I have a 4 month old Honda Fit, I drive around 400 miles per month. I wonder how often I need to have the oil changed.
What does your owners manual say? Read and heed.
I would read the owner’s manual first. Keep in mind if that 400 miles a month consists of a lot short trips you may want to keep to the “severe” schedule. I have a 93 Chevrolet Caprice that gets driven about 3 or 4000 miles a year. I change the oil and filter every 6 months regardless of the mileage. This 14 year old car does not use or leak oil between changes so I’m sticking with this schedule.
Ed B.
Usually in case like yours I would use the severe interval by time. Usually its something like 6months/5000 miles(whichever first) severe and something lengher for normal driving that few drivers are in. Check your manual.
Definitely “Severe Service”! A spring and fall oil change would make sense. I would use a 10W30 for summer and 5W30 for winter, unless the manual says otherwise. If the car is driven one trip every day, that averages 13.2 miles per trip, which would be enough to warm up the engine and drive off any condensation and raw gasoline. With 2 oil changes per year your car will live long!
How is your 400 miles divided up? To consider extremes, do you drive 400 miles in one day and park the car the rest of the month or do you make two or three 5 mile trips every day in stop and go traffic? If you make infrequent long trips, a six month oil change schedule is entirely adequate. However, if your driving is just short trips during which the car never completely warms up, you should change oil every three months even though you will only have driven 1200 miles in that time.