Motor Oil question

Hopefully more will chime in w/non-Toyota vehicles to help extra curricular reading & narrow down the exact oil for the 3rd gen Prius.

 

My general philosophy is to halve the recommended oil change interval and use the proper viscosity OEM oil and OEM filter. Looking for the cheapest oil/filter/whatever is too much work for so little return. I just want to keep my engine happy.

 

That's right. They're required to put in those silly statements in the US (and Canada?) manuals, even though oil of other viscosity designations (within reason) would function equally well and equally long, aside from slightly higher fuel consumption under some conditions. Look at manuals for the same engine in other countries.

 

There's not a huge difference between even 0w-20 and 0w-40 or even 5w-30. Use whatever. I like 0w-20 it is my favorite.

 

True. Specifically, the minimum required viscosity under High Temperature, High Shear-rate conditions is only about 11.5% higher for xW-30 oils than for xW-20 oils.

 

it's very surprising. it got me as well when i looked at the graph with them all and saw how little viscosity difference there was over the range of temps lol