Agree... This is good marketing tactic. Engines a generally strong under the 160 - 200k km mark. They mentioned piston rings and some seals. Well I guess that general statement probably refers to piston ring snapping or breaking, which never happens. If one tries to claim for piston rings being worn off and burning oil, that would come under general wear and tear.I hate to nitpick here but "caramel" isn't exactly a great comparison for oil! Haha! If you cook with caramel, you know it's thick, very sticky, doesn't flow well and break apart in dollops rather than a smooth flow of liquid.
Anyway, this is quite a crafty tactic on Shells part. The warranty brings in the users and the constant reminders makes sure they stay as users.
How often is any engine failure an oil related failure?
- Oil starvation - isn't the oils fault
- Oil boiling to oblivion (probably due to track use) - grey area
Apart from fake/recycled oils, any oil in the market even the crappy cheap oils will lubricate enough to let your engine run without much issues. And considering how long Shell has been in the market, their oil formula isn't going to ruin anything unless abused, which in case will void the warranty.
So it's a win-win for Shell. Crafy indeed.
Having said that, they will have some very minimal risk on their side though, almost negligible. That aside, I trust their oil is good. It's just this very cleverly formulated scheme that sounds appealing to some groups; but sounds a bit of a "try-hard" and redundant to others.
But it's a good initiative anyways... Hope that this will up the bar for other brands and parts. Competition benefits us consumers after all.
