Right oil for old, low-mileage car?

I’ve got a 1999 VW Lupo 1.4 with 30,000 miles on it. Mostly I use it for short hops in the city. My mechanic says half synthetic oil will work better than all-synthetic oil in my car? True or false ?

False. But either oil will work just fine as long as you don’t have a turbo. If you have a turbocharged engine, I’d go with full-synthetic. And it’s just me, but I’d probably use full-synthetic anyway, especially if you’re only going to change the oil once a year or less and with your driving habits. What is your mechanic’s rationale for his opinion?

If you are using it daily for very short hops, I would change oil more then once a year…perhaps 9 months with regular oil. If the car is not running but say once a week, then yearly changes would be fine for me. If you are using synthetic, yearly seems fine in either case. IMO, frequency of use for short trips would be a factor.

@dagosa I agree that with this type of use, two oil changes per year make more sense. A non-turbo car that age can use a good mineral oil and live a long truoble-free life. This driving pattern is prone to sludge formation; the oil will not be subject to extreme stresses as with high speed driving.

My late mother-in-law had a similar driving pattern and we changed oil and filter twice a year.

i have a 2007 honda cvr and the drivers manul says nothing about a timing belt
absolutely nothing, every one says it needs to be change but the book don’t have a thing

baby cakes…I think your CR-V 2.4 engine has a timing chain. No need to change it since it should last for the life of the engine.

Big Kahoona, is your engine the petrol or diesel version?

Car never sold in U.S. What country do you live in?