[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by johnmk

Almost everything I've read that's trustworthy says to leave it in the car for as long as the manual says to. This appears to be of somewhat greater than normal importance with the first oil change, in fact, because there's an additive in the first, factory oil-fill that assists in breaking-in the engine in the best possible manner, and all the breaking in that's necessary might not yet have occurred within 2-3,000 miles. Switching to another oil too soon will leave you without this additive, while your engine is still breaking in. On top of that, also according to what I've read (mostly on bobistheoilguy), synthetic oil increases in quality, up to a point, as it ages. Tossing out a finely aged and still fully healthy synthetic oil, in the prime of its life, containing a special factory additive that you'll never have again, seems illogical.

Based on my research, I changed my oil at around 6,000 miles and was very comfortable with that decision.

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

The only real break-in is the rings to the cylinder walls.

That is done within a few hundred miles at most.

Originally Posted by Rifle

I changed mine at 5600 miles as well, just noting what I spotted in an email from subaru.

For the record the oil in the engine when you get the car is normal synthetic engine oil there is no additive package (i.e. its not a break in oil like the type you use to break in new cams) from the factory, when the motor is tested on the dyno for a few miles after being build there is a break in oil used, then it's drained and filled when the engine is in the car on the assembly line along with all the other fluids. Also the break in period is 1000 miles for the rings as OkieSnuff said, that's why varying RPMS are recommended.