Oil changes are getting more expensive

I was writing an article containing tips for storing your vehicle for winter and decided to spin this off into another post. I also want to bring attention to the fact that luxury brands need to quit being so "exclusive" with every component. An oil change is the most basic maintenance one can do to keep their car tip top. All of a sudden European manufactures decided that we need custom oil, custom filters, impossible to get to filters, bespoke wrenches, etc. WTF? I say this is not necessary.

Some people will say that you should change the oil and filter before parking the car for the winter months. I disagree with this, under certain circumstances. Here's the reason why. If you have a sweet muscle car, jacked up truck, LS powered beast, yes you should change your oil before winter. It will cost you at most 40 bucks. Just do it. You'll have fresh oil in the spring. When the first warm day comes around you can rest assured that when you put the pedal down with an oil temp of 160+ degrees that everything will be adequately lubricated.

The problem is that not all cars are that simple to perform an oil change on. Now days even Mazda has specialized oil filters. BMW requires a "BMW specification" oil. A Porsche 911 GT3 needs 9.5 quarts of oil. Very few people would attempt to perform an oil change on a Lamborghini. In fact this crazy bastard was so concerned that he flew his car to London to have one done. Most expensive oil change. In the BBC show Top Gear Series 7 Episode 4 Clarkson, Hammond, and May tried the DIY oil change on a Maserati, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. They just don't think about the do-it-yourselfer anymore. An oil change for my BMW 135i can run up to $300 due to specialized oil and filters.

Me, I think I'll be waiting until Spring. When the first months begin to show green and when I stuff the pampered, trickle charged battery back into the trunk I'll take it easy on my way to the shitty local BMW dealer so I can have my fresh petrol product replaced for the cost of a case of Scotch.

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