Castrol GTX vs Magnatec

eth0

Is there much difference between the two? their online oil chooser always seems to recommend magnatec even for a 20 year old car. Is magnatec much better or is it a marketing gimmick?

crosstownk

AFAIK, GTX is mineral based and Magnatec is semi-synthetic.

Aside from the 'Magnatec' aspect, there is a fundamental difference between mineral based oil and semi-synthetic. Semi-synthetic oils are required for a lot of turbo charged engines and also have a longer service interval life.

What you really need to determine is you car's oil requirements and the engine's minimum oil specification which will be detailed in the owners manual. Compare the requirements to the specifications of any given oil manufacturers product and select what will do the job.

walus

Avoid either. Castrol are good in marketing and marketing only. There are better oils out there for less money, check out Valvoline, Millers, Motul or Fuchs.

franksm

Magnatec is great, been using it on all my cars for years.

No problems whatsoever on the 1996 MX5 with 148,000 miles (no KM) on it which has had Magnatec since day-one. And that car has a turbo retrofitted onto it at 71,000 miles - such things being particularly hard on oil.

maidhc

eth0 wrote: »

Is there much difference between the two? their online oil chooser always seems to recommend magnatec even for a 20 year old car. Is magnatec much better or is it a marketing gimmick?

€20 for 4L of Magnatec 5w30 fully synth or 10w30 semi in Halfords is hard to beat! Not sure is the offer still on.

walus

maidhc wrote: »

€20 for 4L of Magnatec 5w30 fully synth or 10w30 semi in Halfords is hard to beat! Not sure is the offer still on.

Do you really think a €20 oil is a full synthetic? Decent PAO would be at least 40 euros.

maidhc

walus wrote: »

Do you really think a €20 oil is a full synthetic? Decent PAO would be at least 40 euros.

Yes, This stuff:
http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_253905_langId_-1_categoryId_212419

I bought 32L of it 3 weeks or so ago @20 a go, and got a voucher for €20 off my next purchase which did not require a spend. Magnifico.

working fool

walus wrote: »

maidhc wrote: »

€20 for 4L of Magnatec 5w30 fully synth or 10w30 semi in Halfords is hard to beat! Not sure is the offer still on.

Do you really think a €20 oil is a full synthetic? Decent PAO would be at least 40 euros.

Halfords where doin that offer for a while
But it was for 4L
If you had a larger engine or an older car 4L might not be enough

walus

You all do realize you get what you pay for?

maidhc

walus wrote: »

You all do realize you get what you pay for?

I think Castrol Magnatec is a decent oil! In fact any oil that conforms with the manufacturers specs and is of a trustworthy manufacturer is perfect.

maidhc

working fool wrote: »

If you had a larger engine or an older car 4L might not be enough

True, same with 5L bottles though if you have anything decent sized.

walus

walus wrote: »

Avoid either. Castrol are good in marketing and marketing only. There are better oils out there for less money, check out Valvoline, Millers, Motul or Fuchs.

Why would BMW and VW use Castrol for first fill in their cars if its so bad? I'm not denying the others are good oils too but you cant come on and just make a nonsense statement like that with nothing to back it up despite Castrol being used by the worlds leading car manufacturers.

walus

Hailey Most Coal wrote: »

Why would BMW and VW use Castrol for first fill in their cars if its so bad? I'm not denying the others are good oils too but you cant come on and just make a nonsense statement like that with nothing to back it up despite Castrol being used by the worlds leading car manufacturers.

Castrol do not make the oil, they use blending facilities of other oil manufacturers. This makes the quality of the actual oil very inconsistent from country to country as such.
As far as I know all BMW, Mercs etc made in Germany are factory filled in with German made Fuchs. Castrol are masters of marketing and they sign deals with car importers/dealers who service actual cars. It is very unlikely both parties would face any customer claims over 2-3 years of car warranty.

maidhc

walus wrote: »

Castrol do not make the oil, they use blending facilities of other oil manufacturers. This makes the quality of the actual oil very inconsistent from country to country as such.
As far as I know all BMW, Mercs etc made in Germany are factory filled in with German made Fuchs. Castrol are masters of marketing and they sign deals with car importers/dealers who service actual cars. It is very unlikely both parties would face any customer claims over 2-3 years of car warranty.

They are a division of British Petroleum, one the largest companies in the world. Im sure they know what they are doing!

walus

walus wrote: »

Castrol do not make the oil, they use blending facilities of other oil manufacturers. This makes the quality of the actual oil very inconsistent from country to country as such.
As far as I know all BMW, Mercs etc made in Germany are factory filled in with German made Fuchs. Castrol are masters of marketing and they sign deals with car importers/dealers who service actual cars. It is very unlikely both parties would face any customer claims over 2-3 years of car warranty.

Castrol or Fuchs are the official first fill supplier for VW and Castrol are for BMW. My previous car (a bmw) even had a Castrol branded oil filler cap. Considering the amount of cars using Castrol oil where are the mass failures which would surely be happening if it was so bad.

I call nonsense on what your saying.

walus

maidhc wrote: »

They are a division of British Petroleum, one the largest companies in the world. Im sure they know what they are doing!

It does not mean they make a good oil, does it?

langdang

Walrus - "You get what you pay for", or "there are better oils out there for less".
At least one of these statements is wrong!
You don't know a fella called geneyuss do ya?


Anyway, as I see it- if Magnatec meets the specs for your car, 4L at 20euro (maybe even a set of screwdrivers thrown in?) is a grand price.
And yes, I know someone will come in now and say "ah ye saps, ye should be buying by the barrel", but I move house (never mind change car) more often than I'd use a barrel of oil so I'll stick with the portable 4 or 5 litres thanks.

Matt Simis

walus wrote: »

It does not mean they make a good oil, does it?

Im fully aware that you can pretty much name any major brand of Oil and get someone to come along and hate on it, but usually they have some flakey sort of evidence to back it up. Do you have anything?

walus

Lads, I do not want to argue here, I'm only giving here opinions of a couple of good mechanics, who in their time had to re-build good few of engines (BMW, Saab, Subaru etc.). They said there was a lot of gunk and sludge that they had to clear off the insides of the engine and in places where the engine was the hottest the oil simply caramelized. All these engines were run on Castrol oil. They say due to its poor quality it breaks down quicker than you would expect from the oil change interval and it is very risky to run them for more than 10k kilometers.
This was in another country though, but I still would question how anyone can produce, distribute and sell a full synthetic oil for 20 quid.

langdang

walus wrote: »

This was in another country though, but I still would question how anyone can produce, distribute and sell a full synthetic oil for 20 quid.

I don't think Halfords make Castrol.
It's called a loss leader.
Similarly - Centra don't make boxes of Budweiser to sell on the cheap on micky money day

Matt Simis

walus wrote: »

Lads, I do not want to argue here, I'm only giving here opinions of a couple of good mechanics, who in their time had to re-build good few of engines (BMW, Saab, Subaru etc.). They said there was a lot of gunk and sludge that they had to clear off the insides of the engine and in places where the engine was the hottest the oil simply caramelized. All these engines were run on Castrol oil. They say due to its poor quality it breaks down quicker than you would expect from the oil change interval and it is very risky to run them for more than 10k kilometers.
This was in another country though, but I still would question how anyone can produce, distribute and sell a full synthetic oil for 20 quid.

What Castrol oil though!? Cant you see how vague and circumstantial that statement is. I dont think Castol is a premium oil, but I dont think its bad either. Ive used it in tons of stuff.

The EUR20 thing should be clarified:

- Limited to select Magnatec oils (only one of which is branded fully synth)
- Limited to Halfords
- Limited to a specific offer period, which is now over
- Im quite sure no Castrol Fully Synth is actually fully synthetic, its a blend like most "fully synth" oils are theses days. Most people are not aware of this (I figure you are as you mentioned PAE Fully Synth) and are quoting fully synth as its on the box.

Matt Simis

Matt Simis wrote: »

............
- Im quite sure no Castrol Fully Synth is actually fully synthetic, its a blend like most "fully synth" oils are theses days. Most people are not aware of this (I figure you are as you mentioned PAE Fully Synth) and are quoting fully synth as its on the box.

Indeed, most people aren't aware of it though

To the lad questioning the €20, 'tis a special offer, end of story.