Fully synthetic oil (5-40W) or (0-20W ) for my Camry Hybrid Malaysia

Dear members and friends of Camry Hybrid

Buying a Camry Hybrid in Malaysia is not very cheap (RM 165-170,000) like in other countries such as the United States or Australia. We in Malaysia spend much of our income buying and maintaining our rides. In fact , in terms of the percentage of money spent vis a vis our monthly income we are among the highest in the world. Our cars are like our investments (well not truly a good investment because of the depreciation) and we need to take care of them and make sure that they maintain their value. As such ,we tend to give the best.

Camry hybrid Malaysia

In terms of maintaining the hybrid,  do we opt for fully synthetic (5-20W or 0-40W) oil or synthetic formulation for our Camry Hybrid.(Please refer to the Malaysia's Toyota Camry maintenance schedule that is appended in the previous post)  Personally , I believe that since we spent so much on  cars, why can't we spend a little more for the oil too . I would recommend that owners use the fully synthetic oil rather than the blended ones. These are my reasons for choosing the fully synthetic oil.

1, I am a chronic idler . I tend to leave  my Camry idling for a long time while waiting in the car  while my wife goes on shopping  or my daughter is still stuck in the meeting. Using mineral based oil or synthetic blend will not do because  they are  not  very resilient compared to fully synthetic oil. The stability of the viscosity of the oil might not be stable in a high temperature condition compared to fully synthetic oil. 

2. The so called  standard of blend in Malaysia is quite hazy and not regulated. The oil manufacturer might put only 5 % of synthetic oil and the rest is mineral based. There is no official standard of mineral blend in Malaysia and thus the quality of the oil varies.

3. The hot weather or the temperature in Malaysia is quite high and as such, the viscosity of the oil is important. The higher the number 5-40W  is probably much better in a hotter climate. I believe most of the cars in the US use 0-20W because of the generally cold temperature in that country. In Malaysia, the temperature is consistently high and because of this I would recommend that we use the  more expensive oil ( R414) rather than the cheaper one (RM 310). Despite my suggestion, I must  say that both are quite good oils and would generally meet your typical driving requirements without any fuss.