Does using synthetic oil in your car really make a difference?

Sheepathon

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
6,093
7
81
I recently purchased an 04 S2000 with 17500 miles on it (naturally aspirated, stock, no superchargers/turbos), and I have a friend who owns an 05 (same car) who swears by synthetic oil. I got an oil and filter change the moment I bought the car, and he convinced me to use 10w40 royal purple synthetic oil (not the factory recommended 10w30 "because of summer heat"), and I said sure, why the hell not. However, I feel no difference whatsoever driving the car after the oil change - the engine noise, feel of the vehicle, responsiveness, etc feels identical to before I got the oil change.

The owner's manual recommends 10w30. Now, I'm no gearhead, but isn't it a good idea to follow the directions of the engineers who built the f'in car and wrote a manual for it? I live in Southern California, but even though it gets pretty hot sometimes during the summer, is it really necessary to stray from regular, non-synthetic 10w30?

Also, will switching back to regular non-synth 10w30 at my next oil change have any negative effects whatsoever? I feel that switching back to regular 10w30 and having regular oil changes done every 3000 miles seems like a reasonably safe thing to do.