"Genuine Oils Review" - Ford v VW v MB v BMW (similar to PF but Euro style)

Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by aleneros
Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

He was using the old Castrol made VW oil. It now is made by Mobil. So it is already out of date.
 
How would M1 vs Castrol, who are blending to the same VW approval make the test different?

Any company blending for VW, does so to VW's spec. If it was substandard to VW's approval requirements, it wouldn't get approval. So if they switched to M1 because of quality issues with Castrol yet Castrol is still approved, that would make the approval process dubious.

Switching over contractual issues makes more sense to me since again, Castrol still retains VW approval meaning it meets all VW requirements.

I still can't find any proof Mobil1 blends the current VW motor oil. We keep saying it does based on the bottle shape, but after looking at this video, where the VW and Ford bottles are...exactly the same yet the oil inside comes from different companies, it tells me we really don't know.

Unless theirs information out there i haven't seen.
 
Originally Posted by wemay
How would M1 vs Castrol, who are blending to the same VW approval make the test different?

Any company blending for VW, does so to VW's spec. If it was substandard to VW's approval requirements, it wouldn't get approval. So if they switched to M1 because of quality issues with Castrol yet Castrol is still approved, that would make the approval process dubious.

Switching over contractual issues makes more sense to me since again, Castrol still retains VW approval meaning it meets all VW requirements.

I still can't find any proof Mobil1 blends the current VW motor oil. We keep saying it does based on the bottle shape, but after looking at this video, where the VW and Ford bottles are...exactly the same yet the oil inside comes from different companies, it tells me we really don't know.

Unless theirs information out there i haven't seen.


It's almost always contractual or for marketing reasons. For example years ago I read that companies were trying to move away from BP (Castrol) because of the bad press revolving around the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I really think that's why BMW left Castrol for Shell.

The VW bottle in the video isn't the M1 bottle. It's older stock. Perhaps Castrol blended for both Ford and VW in Europe?
 
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Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by wemay
How would M1 vs Castrol, who are blending to the same VW approval make the test different?

Any company blending for VW, does so to VW's spec. If it was substandard to VW's approval requirements, it wouldn't get approval. So if they switched to M1 because of quality issues with Castrol yet Castrol is still approved, that would make the approval process dubious.

Switching over contractual issues makes more sense to me since again, Castrol still retains VW approval meaning it meets all VW requirements.

I still can't find any proof Mobil1 blends the current VW motor oil. We keep saying it does based on the bottle shape, but after looking at this video, where the VW and Ford bottles are...exactly the same yet the oil inside comes from different companies, it tells me we really don't know.

Unless theirs information out there i haven't seen.


It's almost always contractual or for marketing reasons. For example years ago I read that companies were trying to move away from BP (Castrol) because of the bad press revolving around the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I really think that's why BMW left Castrol for Shell.

The VW bottle in the video isn't the M1 bottle. It's older stock. Perhaps Castrol blended for both Ford and VW in Europe?


Agreed, on all counts.

With regards to the bottle though, the post above my comment mentioned that VW has moved on from Castrol to Mobil1. In the past, other posts and threads were started with this as the subject matter. The new [black] bottles very much look like Mobil1 so the logical leap is that Mobil1 now makes the VW branded motor oil. I used this video as an example that this logic may not hold true. The Ford and VW bottles in this video are exactly the same...down to color. Yet, the presenter mentions them being from two different companies....VW being Castrol BP.
 
Most of the posts I've seen regarding VW to Mobil have also referred to VW 508 oils. While it would not make any sense to use different suppliers, any changes to dealer bulk VW 502 has barely been mentioned here as far as I know.

My Passat has been on dealer VW 502 Castrol for a while now. I'm due for a change next week, since it's under warranty I have been choosing to let the dealer do the changes. Curious if it's going to get something new or not. I will ask when I take it in.
 
Originally Posted by KCJeep
Most of the posts I've seen regarding VW to Mobil have also referred to VW 508 oils. While it would not make any sense to use different suppliers, any changes to dealer bulk VW 502 has barely been mentioned here as far as I know.

My Passat has been on dealer VW 502 Castrol for a while now. I'm due for a change next week, since it's under warranty I have been choosing to let the dealer do the changes. Curious if it's going to get something new or not. I will ask when I take it in.


Along with the aforementioned 0w20 508.00, these are the oils i've seen at the dealer recently... since replacing the Castrol OE Professional "bottles".
My point being, how do we know this new [VW branded oil] is blended by Mobil1 just because of the bottle's current design?
For example, the Ford and VW bottles during the time the video was made, are exactly the same too (see at bottom). Yet, the blenders are different.



Capture.PNG


Capture.PNG


Capture.PNG
 
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Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by aleneros
Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

He was using the old Castrol made VW oil. It now is made by Mobil. So it is already out of date.


Right. Plus this is flawed since we don't even know the spec.
 
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by aleneros
Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

He was using the old Castrol made VW oil. It now is made by Mobil. So it is already out of date.


Bottle looks like it is more from mobil super series. In EU its still Castrol from the factory to dealer service fill. Bottles can be made from a 3 part company and sold forward to mobil or Castrol. I know a company that is making mobil super labels film sheets that is put on the bottles for russian market.
 
Originally Posted by TheIceStormof06
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by aleneros
Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

He was using the old Castrol made VW oil. It now is made by Mobil. So it is already out of date.


Right. Plus this is flawed since we don't even know the spec.


It's VW504.00 / 507.00. But that wasn't the question. I only use this video as reference that a bottle design does not tell us, conclusively, what oil is inside. Again, in this video, the Ford bottle and the VW bottle are exactly the same, yet they are using different oil suppliers. Therefore, how do we know the current VW branded oil sold here, in the US is Mobil1 just because of the bottle design? We don't.
 
Originally Posted by wemay
...Therefore, how do we know the current VW branded oil sold here, in the US is Mobil1 just because of the bottle design? We don't.


While I'm disinclined to go hunt it down, I've seen at least one picture of one of the new VW bottles that clearly has a mobil bottling code on the back.
 
Originally Posted by wemay
Originally Posted by TheIceStormof06
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by aleneros
Conclusion I gathered:
eek.gif


VW genuine oil is not as good as others lol

He was using the old Castrol made VW oil. It now is made by Mobil. So it is already out of date.


Right. Plus this is flawed since we don't even know the spec.


It's VW504.00 / 507.00. But that wasn't the question. I only use this video as reference that a bottle design does not tell us, conclusively, what oil is inside. Again, in this video, the Ford bottle and the VW bottle are exactly the same, yet they are using different oil suppliers. Therefore, how do we know the current VW branded oil sold here, in the US is Mobil1 just because of the bottle design? We don't.



Here in North America they are, but we don't know that is also true in Europe.
 
Originally Posted by DuckRyder
Originally Posted by wemay
...Therefore, how do we know the current VW branded oil sold here, in the US is Mobil1 just because of the bottle design? We don't.


While I'm disinclined to go hunt it down, I've seen at least one picture of one of the new VW bottles that clearly has a mobil bottling code on the back.




I took pictures of a bottle for you. Can you tell me which code you're referring to?

20200619_155134.jpg


20200619_155147.jpg


20200619_155125.jpg
 
Originally Posted by wemay
...

I took pictures of a bottle for you. Can you tell me which code you're referring to?



The one that starts with 110 on the back.
 
Originally Posted by wemay
...Again, in this video, the Ford bottle and the VW bottle are exactly the same, yet they are using different oil suppliers. Therefore, how do we know the current VW branded oil sold here, in the US is Mobil1 just because of the bottle design? We don't.


I'm curious how we arrived at this conclusion. I heard he couldn't figure out who made the VW oil. (I'm going with same people that make the Ford oil in this case.)

Unless the car manufacturer owns the bottle design, why would someone (at least a legitimate supplier) use a bottle design that looks like another another manufacturers bottle? Occam's Razor.
 
In the video he says Gasoline Gmbh (Austrian mnfc) made the Ford oil. That company has never been associated with VAG. He said he had information that Fuchs or BP (Castrol) made the VW oil but couldn't confirm. Both which do have history with VAG.
 
Originally Posted by KCJeep
Most of the posts I've seen regarding VW to Mobil have also referred to VW 508 oils. While it would not make any sense to use different suppliers, any changes to dealer bulk VW 502 has barely been mentioned here as far as I know.

My Passat has been on dealer VW 502 Castrol for a while now. I'm due for a change next week, since it's under warranty I have been choosing to let the dealer do the changes. Curious if it's going to get something new or not. I will ask when I take it in.


My '17 Sportwagen purchased new had it's first o/c Feb of 2019 at 5900 miles or so and sometime thereafter, the oil spec / formulation / supplier change occurred.

At about 12 k miles and Feb of 2020, my 2nd o/c was done and the invoice showed a footnote description for oil details indicating the new was indeed in stock at the dealer and used. I think I recall seeing posts regarding the VW change was going to happen fast like maybe all existing stock was pulled and replaced. Maybe they had a hard deadline for that change.
 
Originally Posted by wemay
In the video he says Gasoline Gmbh (Austrian mnfc) made the Ford oil. That company has never been associated with VAG. He said he had information that Fuchs or BP (Castrol) made the VW oil but couldn't confirm. Both which do have history with VAG.


I don't find the video particularly strong on any point, but that logic is particularly weak.

VW has so many business units around the world (as does Ford) it is much more reasonable to think they may have a regional relationship with someone than to think that two different suppliers are bottling in nearly identical packaging, for two different major vehicle manufacturers.

FWIW, I found that part number oil with an M2 suffix in white bottles and also examples of other fluid (gear oils for example) in the same bottles as well as Motorcraft branded oil.

Now, an interesting piece of detective work would be for someone to find the code on the back of a bottle of ESP X2 0/20...
 
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