Oil change intervals in modern cars seem to be getting longer and longer. It’s gone from every 3,000 miles to every 5,000 miles, and now some at 10K-15K miles between oil changes.
If we compare the current ICE RAV4 and the Hybrid RAV4, they both have the same oil change intervals at 10K.
To me it sounds crazy to go 10K without an oil change. The engine is working hard for 10K. However, it may make a more sense on a hybrid?
Hybrid ICE engines get less usage because of the nature of the system. Less usage means less wear and tear, and hence the ability to go 10K before an oil change
Is more logic sound? Or am I missing something?
1 year/5k miles, regardless of hybrid, ICE, and oil used.
Interesting question. I actually would assume the opposite - because the internal combustion motor is frequently turning on and off at low vehicle speeds (at least I think that’s how it is with contemporary hybrids), you could get more wear. Although you would get less thermal damage to the oil, when the little IC engine is running, it’s likely to be running at high RPMs (or not, I don’t know).
Seems like something that would have to be settled with experimental data. Maybe SAE has published something on the topic. Any engineers out there seen any data?
(But by the way I absolutely agree with you on interval, 10k is too far. Even if the oil maintains viscosity that long, there are too many opportunities in that length of time for contaminants, oil burning, gas dilution, and other unwelcome surprises. Like Scotty says, “Oil is cheap, engines are expensive.”
Mod_Man is correct. In fact, Toyota (as an example) recommends the same engine oil change intervals for their hybrid vehicles as their ICE ones.
