1) Can you hear the difference too?

2) What price 20,000+ long service intervals?

Auntie Nelly don`t care....

But why are we so sensitive to certain sounds? Laying in bed I can even hear a `displaced` Magpie scratching on the roof tiles... ;-)

Lets deal with the important Magpie question first...no problem shoot them or trap them legally, they'll kill and eat almost every fledgling within their defended area if you don't, trust me on this.;)

1). anyone who has an ounce of mechanical sympathy can hear the smoother gentler sounds of their engine enjoying good quality fresh oil, i'll go so far as to say that very high quality multigrade such as your choice or the even better Millers.;).;) will ensure the engine remains quiet and refined for far longer than some others. Some drivers may not hear the changes, i wonder if they tinkered and coaxed often battered jalopies to keep them running in their younger days, did they learn to listen for that hesitant moment, that tinkle/rattle/pink/rumble or feel the car run on when they switched off and pencilled in a decoke soonest? Did they learn that hearing those faint sounds could mean an easy quick repair befor real damage could be wrought?

2). i haven't a clue how much 20K service intervals will cost eventually, though there's every chance they'll be fine for the likely ownership period of advocates of long life servicing...those that renew cars frequently and those too bone idle to slip an oil change in between.

It's the poor chap who sees the gleaming coachwork (dealer estate agent speak) of that admired upmarket badge 5 to 10 years down the line that finds out the true cost of missed sorry long life servicing, knowing in his heart he's bought a fine vehicle, a respected marque with a fine reputation never for one moment thinking of the battered and ruined very lifeblood of the engine is really a watery fuel enriched (dpf did it regen) mix of destructive chemicals picking away at every particle of the cars insides like some resident parasite.

I think that as well as the oil it's a matter of rhe type of engine and how it's used.

I can remember in around 2000, whren I had a Laguna V6, the service manager at my friendly Renault garage saying what a lovely sweet engine it had - I think this was at the 40,000-mile service. Indeed it went on to do 100,000 miles without trouble and never used a drop of oil. None of yer long-life servicing despite the high mileage - oil change every 10,000.

I think that had something to do with the Laguna having done those 40,000 miles in 18 months or so, mainly on motorways. It was a lovely sound - well-oiled and unstressed (like some of us after a bottle of good red wine.....)

Edited by Avant on 04/04/2010 at 16:46