So I got my first oil change at the dealer today. I asked them what kind of oil they used, thinking I'd get the same for my in-between top offs.

They said they used Northland.

I've never heard of this brand before. Does it suck?

 

No but your dealer sucks!

 

The interesting thing is I went from owning a Volkwagen from the same dealership to a Mazda. This is one of those giant mega dealerships, and the Volkswagen service - for some inane reason - is in the "luxury" car area. So my Passat shared service quarters with Porsches, Mercedes and Audis.

The Mazda service, however, is in with Chevy, Nissan and even - god forbid - Hyundai.

I'm kind of bummed because over at the luxury service, you were always treated like a king - even if you brought in a Volkswagen. Alas, I'm back in with the sheep and treated as such now.

But seriously, should I NOT be putting Northland oil in my RX8?

 

Sounds like a regional or local brand.

 

Most places give you a choice.

 

I don't know where "quad-cities" is, but I am guessing Iowa. Searched for "northland motor oil" on google and only got 5 hits. Two of them were for dirt-track racing in Iowa, the others are e-bay.

Change your own oil and then you can use whatever brand you want as long as it meets the requirements.

 

OK, I'm about to expose my pathetic ignorance of things mechanical - but here goes:

It doesn't actually matter if I mix one brand of oil with another as long as I use the same weight, correct?

That is, if I currently have Northland 10W-30 in my engine and decide to top it off with, say, Mobil, of the same weight, that's fine. Right?

 

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