I have a 2017 Subaru Forester . The owner’s manual calls for synthetic oil changes at 6000 miles which is well below what other manufacturers of modern cars require. Subaru has apparently fixed its ‘recent’ engine problems. So my question is: other than warranty issues, why can’t I run the Forester to 7500 miles before oil changes to save money since I am using the best synthetic oil available?
Because oil changes are a lot cheaper than a complete engine replacement . It may say 6000 miles or 6 months so why would you argue with that.
Edit: using a basis of 100,000 miles at 6500 miles that is 15 oils changes - at 7500 miles that is 13 oil changes . Not a large amount of money . Either way you will still change at the same time interval so all this is not a big deal.
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Because Subaru is telling you NOT to go 7500 miles on an oil change and THEY designed the car.
As @VOLVO_V70 pointed out, that is only 2 oil changes in 100,000 miles or about $140 in 8-10 years for a $30,000 car. A new engine would cost you about $5000.
You can pay me a little NOW… or you can pay me A LOT later!
As a fellow Forester owner with 12K on a car 2.5 years old, I just wish the 6 month interval wasn’t there because it’s a hassle. Julian, I’d love to believe Subaru has fixed its engines, but just this month it settled yet another engine failure lawsuit, this one for the turbocharged engines. Owners are STILL reporting oil consumption failures on Foresters. If it makes you feel any better, oil changes are a tiny fraction of the cost of ownership of a vehicle. Here’s some info on that from our partner site.
If you want to save money and you’re so inclined, buy a pair of jack stands and a floor jack and you can do all of your own oil changes and tire rotations yourself. A 2017 Forester has to be one of the easiest vehicles to do an oil change on.