Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
ultimately performance differences between grp III+,gtl and PAO have not been demonstrated as mentionable.
True, and notice Ravenol's extensive use of PAO may be mostly due to the German "synthetic" labelling laws there. The rest of the world can call it full-synthetic on the label if its not PAO.
That's right, and corroborated by the variety of %PAO in VW 508/509 spec 0w20 oils available. Total, Motul, & LiquiMoly is all-PAO, while Castrol & Mobil1 ones are only about 20% PAO or so. Could it be the giants Castrol & Mobil1 have better additive packages to make easily make up for using less PAO? (see DoubleHaul's qoutes he collected above; the industry person basically thought that)----> "So you should base your choice of oils on who you think has more resources to develop the better additive package, and stop agonizing over group 3 versus 4."
The Mobil1 ESP x2 0w20 VW 508/509 also carries dexosD & 229.71 & Jag approvals, and they do it with not much PAO in the mix!
Originally Posted by kschachn
Which is more relevant, that an oil has proven to pass the requirements for Mercedes Benz approval 229.5 or someone on here proclaiming "fantastic oil, look at that slug of moly"?.
Actually, the way an oil sounds in your engine is the most relevant aspect, according to some. (kidding... douse your flaming).