Yeah, I think Castrol Magnatec has been in Australia since then 90's. It's always been very popular here in the 10W-40 semi-synthetic form, a step up from the regular 15W-40 mineral oil.
I have mostly bypassed it, using either a full mineral oil like GTX or Penrite; or gone to a full synthetic oil like Edge or Shell Helix. For semi-synthetic I mostly went for Valvoline DuraBlend. All good oils.
However, recently I found myself wanting a 10W-30 PCMO that was Euro A3/B4 rated and not ILSAC GF-5 rated and not a HDEO. Nothing wrong with either of the other two, but I wanted A3/B4 and in 10W30. The only option that I could easily find was semi-synthetic Magnatec 10W-30 (SN, A3/B4).
So I put that in the car recently, and yes it is the smoothest oil I have ever used in this car. Not perfect, as there is still a bit of warm up noise under light throttle, but better than anything else I have used.
I have mentioned this before, but for the first two weeks, I was so surprised by the smoothness of Magnatec 10W-30 at idle, that I often found myself looking at my instrument cluster while at red traffic lights to ensure my car was still running. It was so smooth, I thought the engine had stopped, but it was always running fine. I don't look down anymore when stopped as I'm more accustomed to it.
Of course, just seat of the pants observations, not a controlled experiment. I have also been playing around with weight grades and oil filters. But yeah, it's a nice oil for the money and worth trying.
We also get a nice full synthetic Magnatec 5W-30 (SN, A3/B4) in Australia that I am keen to try next.
