Castrol Edge 5W-40 Review on the Volvo XC90 2.9 T6

I am one of the shortlisted top 30 participants of the Castrol Edge Nurburging Challenge, so I am writing about my experiences of the Castrol Edge 5W-40 in my recent engine oil change, sponsored by Castrol Malaysia.

Firstly, I would like to introduce the vehicle that was used in the engine oil change process, the Volvo XC90 T6. The Volvo XC90 T6 is an All-wheel Drive (AWD) 2.9 litre Inline-6 twin turbo SUV. It carries 7 people comfortably in the SUV and one of the safest SUVs around in the world. However, being a very safe vehicle, it is unfortunately very heavy in weight and fuel thirsty. So let’s see what the Castrol Edge has to offer. My photo-log will provide a review of the Castrol Edge engine oil, while I drive on the roads of Ipoh and snapping photos of the places I’ve been to.



Mixed Driving Short Distance Review
27TH JANUARY 2011 2:30PM

I received an email a few days before from Castrol Malaysia stating that I have been shortlisted for the Top 30 spots and Castrol offers me a complimentary oil change service. I have been assigned the engine oil change at an authorised Castrol Authorised Service Center, Berjaya Tyre (Ipoh) Sdn. Bhd.

As I lived in Kampar, Perak, I have to drive up to the service center, which was located about 40 kilometres away. I have decided to use up all my tank of fuel and refuelled at the Petronas Petrol Station at Jalan Kampar Mukim Teja in Gopeng, Perak. I am regular user of the Petronas Primax 95 and it will be used in all the tests for consistency in reading the differences in performance.





I fuelled up RM120.00 of Petronas Primax 95 fuel, which equates about 63.157 litres in my tank. Then, I drove to the Gopeng Interchange, to start my journey to Ipoh via the North South Highway. I’ve taken the Gopeng Interchange as my starting point, to gauge the engine oil efficiency of the previous engine oil I have used.



I have set my cruise control to cruise at a constant speed at 110km/h. It was a bit tough to drive at constant speed, as the traffic was heavy due to the upcoming Chinese New Year’s celebration, but I still managed to cruise at the set speed.

27TH JANUARY 2011 2:54PM





I arrived in Ipoh around 2.54 PM. The distance between Gopeng Interchange and a point at the traffic crossroad that intersects Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah and Simee was about 23.2 Kilometres. This intersection is located right in front of Tesco Ipoh. As I had to deliver some other documents from my client, I decided to have them sent to the respective customer prior to have my oil changed. I took some nice photos of Ipoh, to actually pinpoint where I have been prior to my oil change. The four pictures as above are the places I have passed by and was pinpointed on Google maps, as labelled A, B, C and D. It took about 15.3 KM to drive through all spots before reaching the designated engine oil change shop.

27TH JANUARY 2011 3:35PM



I arrived at the shop at about 3:35PM. I proceeded to the office and handed my participation form to them to be stamped and to redeem my 2 bottles of Castrol Edge 5W-40 oil packs together with the original Volvo oil filter. While waiting for them to change the oil, I took pictures of my engine compartment. The twin turbo engine actually produces 272 horsepower (HP) and 380 Newton Meter (NM) of torque. It is a very powerful vehicle and does a 0-100 km/h sprint time of around 8 seconds plus. But over the years, some performance has been lost during the wear and tear of the engine. The engine requires about 7.2 litres of engine oil. That's about 2 bottles of oil

27TH JANUARY 2011 4:10PM



Most people do not know how the engine oil is changed. Let me give a step by step explanation of the process taken to have the engine oil changed. First, the engine bottom tray is removed and then the mechanic proceeds to remove the washer nut from the bottom of the engine block. Then, the old engine oil is drained and finally the oil filter is taken out with an oil filter clamp. The Volvo oil filter uses a special sized adapter for the clamp and you have to make sure that the shop has it before you wish to have your engine oil changed in the specific shop.



When everything is drained out from the engine, the plastic oil filter container from picture C is taken out for cleaning to remove all grease and grub. Then, the oil filter is slightly oiled on the rims of the container and the paper filter is inserted into the container. (Most Japanese and local cars have a single built-in piece of oil filter, while European cars have them as paper replacements). Then, the mechanic pours in the new engine oil. He was smiling when the engine oil was changed. He is confident that the Castrol Edge engine oil would provide me superior lubrication for my engine compared to my previous engine oil.

This post has been edited by KeV: Feb 13 2011, 11:41 PM

glad to hear that bro
I use castrol oil too

That the gain you all will got if using original Castrol Oil but to some unfortunate people bought a fake Castrol Edge from spare part shop then i say im sorry your engine soon or later will go to hard time repair

This post has been edited by grinders: Feb 13 2011, 11:19 PM

27TH JANUARY 2011 5:41PM



It took a while for my engine oil changed, as they had to borrow the oil filter clamp from some other workshop. After that, I had my gas topped up to the full tank with Primax 95 in the Petronas Petrol Station in Jalan Gopeng 1. I’ve filled up about 6.842 litres costing RM13.00. I have driven exactly 38.5 kilometres in total before heading to the Petronas petrol station which was about 1 kilometre away from the previous oil change shop. I started driving back to Kampar after filling up to the brim.




As it was getting late and it was the start of the rush hour, I’ve decided to use speedier alternative, to cut through to the highway interchange to drive back to Kampar. I passed by Jalan Musa Mahadi, then to Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah and going to the highway onramp in the Ipoh South Interchange. I finally reached Gopeng later on at 7:15 PM. It took about 9.8 kilometres to drive from the Jalan Gopeng 1 Petronas station to the onramp of the Ipoh South Intersection. It took a similar distance of 22.8 kilometres on the highway to arrive at the Gopeng Toll.

27TH JANUARY 2011 7:15PM





I proceeded to exit from the Gopeng Interchange and drove straight back to Kampar. I was intending to stop by at the Caltex petrol station at Jeram as it would be exactly 7.5 kilometres away and it would provide me a more accurate readout of the fuel used with a similar number of kilometres driven, prior to the engine oil change. However, it was closed, so I have to drive a further 10 kilometres to have my petrol tank filled up again.
I was surprised to learn that, despite the increased distance, I have consumed lesser fuel. Since I have filled up with Petronas Primax 95 at the beginning of both tests for before and after oil change, the choice of fuel at the end of destination did not matter and does not affect the test results. I have clocked 48.2 kilometres in total compared to the previous journey of 38.5 kilometres.

Fuel efficiency comparison




*-Note: First 9.8 Kilometres of urban driving were between Petronas Jalan Gopeng 1 and Ipoh South Highway Interchange. The remaining 15.6 Kilometres are between Gopeng Toll and Kampar Shell Station.

After comparing both figures, there is a significant drop in the cost per kilometre. I have driven 23.2 kilometres on the highway and 15.3 kilometres in urban at a cost of RM13. In comparison, after the oil change, I drove 22.8 kilometres on the highway and 25.4 kilometres in urban. Despite the extra 10 kilometres, the Castrol Edge fully synthetic oil has dramatically reduced the cost per kilometre, from RM0.34 per kilometre to RM0.23 per kilometre, slashing to almost 30 plus percent in fuel savings.

Long Distance Review

As there was no proper log of how much fuel costs was used for travelling a certain amount of kilometres, I could only give a brief textual review of the engine oil’s performance. I used to clock about 400 kilometres in a full tank of about 60 litres which is about RM115.

Since I needed to pick up someone from the airport, I have drove down the KLIA, via few places to stop by for some Chinese New Year shopping and dinner. I started my journey heading to Ikea in Ikano Power Center in Damansara, then went to the LCCT Airport and then went to have dinner across Sunway Pyramid and made my journey back in Kampar.

One noticed observation is that, the engine runs smoother and quieter compared to the prior engine oil. The gearshifts are much smoother and quicker. The gas gauge is dropping considerably slower than before. In the end, I have racked up 510 kilometers in total this time using the new engine oil. Considering that I did not followed the routes suggested by Google Maps due to the rush hours, the total journey distance is at least 50 kilometers longer than normal. I have filled up to the brim at a cost of RM117. I do not have a lot of pictures to prove my journey as my Iphone is not capable of taking high quality photos, but as proven in the Short Distance run, the said results can be achieved.




Video Observation



After changing my engine oil, the engine becomes smoother and quieter. While sitting inside the car and starting up, there is a slight noise, but after a few seconds, it starts to quiet down more. Because this is a turbo charged vehicle, the starting rev’s is higher for a few seconds, before it is declined to a suitable temperature in the engine. There is noticeably less clacking voice coming from the engine.

Verdict/Conclusion

Castrol Malaysia has a wonderful product that does not fail to deliver its promises. The engine runs smoother, quieter and more fuel efficient than before. The gear changes are smoother and much quicker. There is a slight drop in engine temperature, although not a lot, I believe that the increased thermal efficiency from the engine oil would allow the engine have a longer reliability over the years. It definitely outperforms other engine oils in the market. After performing this test on the SUV with the new engine oil, I am definitely keen on buying the Castrol Edge fully synthetic range for the next oil change. I have driven now 2000 kilometres after the engine oil change as of writing and its effectiveness and efficiency of the engine oil has not declined.

Castrol Edge Television Advertisement

Castrol Edge 'Extreme Maximum Power'




Credits

Castrol Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Mr. Harvinder Singh
Berjaya Tyre (Ipoh) Sdn. Bhd.

Links
http://www.castroledge.com.my

This post has been edited by KeV: Feb 13 2011, 11:33 PM

Fresh oil always performs better than old oil, you need to repeat EXACT same route and traffic and speed with your old oil brand but FRESH and then make a decision

Castrol Edge performs better on my car compared to Mobil 1.

Using original engine oil buy from Petrol Station or Service centre are good and peace of mind.

Thumbs up, Heard of Valvoline Oil? Refer to http://www.lubricant.sg/

Thanks to castrol and Mr Harvinder Singh in shortlisting me

Kevin

This post has been edited by KeV: Feb 20 2011, 07:20 AM

Thanks to castrol and Mr Harvinder Singh in shortlisting me

Kevin

How many bottle Original engine oil that Castrol give for testing

This post has been edited by grinders: Feb 20 2011, 08:20 AM

2, because my volvo requires 7.2 litres already