I read somewhere that I should get the first oil changed at 1,500 miles, what are your thoughts? Also, does high octane gas change the MPG? In mixed driving I'm only getting @24mpg! However, my car only has 350 miles on it so far.
Modern engines are built with closer tolerances and better metals/coatings than from the earlier days of engine building that generated a lot of shade tree mechanic lore.. The oil filter will catch metals of any size that do not sink to the bottom of the oil pan.
Break in oils loaded at the factory have special additives to protect the engine during break=in and should remain for the break=in period. Recommended is 5000 - 7500 miles depending on driving conditions. Just my old engineering opinion/experience.
Yeah, be careful of these "free" oil change offers from dealers! You had a VW and you should have heard the class action lawsuit for oil sludge issue on 1.8T/2.0T. It's actually not entirely VWoA's fault as many VW dealers were using cheaper and widely available 5W-30 conventional oil instead of recommended 5W-40 synthetic oil. Dino oil just got cooked too easily by extreme heat from turbo charger hence the oil sludge. My Mazda dealer uses an unknown brand of 0W-20 oil hence I declined the "free" oil change. But you can always request Mazda moly oil available at parts department and pay some extra.Wow. I can honestly say, that's something that I've never even thought of! I had my last '07 VW GTI for 104,000 miles and never questioned what brand oil was going into it.
Is that something I can ask for/about at the dealer or other repair shops?
I'm ashamed to admit that I'm an aircraft mechanic and I never thought about this.
LOL... Mazda moly oil doesn't come with a drum. It's packaged in one-quart bottle. The cheapest source of getting Mazda moly oil is from our sponsor Med Center Mazda:Just talked to the dealership and was told my oil change would come out of a massive drum. He told me it was Mazda oil, but didn't offer to allow me to see the label, guess it might not really be full Mazda oil. I'm just going to buy the supplies and either do it myself, or take the oil to a garage I trust to do the oil change.
The break-in discussion has been beat to death on this site. If you feel you know better than Mazda engineering then change the oil early. I see no value in dumping good oil at 1,500 or even 2,000 miles when the factory suggests 5,000 miles or more. Ed