Penrite HPR 5 Engine Oil - 5W-40 5 Litre $48.99 (Was $98) + Delivery ($0 C&C/ in-Store) @ Supercheap Auto

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• 

  danvelopment on 24/07/2025 - 14:52

  What kinds of road cars take these weirdy beardy grades?

  Over the years everything I've experienced took 20w50, then 10w40, then 5w30 and now 0w20 and sometimes 0w16.

  I've seen the weird grades sometimes show up on supported lists, but I don't see why anyone would buy them if a "standard" grade is available (as it's usually cheaper due to economies of scale).

  EG there's a 5w30 in 5 and 6 litre options for slightly cheaper from SCA at the moment as well:
  https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/nulon-nulon-apex-5w-30-lo…
  https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/valvoline-valvoline-synpo… [this one also has C3 support for modern diesels]

  So what cars need these "non-standard" grades?

  • 

    Afrosven on 24/07/2025 - 15:34

    manufacturers will recommend different winter oil rates depending on climate.
    you probably know, but in 10w 40, the 40 is viscosity when the oil is hot and 10w is when cold.
    In a cold climate the lower the winter (w) weight, the better, because a thinner flowing oil when cold will flow around the engine faster.
    In a hot climate a higher w weight is better so the oil isn't too thin when cold and doesn't break down too much

    The further south you go in New Zealand, especially now when its cold the better off you'd be running 5w 40 then 10w 40 as the winter weight the manufacturer recommends might not even be targeted at NZ winter temps.

    • 

      danvelopment on 24/07/2025 - 16:00

      NZ Winter temps are high compared to where cars are manufactured, they're definitely within the scales supplied by manufacturers.

      NZ goes down to -10'C in alpine South Island
      Germany gets as low as -20'C in places
      Hokkaido in Japan can get down to -30'C on the regular in a "large" city (Asahikawa, 300k population)
      USA is a bit more iffy because it's so huge, places like Alaska basically throws all gauges in the bin.

      But if you look in the manual, they usually have a range of oil types and their scale of temps and NZ always falls right into the "Standard" grades I mentioned in the previous post. As an example, a Honda Odyssey recommends 0W-20 from temps below -30'C up to over 40'C (see page 146 here:
      https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/QS/AH/ATHR1818OG/en…
      )

      So I don't necessarily agree with there being any reason to differ from "Standard" grades of oil in NZ.

      My question, though, is what cars need these "non-standard" grades? I'll alter it slightly to make it more clear:

      Has anyone got an example of a car where it's recommended to get these "non-standard" grades over the "standard" ones?

      • 

        drunkpotato on 25/07/2025 - 08:46

        Your right for the average car and driver you really don't need to stray away from the recommended oil, however considering the wide range of oils most manufactures recommend under normal conditions it wont really affect the longevity if you go for 5w40 instead of 5w30 as long as your still within the temperature range for example look at all the oils Mazda recommends for the Mazda 3 - Page 568 (https://owners-manual.mazda.com/gen/en/mazda3/mazda3_8fj4ee1…)

        So essentially just get whatever is the cheapest, falls in the manufactures range and meets their certification. However I have found high performance cars or people that drive their cars more "spritely" are recommenced to use a oil with slightly thicker viscosity to help keep the oil stable and protect the engine when oil temps get very hot.

        Here is a list of cars that recommend 5w40 for your reading pleasure courtesy of chatgpt

        Subaru WRX STI (2006) – 2.5L EJ257 Turbo
        “Use 5W-40 or 5W-30 oil that meets API SM or ILSAC GF-4.”

        Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk4 (2003) – 1.8T
        “SAE 5W-40 is recommended for all-season use.”

        Porsche 911 Carrera (996, 2003) – 3.6L Flat-6
        “Recommended oil viscosity: SAE 5W-40, Porsche A40 approved.”

        Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI (2006) – 3.0L I6 Turbo Diesel
        “SAE 5W-40 is recommended for most climates.”

        Toyota Supra Mk4 (1998) – 2JZ-GTE
        “Recommended viscosity: SAE 5W-40 for high-performance turbocharged engines.”

        Nissan GT-R R35 (2009) – 3.8L VR38DETT
        “Use SAE 5W-40 with API certification.”

        • 

          danvelopment on 25/07/2025 - 09:48

          @drunkpotato: Generative AI is arse and regularly confidently wrong, I wouldn't blindly trust it if I were you.

          For example,

          Here's the owners manual for the GT-R 2009
          https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuide…

          Page 285, 0W40 is recommended not 5W40, but that being said, 0W40 is a "non-standard" oil.

          Anyway, like I said I haven't asked for cars capable of taking it, I already acknowledged those in the first post.

          "I've seen the weird grades sometimes show up on supported lists, but I don't see why anyone would buy them if a "standard" grade is available (as it's usually cheaper due to economies of scale)."

          You'll see in your example 5W30 (standard) has the widest operating range and compatibility of the options across models in the manual you linked.

          Anyway, pretending the generative AI list (which is probably wrong, I'm not going to bother validating it outside of the GT-R example because neither you, nor the chatbot did) is correct, the answer appears to be "almost no one should really be looking at this oil except teenagers [200x Golf GTi, E320 and STi] and old sports cars enthusiasts [200x Porsches], there's otherwise no reason to buy this over common grades"

          • 

            drunkpotato on 25/07/2025 - 10:51

            @danvelopment: oof yeah AI really fumbled the bag with that

            I completely agreed with you for the average person / use case and said hence I said "So essentially just get whatever is the cheapest, falls in the manufactures range and meets their certification".

            Its only really enthusiasts or people who drive in conditions where their oil temp gets very hot that would go for a thicker 5w40 over a more common and hence cheaper oil like 5w30 (in this case that's why Penrite has labeled it as HPR - High Performance Range).

            At the end of the day I bet a lot of normal people buy this just because it's marketed as a Premium/ High performance product and think it will make their engine perform better or last longer but under normal conditions that's not really the case.

• 

  JFUNK on 24/07/2025 - 18:42

  Nice sale!

  Keep in mind that variation in grade comes back to the advancements in viscosity modifiers. My 2015 Suzuki s-cross allows me to put in 0w20, 5w30,10w30 and 10w40. I suspect by this logic that as long as the grade and specification (SN…+) is met that I could technically use a 0w40.

  I imagine if someone down south does towing that 5w40 may be a good choice to cover cold start protection and good shear protection under hot towing conditions.

  My thoughts anyway. A lot of information and opinions out there. Recommend the Motor Oil Geek on YouTube.

• 

  TechnicianX on 24/07/2025 - 19:14

  Hyperdrive also has decent pricing on Valvoline oil, such as SynPower 5W30 6L for $54.39 - https://www.hyperdrive.co.nz/product/137116/valvoline-5w30-s…

  A large bottle and API SP ILSAC GF-6A certified.

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  moreroastpork on 25/07/2025 - 00:31

  I don't understand why 10W30 isn't so easily available in NZ anymore. It used to be a lot easier to find in SCA and other stores.