What oil filter do you recommend that is affordable yet effective?

Just my preferences....OEM (Dealer has them for like $12 for 3, a great price)...then WIXX, Mobile 1, and STP. It's not a big deal for me because I change oil/filter every 6 months or sooner if it goes over 5,000 miles (which is very rare).

 

3 miles each way to work. I take the "c" 4 days a week. I take the Prime 2 days a week.
Summer it may see around 150f but winter lucky to get to 120f I do use my engine block heater when cold.

Yes, thought about the bike thing. BUT I do not trust a single driver on the road.... I feel a bit safer in the car.
2 miles of the commute is on a main road 45mph with people doing 50-70mph (and paying more attention to their phones)
Actually the small town I live in has about 5-6 crosswalks with yield signs in middle of road, yet somehow someone gets hit
about once a month....and half of those incidents are HIT AND RUN, no joke. SO yeah I cannot ride a bike atm.

2022 I may get another Prime, but we may be also relocating and might hold out on Gen5 or Rav4 Prime or
something else that fits us in the near future.....still love my c tho!

Still, a DIY oil change with oem filter and mobil 1 after rebate is less than $15 total

 

Where do you get the Mobil 1 oil from for that price after rebate?

 

walmart like $23 for 5qt (it is currently $27.47 5qt in my local wm)
after $10 mobil1 rebate is $13

My c (same engine and capacity as Gen2) uses 3.9qts = $10.14 + $4.22 filter + $0.69 drain plug oring

I got max of 2 few months ago for 0w-20
and also max of 2 0w-16 for my Prime (which is hard to find in wm)

 

Best place to track Mobil 1 offers that I know of is slickdeals.net. You can set up and alert and they’ll email you offers as they arise from Walmart and others. Also if Costco member, they often also have good deals on it.

 

I didn't see what model and year car you have so I would recommend looking at what is installed now. Hopefully it will be a Toyota filter and not an off brand. That was the first thing I did when I purchased my car (used) and it had an aftermarket filter - darn! A LOT of research to determine what filter I needed, too. My 2010 Prius had a cartridge type filter and my 2018 Prime has a spin-on type. My 2018 takes a 30915-YZZF1. With all of our driving mostly on battery, I'll be changing the oil/filter by TIME and not mileage. I like that!