Am putting this on both the GP and the Panda sites as it’s relevant to both models.

We own a 2009 Grande Punto 1.4 Active and a 2011 Panda 1.2 Active ECO. They both do just 5,000 kms. per annum as we are retired living in Cornwall. They have an easy life and neither car does any prolonged high-speed or long distance motoring.

The GP has had two services by Fiat (both using Selenia K Pure energy 5W40, which is a very expensive fully synthetic oil) and the Panda will get at least one similar Fiat service to preserve Fiat’s warranty before I start doing my own basic servicing. Both cars have the well proven FIRE series engines.

This new synthetic KPE oil appeared when Euro 5 spec came in with the drive for better fuel economies/lower emissions. Fiat used to recommend Selenia 20K 10W40 semi-synthetic and certainly our old Mk.1 Punto, which was serviced exclusively on semi-synthetic oils equivalent to Selenia 20K) is still on the road after 14 years and 70k miles and the engine still seems perfect.

So now we come to decision time. What to do for future maintenance? Do we pay for Selenia KPE at about £50 for a 5-litre pot? Or do we use tried and trusted oils to the Selenia 20K spec (such as GM’s own for less than £20 delivered per 5 litre)?

What’s the difference in specs?
Selenia KPE raises the ACEA spec from A3 to C3 and the API spec from SL/CF to SM/CF. What do these entail?

ACEA C3 Fiat claim is “especially formulated to maximise fuel economy, warrant compliance with anti-pollution regulation, protect engines created to operate at ever higher temperatures and enhance the typically sporty character in turbocharged versions.”

API SM - Introduced November 2004 –gives “improved oxidation resistance, deposit protection and wear protection, also better low temperature performance over the life of the oil compared to previous categories”.

For the life of me I can not see why these simple FIRE engines (and the way we use our cars) can need the “higher-temperature or turbo-charging characteristics” from ACEA C3 and given basic semi-synthetic Selenia K is good for 20,000 km (and ours will be changed at 5000 km max) its life seems more than adequate.

So I believe I will be using a 10W40 semi-synthetic to ACEA A3 and API SL/CF with regular oil and filter changes until such time as Selenia sell their oils for a sensible price.

fiat_freak said:

...... snip ............ They have an easy life and neither car does any prolonged high-speed or long distance motoring.

........... snip ............

So I believe I will be using a 10W40 semi-synthetic to ACEA A3 and API SL/CF with regular oil and filter changes until such time as Selenia sell their oils for a sensible price.

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You'll get all sorts of opinions I suspect. Here's mine:

It sounds like you've come to a reasonable conclusion with the exception of believing your car has an "easy" life. Long distance motoring is much better for your oil. Short distance driving is worse because although the oil may come up to temperature, it may not stay there long enough to boil off the moisture. This moisture combined with combustion by-products to form nasty stuff like sulfuric acid which is not good for your engine internals.

Modern oils with a good "additive package" are designed to deal with these contaminants and as long as you change your oil based on time, you'll be OK. I agree that once a year will be fine. In fact, I suspect that if you used the cheapest oil on the market but changed it and the filter every year, you could go another 14 years and 70K miles without problems. But, if you're like me it just feels wrong to not give your car a little love. Good semi-synthetic which meets the standards of your owners manual seems perfectly fine to me.

Actually, I'm using your plan for both my Grande Punto and my riding lawn mower The new riding mower actually cost more than my used Fiat, so why not give it a little love too? My Alfa gets slightly fancier oil, but I suppose that's more to make me feel good than to make the engine feel good. If I put 60,000 miles a year on my car, I would most likely use a pure synthetic and leave it in for a lot of miles, but I'm down around 5,000 mi/yr like you, so I change my oil based on time.

Mozella said:

You'll get all sorts of opinions I suspect. Here's mine:It sounds like you've come to a reasonable conclusion with the exception of believing your car has an "easy" life. Long distance motoring is much better for your oil. Short distance driving is worse because although the oil may come up to temperature, it may not stay there long enough to boil off the moisture. This moisture combined with combustion by-products to form nasty stuff like sulfuric acid which is not good for your engine internals.

.

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Thanks for your comments Roberto

Usage is not as bad as you fear. Every time we start a car it does a minimum of a 13 miles round trip to "civilisation"; enough to get her warmed through to the point you never see steam out the tailpipe or battery flattening and then every so often a 50 mile round trip to a bigger city.