11/17/2025
PSA: Check Your Oil â And If Youâre Car Shopping, Think âNo Turboâ and âLocal Dealerâ
Last week, we had to tell several families their vehicles needed new engines.
Not because of bad luck â because they ran out of oil.
Those are hard conversations. Nobody budgets for a new engine, and most cars under $10K arenât worth putting one in. That turns a small maintenance miss into a major financial hit.
Hereâs what many people donât realize:
Modern cars burn oil. So do older ones.
In fact, some manufacturers call oil consumption over 1L per 1,000 km ânormal.â You can argue whether thatâs really normal, and I could go into details why, but it happens often enough that the average 5,000â10,000 km between oil changes can mean running completely dry.
And donât trust the indicator to warn you in time.
Many vehicles still donât know actual oil level â they only monitor oil pressure. When that red oil light comes on, the damage is already happening. Itâs not a âtop-upâ light; itâs a âtoo lateâ light.
Also, donât confuse it with the maintenance reminder on your dash. That reminder is based on time or driving habits, not on oil level. It typically canât tell you when youâre running out of oil.
So please â check your oil regularly.
Use your trip meter, set a reminder, or tie it to every second fuel fill. A few minutes and a $10 jug of oil can save you thousands.
When You Do Have to Go Vehicle Shopping
If you end up in the market for another car, here are three things that make a real difference in long-term reliability and repairability:
1. No Turbo (for your daily driver).
I love turbos â we build and tune them here â but turbos make power, not dependability.
Compare the past to the present:
2000 Pontiac Sunfire, 2.2L pushrod. These cars mostly died from rust, even with serious neglect, the engines outlasted the bodies.
2014 Chevy Cruze, 1.4L turbo. Yes, it makes more power and gets good mileage, but it also comes with a pile of weak links: oil cooler lives under a glowing turbo, and so leaks are common. Plastic PCV systems that fail under heat and pressure, and repairs that can snowball fast. A failed PCV path often means replacing both the intake manifold and the valve cover. Add the front-mounted intercooler that doesnât appreciate winter snowbanks, and itâs a recipe for expensive repairs that the older car never needed.
Modern vehicles are engineered for fuel efficiency and emissions, not for user expense, repairability, or longevity. Complexity doesnât equal reliability. Many components today are built with just enough material to do the job â every gram and dollar counts â and that comes at the cost of long-term durability. Thereâs no margin for neglect, no tolerance for imperfect clearances. With oil weights like 0W-16, oil isnât just protection anymore â itâs also a design tool to reduce drag. That means everything from bearing clearances to surface finishes is pushed to the edge, and even a little carbon or debris in the system can cause serious damage.
2. Buy something with a local dealer.
We try to fix many brands and problems here â thatâs our goal, to keep vehicles on the road and people out of car payments. But newer vehicles sometimes require dealer-only access: module programming, VIN-specific calibrations, or parts that only come through brand channels.
3. Hybrids
About 90% of the reasons turbos are bad for dependability and costs of ownership also apply to hybrids. Fuel isnât your only cost â complexity is. The perfect storm for costly long-term ownership are turbocharged, hybrid, AWD vehicles. They can be engineered very well and still fail simply because thereâs so much going on, and every system depends on another. Buy the lower-cost brand of that combination and youâre even more likely to see trouble. These vehicles may not make it far past ten years before a single major repair â sometimes electrical, sometimes drivetrain â ends them early, even when the rest of the car still looks great. They also love to eat tires and are amazingly overweight which means even with all the tech they use as much fuel as a 90âs economy car.
Summary,
Weâre here to help people keep their vehicles running. If you want an amazing performance vehicle â or you choose a diesel, hybrid, or electric car â thatâs your call, and we understand that completely. But if you rely on your vehicle as an appliance, make sure you truly understand what youâre choosing.
Complexity and dependability sit at opposite ends of the scale, and affordability isnât in the middle. Thereâs no free lunch in vehicle design â if you pick the most complicated powertrain at the lowest price, youâre likely to have poor results.
Modern cars try to do everything, and theyâre sold at prices that once could buy a home. Consider what you actually need and be intentional about your purchase.
