Just out of curiousity how often do you guys change your oil? I know the manual says every 10,000 miles, but that seems like an awful lot.

i'm a low-mileage driver... typically only 4-5k a year.
in theory, i should get an oil change on my Prius twice a year. i usually let it go longer.
the last two or three oil changes, i switched the car to synthetic, and plan to leave it in the car for about 7500 miles.

your oil change interval really should be based on the kind of driving you do. if it's all highway and you drive a lot of miles per year, you could probably go a year or more without a change, since the engine virtually always will get up to full operating temperature and run a lot of the crankcase blow-by junk, etc., back through the PCV valve and out the tailpipe.

if you do lots of really short trips [i had a 1.7-mile one-way commute for nearly 20 years!], the engine never gets fully warm, and you should probably opt for at least 2, maybe 3 changes per year.

yes, if you look at my signature, the math looks wrong on my 4-5k claim, but those 18k miles included three times 'cross-country, from CA to NC to CA to NC last summer and fall... i got an oil change when i arrived in NC, then when i got back to NC again, after 2x cross-country. car didn't seem to mind at all. just starting to really get broken in, now, too...

imnsho...

+af
Northwest Raleigh, NC, USA
'04 Silver opt.BC/9; 24,000+ miles so far
http://www.plusaf.com/prius/prius.htm
http://www.plusaf.com/coast/coast1.htm
My Prius without the trailer:

My Prius with the trailer:

Hello;

If you want to do it at a very reasonable mileage?

Change it at every 7,500 Miles with Hondas Oil.

You want have any Problems then at all.

HTH;

Terry
BTW; I work at a dealership and this is what we do that work there.

5000 - 7500 w/Mobil 1 0w20.

Kansas, not as flat as you think...

I do every 8,000 miles - a happy medium between SEVERE and NORMAL duty. Also use Mobil 1 0-20W with a Mobil 1 filter (or Wix) depending on what store I'm in.

'00 Insight "Wazabi" -75,000+ miles
'03 Toyota Matrix - 81,000+ miles
'03 HCH-CVT-OSBM-41,000+ miles (retired 04-10-06)
"I'm very secure with my little Insight, no Prius envy here."

Regular or synthetic?

As this is a "green" site and because we are trying to save the earth and because we want to reduce our reliance on imports, and because we put such store by saving gas, the answer has to be synthetic!

As to frequency - trust Honda!. Manafacturers will always err on the side of caution or ask Mobil.

Hi Mike;

Have not seen your Post in awhile here on GreenHybrid. Anyway just wanted to take a minute and say (Hello).

Say, did I ever tell you that I really like your Lic. Plate? I-Do:

Regards;

Terry

Hi Al;
Say are you still (Saving-Up-Comments) ?

Just wanted to say "Hello" to you when I saw this Post.

Regards;

Terry

From what the dealership says and the mechanics, is that synthetic is a waste of money on a new car. It is ok for higher mileage and older cars. So stay with what they recommend Mobil 0W20 if that is what you are using.