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by jliptzin 1841 days ago
Even if it’s not 90% less maintenance cost, I can tell you in the 2 years since I’ve owned my Model 3 (20k miles) I’ve brought it in for maintenance items zero times. In an ICE car that would have been like 6 annoying oil changes by now? That’s more than enough to convince me.
1 comments

6 oil changes in 45,000 km/2 years?

In Europe, on a modern (diesel but gasoline wouldn't be much different) car, lubricated with semi-synthetic oil that would be 1 oil change at around 30,000 km or at the most two (first one at 15,000 and second one at 45,000, or similar).

As a side note, it depends, but "no maintenance" unlike many people think, is not such a good idea, overall, I'll try to explain myself.

Many years ago, fully synthetic oils came out, they were awfully expensive but guaranteed something like 80,000 km on diesel and 120,000 km on gasoline without any change, you only had to refill to level and change (at double the normal interval, usually 15,000 or 20,000 km x 2= 30,000 or 40,000 km the oil filter).

And, people with older cars might remember this, lamps burned out much more often than modern leds, non-electronic distributors needed maintenance, as well as carburetors and spark plugs (or on diesel pumps/injectors), and to this you add the (normal for mineral oil) 10,000-15,000 km oil change.

This meant that every three to six months your car was normally put for one day in the hands of a professional that - besides doing these maintenance chores - tested your car, made sure that brakes and suspensions were in an efficient condition, could notice and repair minor leaks, loose bolts/parts, could (much better than what you normally can do) "feel" if anything in wheels, suspensions, steering wheels (and its servo)was fine, etc.

The adoption of fully synthetic oil meant that the car, unless you found yourself an issue/defect, was seen/tested by a professional mechanic once every 1 1/2 to 2 years, and this was not a good thing, for the overall "heath" (and safety) of the car.

Ive always been told I need oil changes every 3-5,000 miles, if that’s not true it’s news to me. Also, my state mandates annual inspections so I assume a professional is checking for those things during the inspection.
It is not that it isn't absolutely true, it isn't true anymore with many (most) engines and lubricants, and unless "special" cases.

Lubricating oils have changed a lot in the last 30-40 years, as well as materials used in the engine construction.

The differences between mineral oils and semi-synthetic or fully synthetic oils is huge, modern oils are simply not comparable.

A related old discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14969605

The manufacturer is the one that knows (obviously) the most about the engine so you should stick to the recommended type of oil and recommended oil change interval, doing it more often than that is simply a waste.

I think that stopped being the rule in the 1970s; if not, at the latest in the 1980s.
20 k miles = 32 Mm, not 45.
My bad, I somehow read 30k miles, even worse.