I was told that synthetic car is far superior to regular oil. Is this so. Does it last longer?
There is no simple answer. In some ways it’s superior. It’s also significantly more expensive.
The important question is; should I use it in my car?
If the owner’s manual for your vehicle specifies synthetic, then, yes, you should use it. If you have a racing car or extremely-high-performance street car, yes, you should probably use it.
If you have a standard passenger vehicle there is no reason to spend the extra money for synthetic oil. Stretching oil change intervals beyond the vehicle manufacturers recommendations is very risky, no matter what type of oil you use.
Synthetic oil will get dirty in your engine, just as conventional oil does, and that’s the reason we change oil. The oil doesn’t “wear out,” it just gets dirty.
What does your owner’s manual say? Does it say your car requires synthetic oil? What does your owner’s manual say about how often you should change your oil? Just do the maintenance according to your owner’s manual and your car will last as long as you want it to.
What McP said…here’s another way to think about it-it is extremely rare for a well-maintained car engine to have have oil-related problems. The vast majority use regular oil, so you can conclude that regular oil fully meets the needs of the vast majority of engines.
If your owners manual requires it, definitely use it.
If not, I have never known an engine to wear out prematurely unless caused by neglect, abuse, or a design or manufacturing defect. In over 40 years of ownership I’ve used only dino and never worn an engine out even after 338,000 miles (on my pickup).
In short, unless some specific reason exists that creates unusual stresses on the oil (like a turbocharger for example, again…check your manual) then as long as the engine is properly maintained and not abused it’ll last the life of the car with dino.
Last longer, maybe. Last better, more likely. It may be worth it if your faith in chemistry is really solid. Years ago, the Air Force and airlines were using it in their jet engines. We had every forty-ninth can come with Mobil-1 written on it instead of the stock number and Milspec. Then there was the problem of putting it down the right hole.