How often do I need to change the oil?

depends on your driving habits. short trips 3000-4500 mile intervals, if you do a lot of highway driving, 7500 miles should be fine (provided you keep an eye on the level).

How often you change your oil depends on how long you want to keep your car. I just sold a 96 corolla with 215k miles on the engine. I changed the oil faithfully every 3000 miles because I knew I was going to drive the car until it became more a liability than it would be worth. If you plan on keeping your car for just a few years, you can probably get away with changing the oil every 4-5k miles. Again, such maintenance as changing oil on a regular basis at 3k miles will help in keeping your car running smoothly for many years.

Your car will soon be 12 years old. You do not mention the miles on the car. Is this car new to you? A vehicle with over 80,000 miles has some form of wear on the motor and may need oil for high mileage vehicles. Has the vehicle been properly maintained? Please look into the engine via the oil filler cap. The engine should be nice and clean. If not may I suggest a trip to a mechanic for advise as to cleaning the engine. This makes sure the drip holes are clean and dripping oil to the vital parts of the motor. Once cleaned today's oils are far better than from 2000 and will easily last 6,000 miles or 6 months and still work well. I use semi-synthetic oils and use that intervals. My 2001 sports car engine is quite clean inside. Same for the 08 SUV. I would check around to see what different shops ask for oil changes. You might be amazed at the difference in pricing due to competition. I am also suggesting to drivers to please use turn signals for all turn, exit/entry to Interstates, lane changes, etc. This is a safety feature of vehicles that is quite under used. Many car crashes can be avoided by the proper use of turn signals. OK? Good luck.

tell you the truth it was recomended every 30k miles but we have refined and formulated the oil products since they started that i have seen oil go for 150k miles and still look new and now we even have senthetics i personaly know that castrol GTX is all i use and from the factory guarentee only have to chanege 75k and that is on the standard oils not the synthetics

with todays oils 6k is fine.

The dealer told me 10,000 miles on a 2012 Corolla! And she is a service advisor! I don't believe it for a second.

I have a 2011 corolla and the manual says 10,000 - i think this is crazy. I've heard the best thing you can do to keep your car running well is a regular oil change - I plan to still do at least every 5,000.

As often as possible. They will be happy to take your money and they could use it.

I used to have a 07 Kia Rio that took $20 conventional oil.. When I got my 2013 toyota corolla, they told me I needed synthetic oil..at first I thought they were just saying this because its usually like $30 more expensive.. what do you guys recommend? Could I use the semi synthetic oil that is in between those two? (broke college student on a budget) lol

gabbyscrozzo - Since you're on a college budget, you should change the oil yourself or get a friend to do it. You can find synthetics for pretty cheap. House synthetics (ie. Autozone brand, OReillys Brand, etc) are the cheapest. You're always going to get jacked if you choose the synthetic package at an oil change shop, and they'll use the cheapest synthetic they can find too. If you want to convert from conventional to full synthetic, use the blend for your next oil change, for a more peaceful transition.

My 1968 Oldsmobile 442, a 50 year old car, has a recommended oil change interval of 6,000 miles or 4 months with filter change every second oil change. The recommended oil is conventional 10-W-40 for temperatures between zero and 90 degrees F. A "break-in" oil was not used. A 10,000 mile change interval seems reasonable considering there has been 50 years of improvements to the design and manufacture of the automobile engine.

My 2013 Toyota Corolla owners manual says to change the oil/filter every 10K miles. Three owners owned my car before me and all three of them changed the oil/filter every 5K miles. You could change it every 7K miles. I change my oil/filter twice a year, about every 5K miles. Oil and filter is much cheaper than buying another engine. I keep my cars for at least 12 or 13 years. This one I may keep longer.