Question Mazda 6 Oil Change Interval

[Steve]

Hi Oil Dr,

I have a 2023 Mazda 6 with a 2.5L gasoline engine. The factory-recommended oil change interval is 20,000 km, but I often read that these figures are overestimated. Once I reached 100,000 km, I started changing the oil every 10,000 km. This has essentially doubled my maintenance costs.

Did I make the right decision, or is the positive impact negligible?

Thanks!
Steve

 

[Car Doktor]

Hi Steve,

That's absolutely true—your maintenance costs nearly double, and environmental impact also increases.

A 20,000 km oil change interval isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a gasoline engine. If the car operates under near-ideal conditions (mostly long trips rather than short ones), it can be maintained with high-quality oil. However, if the car frequently takes short trips and doesn’t fully warm up, there’s still no strong reason to reduce the interval below 15,000 km. This way, costs remain more reasonable.

Best regards,
Oil Doctor

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[tesla 1]

Hi Steve,

Oil change intervals are interesting because they often get treated as strict rules, when in reality they are closer to operating assumptions.
Manufacturers publish numbers based on controlled conditions, predictable usage, and statistical averages. Real driving rarely looks like that.
Engine oil does not simply wear out because of distance. It degrades because of temperature cycles, contamination, fuel dilution, moisture, and how the engine is actually used.
A naturally aspirated 2.5L Mazda engine is generally quite forgiving compared to small turbocharged units. That alone changes the equation more than many drivers realize.
If the car regularly sees longer trips with a fully warmed engine, stable operating temperatures, and moderate loads, very short oil change intervals tend to deliver diminishing returns.
If the car mostly experiences short trips, frequent cold starts, and stop-and-go driving, shortening the interval becomes much easier to justify.
In many everyday use cases, something around 12–15 thousand kilometers often ends up being a very reasonable balance between mechanical sympathy and operating cost.
Your decision to switch to 10,000 km was not harmful or irrational. It simply shifts the balance toward additional safety margin rather than efficiency.

Whether that margin is worth the extra cost depends more on how the car is driven than on the number itself.