Oil Colour at Oil Change Time

Hello everyone. I've made a few replies and spent a lot of time reading the threads. There is a lot of good information on the Mazda5 in this site. I own a '08 Mazda5 GT 5-spd (Purchased in March) that now has 10,000km on it. I have changed the engine oil and filter two times now (at 5000km and just the other day) on my own. I don't live near a dealership (the nearest one is about 200km away) so I picked up 4 filters when I purchased the car (Microvan ...whatever) so I could do my own changes. My question is for anyone out there that has done there own oil changes. Is the oil quite dark when you do your changes? Should I be worried the filter is not doing its job. Is it just that todays oil has better detergents in it and it cleans out everything?

The reason I'm asking is because I also own a '03 Corolla and its oil came out as clear as the day it went in until about 150000km when it started looking a little darker. Now at 240000km it makes its oil as dark as the Mazda's is right now. Should I be concerned?

Do both cars use the same brand of oil? Probably not a good comparison.

Color (colour) should be black due to heat and contaminants. Filter is for metal contaminants, not the ones that would change the oil color.

If your car's oil (the other one) is as clear as the day it went in then the oil must not be circulating through he engine.

Bottom line: both my Mazda's have black oil (Motorcraft 5W-20 goes in both) after 5K. Perfectly normal.