidant content, such as in “extended performance” oils.

Last but not least, all 0W-16 and 0W-8 oils as well as virtually all 0W-20 oils are synthetic (Group III or higher) anyway; so, this is a moot issue. Even thicker grades these days are usually at least semisynthetic due to ever stringent requirements on Noack volatility. Truly conventional oils, which have a Group I base oil, no longer exist in North America, but you might find them in Mexico.