Oil change recommendations?

[Mud Pie]

When I was buying my smart, I asked the salesman about oil changes. Sure, I can do it myself, I've been changing oil in all my cars for years, but I'm at that point in my life where I don't want to do it anymore.

Yeah, I've gotten a wee bit lazy. I'd rather sit in a shop and read a magazine and let someone else get their hands covered in oil. The hassle of changing your own oil (buying the oil, filter, catch basin, then filling the bottles with old oil, then taking them to a disposal center) is just not worth my time and effort. But if it costs as much as what I've read here, I think it'll be time to dust off the ol' creeper and slide underneath my smart.

Now, my dealer said they use a special "European Blend" of Mobil 1 not found on the shelves in the U.S. so I should take it to the dealer for oil changes. I gave him the, "give me a freakin' break" look, he laughed nervously and said, "It's true !". I just muttered, "Sure, pal. And it has special european air in the tires, too, right ?" as I looked my pending purchase over.

I may bite the bullet and take it to the dealer for it's first service, just so they can give it a "once over". If the oil change cost isn't too prohibitive, I may take it back.

[Old smart]

Yah, there is such a thing as “European blend” oil to accommodate conservation and emissions system requirements unique to the EU. We have different EPS/Environment Canada requirements in North America. The reasons for EU and NA blends is not mechanical, but regulatory.

Recently smartUSA has mandated that all their dealers everywhere stock and use only Mobil 1 0W-40. (Before that, my smart center had Penske’s permission to use the common bulk Castrol Syntec 5W-30 they use throughout the Checkered Flag Motors group.) It is possible that smart is distributing Euro blend Mobil 1 out of the Tulsa supply depot under a smart stock number – it would be interesting to see what is in the cases of M1 piled up in my sc. Daimler AG specifies 84 different oils for the US smart; smartUSA specifies just one of the 84.

My analysis of the US M1 situation is two-part:
First, Penske Racing has had a long-time/big-money sponsorship deal with ExxonMobil. There is likely a stipulation that Penske push M1 in all of his various activities. Note, neither the racecar advertising nor the sticker smartUSA puts in the smart's engine bay at the VPCs say anything about viscosity.
Second, specifying one particular brand and viscosity makes their internal supply chain simpler and more cost effective for them. And this is all about them.

Yup, the smart does initially come with Euro air in the tires from the Hambach, Lorraine region of Eastern France. But you are free to dilute it with US air at will.

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by Mud Pie

Now, my dealer said they use a special "European Blend" of Mobil 1 not found on the shelves in the U.S. so I should take it to the dealer for oil changes. I gave him the, "give me a freakin' break" look, he laughed nervously and said, "It's true !". I just muttered, "Sure, pal. And it has special european air in the tires, too, right ?" as I looked my pending purchase over.

I may bite the bullet and take it to the dealer for it's first service, just so they can give it a "once over". If the oil change cost isn't too prohibitive, I may take it back.

Wow that quite the line of $%*&

I hope that was a salesman and not the service Tech