I read here to use whatever is cheapest.

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I would agree with the sentiment to buy whatever is on sale. Yet I do find some will say they don't like certain oils for whatever reason. So I ask the following. If you have a choice of getting NAPA oil for 99 cents or $1.99 vs your present brand would you find yourself buying the NAPA oil?

The NAPA conventional is now packaged as a blend in the blue bottle. It even says it is a blend on the bottles. Cost is 99 cents as I said. The NAPA silver bottle is the synthetic and costs 1.99. So again I ask would you find yourself buying either of the NAPA oils at those prices vs. what you have been buying?

My answer is I have been buying the NAPA oils at those prices. WM was where I went before. Now I buy the NAPA oil. I am on a fixed income and boy howdy I like buying cheap like that. Full disclosure I DO NOT work for NAPA. I just found these prices and wondered enough about who might buy the oil like I have found myself doing? Local NAPA in Boise Idaho area is having their second saturday sales on NAPA oils. They said they are showing appreciation for regular customers and trying to attract new customers. Way to go NAPA.
 
The $0.99 pricing on Napa quarts has been posted on here many times in the past. The problem seems to be that most people here who attempt to buy this oil from their local NAPA store get told that the oil is unavailable or that the store won't honor the price.

Since many of us tend to keep our own stash/stock of oil, which we replenish regularly when local stores price oil on clearance, many of us don't bother trying to jump through hoops to get the NAPA stuff, etc.. we just use what we have on hand, which we bought when it was cheap.

For example, I just picked up a 2.5 gallon jug of Shell Rotella T5 10w30 oil for $15. That works out to $6 a gallon, or $1.50 a quart. Many here have found even better deals in the past.
 
Reasons why I don't with Napa:
1. Kind of out of the way
2. No room to store oil
3. Local Napa has iffy service so if any stores are trying to not honor it, I'd be willing to bet mine would be one of those

Nothing about the quality of the oil. I'm sure it's great.
 
I think Napa has marketing areas that have sale prices for participating stores in a region. Some Napas are company owned stores and some are mom & pop franchises less likely to honer anything on sale at a company store 5 miles away. You may see a tabular showing sale prices in the Columbus, OH area that wont be honored in the Nashville, TN area. Kroger does the same thing
 
Just checked mine and yep it's a Franchise and nope they are not participating in the oil promo. Hm, who would've guess that?
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Nothing wrong with house brand oils besides weaker add packs. As a result, I wouldn't use them for extended drain intervals or anything. I bought Napa 0w20 on sale last year and my engine didn't sound any different. I've never been lucky enough to get 99 cent closeout oil like others on here have.
 
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I pretty much use only Napa synthetic, since it's the cheapest synthetic around. I pick up a case when it goes on sale. I'm not brand loyal though; I'll use a different brand if it's cheaper than the Napa stuff. I wish it were $1.99 here. The lowest it ever gets when it's on sale is $3.49/qt.
 
NAPA oil is made by Valvoline anyway right? So yeah it's a good oil for the price.
 
I worked part-time awhile back at a large Napa store....We would receive 6 large skids of Napa oil at one time, place it in the middle of the store and it sold like crazy, it was not really a deal, but buyers would see those large stacks and go nuts,,, amazing. Even with my employee discount, I still could buy at Walmart Supertech oil cheaper--go figure.

There is an old retail saying: "Stack it high and they will buy"--works everytime...
 
I have a WM super center and a good Napa in my town. I still primarily buy Valvoline (std. fill at my shop is Maxlife) because, when Napa isn't running their sale, Maxlife is even cheaper than Napa blue bottle. But when WM sold out of nearly all VWB and VML about a month ago, I started filling with NBB and actually considered looking into a rack of 6 gal. bay boxes from Napa. I may still do that, but the above is to say that I have little pause about Napa oils compared to the Valvoline I already trust. When I'm already in Napa right across the street from my shop, their oil is on sale, I don't need anything else from Wal-Mart across town, and the car the oil's going in will die from some other misfortune long before the engine wears out from lubrication failure? Napa's at least as good as anything it's been filled with in a while, go with it!
 
I buy whatever is cheapest, within reason. The Napa Conventional in my Jeep was $1 per quart and I've got 30 more quarts of it left. The Mobil 1 in my Sonata was also $1 per quart. However, if a dollar store had junk oil for almost free I wouldn't buy it, I buy it if I know it's a decent oil. Napa Conventional is basically Valvoline so it's good stuff.
 
Here is a PQIA analysis of Napa 5W30 synthetic, it's from a few years ago, but the oil looks fine to me. It's made by Ashland (Valvoline) so I would happily trust it.

http://www.pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/napasyn.htm

TBN = 8.7
Noack Volatility = 11.1 %
Zinc = 820 ppm
Detergent Package = 2100 ppm Ca + 465 ppm Na
KV100 = 10.7 cSt.

They all look like good numbers to me.
 
By taking advantage of store discounts/coupon/%off offers and MIRs, I can run either M1 or PP for less than a couple of bucks a quart, often less than a buck a qt.
There are also some strong closeout/clearance deals every now and then, but catching them is very much a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
When the stars line up correctly, you can score a syn blend for almost free, like a 10 qt jug of T5 10W-30 for $15 less $12.25 MIR.
Still, I'd have no problems with running Valvoline oils labeled as NAPA.
The syn blend is probably no more nor less than a Durablend clone and at .99/qt would certainly be a solid deal.
What I'm trying to convey is that I've have no problems running Valvoline so I'd have no problems running NAPA's house brand.
Cheap is good and your engine won't care what you paid for the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: mclasser
Nothing wrong with house brand oils besides weaker add packs. As a result, I wouldn't use them for extended drain intervals or anything. I bought Napa 0w20 on sale last year and my engine didn't sound any different. I've never been lucky enough to get 99 cent closeout oil like others on here have.
How do you know they have weaker add packs? I see "meets or exceeds" on the cheap stuff. Same verbiage as the name brands. There's no big reward for exceeding the spec. It just cuts down on the profit margin.
grin2.gif
 
You guys are lucky. Up here you'd be lucky to get a jug of synthetic on sale for under $35. A jug of conventional (4.4/5L) can be had for around $20. Fortunately my car doesn't need synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
NAPA oil is made by Valvoline anyway right? So yeah it's a good oil for the price.


I echo that sentiment. My local NAPA guys, told me that Valvoline makes their in house brand oil! Not a bad deal. Every one has his/her own preference.

Pajero
 
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