I use synthetic oil in my 2006 VW Bug Convt’. I drive a high number of miles daily (140 mi),I’m looking to save $$, is synthetic oil different between Name brand and Off brand (Miejers), the price difference is great
My guess is that private label synthetic oil is pretty good stuff. Perhaps not as good as some branded synthetics but likely very little difference. If price is significantly different I’d consider the private brands a bargin.
Read the label carefully. There are full synthetics, and blended synthetics. Blended is part synthetic and part regular oil. How much of each is not specified. I would not buy a private label blended synthetic. What I said above applies to full synthetic only.
The recent re-classification allows different oils to be called synthetic. The original full synthetic (polyalphaolefins,or PAOs) base stock is what Mobil 1 uses,and it is the best.
Newer synthetic oils use a hydro-treated base stock, which is a regular mineral (dyno) oil that has been further treated. This is considerably better than a normal base stock, but, in my opinion a little short of the real thing. Cheap synthetic oil is not really the original type of synthetic, whcih costs a lot more to make.
So, unless it says on the bottle that it MEETS VOLKSWAGEN SPECS, I would not use it!
For a normal US or Japanese car these newer synthetics are just fine, in fact they don’t need synthetic oil. Driving a lot of highway miles is VERY EASY on your oil and your engine. If you leak oil, it might pay to fix the leaks. Your type of driving also allows 10,000 miles between oil changes, according to VW. Read your owner’s manual carefully.
Just be sure that the off-brand oil meets the very strict VW oil specifications. Failure to use the correct spec oil can lead to sludging of those engines, and can void the powertrain warranty.
As with any car, [b] Read the Owner's Manual [/b] Make sure the oil meets the specifications listed in the manual. I believe it must be synthetic (I know it must for a diesel). Check the can to make sure it meets at least one of the allowable oil specifications listed in the manual.
Not doing so would be very foolish and could invalidate your warranty if it is still valid.Thanks for the info guys, I’ll reread the manual (I kinda skimmed over it before) and do more research on the Oil brands I have in mind.
If you have the 1.8T or diesel engine be real wary using proper spec’ed oil per VW.
If this is the base 4 cylinder (2.0L or 2.5L non turbo), you the cheapest synthetic that you’d like.
If you buy the five quart container from Wal-Mart, the price is between $21 and $27 for name brands like Castrol and Valvoline, Pennzoil and Mobil-1.