This article seems to cover everything you would ever need to know about oil... It is super informative, albeit a bit lengthy. Grab a coffee and enjoy.

//www.minimania.com/web/threadid/108451/msgthread.cfm

 

Fair enough, mur. If it works up north, I'm sure it'll be fine here. Just curious, that's all. Maybe it'll force me to be a bit more disciplined about letting it warm up for a few extra minutes in the dead of winter.

I'm still getting used to the feel of the 20/50, but the car seems to really like it. Oil pressure is much more consistent, and the gearbox feels like a different car. A little quieter too. It just has to try ever-so-slightly harder than it did with the thinner oil. It takes a few extra seconds to get up to speed, but there's less noise and vibration when it does. Worth a little extra turning over in the cold months, no doubt.

Nick, according to the back of the bottle, VR1 still has zinc over here. Same price as GTX or any other half-decent oil and readily available at any Autozone. Sorry for your loss.

 

I find that leaving 20W50 in the mini through winter just makes me more disciplined with using a block heater.  If Baltimore became so cold that starting a mini was a problem you would be able to get new oil from FEMA.

I run 10w-40 year round in my minimatic. Just be sure your VR1 has zinc in it as nothing we get here in california has zinc anymore.

I finally got around to switching from GTX 10/40 to VR1 20/50. I like the way it runs when it's warmed up, but it's a bit sluggish until then, and I'm starting to wonder what it's going to be like when the temps drop. It's not the arctic here in Baltimore, but it still can get cold. Those of you who normally run 20/50, do you switch to a thinner grade in the winter, or do you find that 20/50 is fine year round?