Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Blazered
"As a result, gears shift smoothly at low engine output."
Wow, that's impressive. I've never seen a motor oil that works its way into the transmission before.
Angels bless every single bottle
Engines and transmissions work in harmony. If your engine, especially a low-output engine, is not producing sufficient power, the gear shifts will be harsh. Through the added horsepower of reduced friction by Toyota 0W-20, which contains Group III+ and/or IV/V base oil and likely the Infineum trinuclear moly, the engine is less sluggish and the gears shift better as a result.
"Not producing sufficient power". Gotcha, so you gained what, 50HP by changing oils?
Seriously man, put down the kool-aide glass for a second and think about what you are saying here.
I guarantee you that the spread between me running 0w20 and 5w40 in my 5.4L was far, FAR greater, and had far, FAR greater consequences in terms of power output and fuel economy than going from the change between a normal 0w20 and Toyota's 0w20 as represented in your case here. However, I observed no noticeable difference in fuel economy, power, shift performance or the like. The big difference for me was that the lighter oils gave me less noise on start-up and it rolled over faster in the winter. And of course it was less sluggish when -20C out and it was warming up. These are all expected differences. CATERHAM touched on the VI making a start-up difference, and he's likely right in that respect. Though I imagine on a hot day, that difference is going to be far less pronounced. Regardless, the impact during regular operation would be imperceptible. There is no way that the moly is making the difference you are claiming here.
Food for thought: The "butt-o-meter" is only accurate down to gains of about 20HP. Anything less than that cannot be reliably felt by an average person. Do you honestly think you gained 20HP (and this is PEAK HP remember) through an oil change?
Every car is different. With this 74 HP car, you can feel the better shifts even with only about 5% difference. You wouldn't feel the effect at full or half throttle but it's highly noticeable at gentle, low throttle. From PYB (Pennzoil yellow bottle) 5W-20 to Toyota 0W-20, it made a huge difference in engine friction and the shifts at low throttle are definitely smoother. Also, the fuel economy got higher by about 5%. I got 32 MPG on Toyota 0W-20 SN. PYB 5W-20 SN wouldn't give me more than 30 MPG.