Different oils for different car manufacturers??

[xrblue]

Hi

Why are some of the oils specific to certain car manufacturers?

I'm looking at engine oils sold in Asda branded Auto Drive.

Purple container 5w30 is for most Volkswagon, Audi, Seat and Skoda models.
Silver container 5w30 is for most Vauxhall, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Chevroloet models.
Red container 5w30 is for most Ford models
Green container 5w30 doesn't specify.

Thanks

[ninjag]

If it helps here what Opie Oils says:
https://www.opieoils.co.uk/engine-oil-lookup.aspx

Opie Oils said:

Why engine oil grades and specifications matter
Each vehicle's engine is produced and designed around a certain engine oil grade / viscosity plus a very specific specification. Spec's are very varied to cope with the vastly different strains and stresses vehicle motors have to cope with (cc size, DPF, diesel & petrol to name just a few). Therefore to maintain your engine efficiency, life span and performance you should always stick with oil your engine was designed around (unless it is heavily performance modified).

Everyone has differing options on this, some say if it meets the specs then it's fine etc. I personally prefer to use premium branded oil such as Castrol, Mobil1 or Millers and I'm going to try Motul next. I've tried cheaper stuff in the past but I noticed that it didn't take long for the engine to start sounding a little rougher whereas this wouldn't happen with Mobil1.

The way I see it is that this is your engine, the most expensive part of your car so why skimp of a few quid and take the risk with using cheap engine oil? If you've got a timing chain instead of a belt then the oil is lubricating this also (wasn't the ridiculously long oil change intervals possibly a catalyst behind BMW's chains breaking?) so you'll want stuff which doesn't break down quickly (think shear and tear strengths). I'm sure there were some videos comparing various oils in scientific tests, could be worth looking it up.

Opie Oils (https://www.opieoils.co.uk) is a good place to source engine oil, they are competitively priced and also do service packs so it's the correct amount of oil being sent along with a handy funnel.