My 2012 Accord displays how much life oil has left. According to its estimations, I shouldn't need an oil change until 10,000 miles. I usually just change my oil every 5K miles. Do you guys go by the computer? BTW, does this estimation take into account the difference between synthetic and natural oil? Thanks!

 

I go by the oil-life calculation on my cars. I've had used oil analyzed and found that for my (daughters') Civics the monitor works well.

It DOES NOT take into account the difference between synthetic and petroleum oil. It doesn't actually measure the oil & it has no way of knowing what kind of oil you put in. All it does is CALCULATE oil lifespan using your driving habits. Cold starts, short trips heavy throttle use will give you short oil life. Drive across the country at constant highway speed & only stop for fuel, then you'll get longer oil life. It's a lot simpler than trying to guess whether YOUR habits are within "normal" or "severe" service for oil life.

It seems to be calibrated for "good mainstream" petroleum oil. I use Castrol GTX in the Hondas and oil analysis shows I can comfortably let the oil life get down to 0%. I normally change at 15% when the warning light goes off, but if I'm busy that weekend I don't have to sweat the extra week.

There's plenty of people on this board that disagree, and they change their oil a lot more often, even some who use synthetic oil. So asking about oil change intervals is like asking about politics. You won't convince anyone, but you'll get a lot of different opinions.