[evilstevie]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

They also have a vested interest in making "maintenance costs" look low for a vehicle... Remember, they only warranty the engine for 5 years/60,000 miles... You could probably do 2 oil changes in the entire period and the engine would still run, however the long term reliability of said engine would certainly suffer... But by then, GM won't care, not their problem...

Fluids are cheap, components are not...

They have a far, far, far greater interest in not having their motors blow up at 5 or 6 or 7 years old, with 70k or 80k miles on them. That will send a company into bankruptcy right quick. Not due to warranty repair costs, because of course the motor is out of warranty. But due to shattered customer confidence in the brand. So GM, nor any other car company, would ever, ever do this.
I would also point out that probably the last thing the average person is thinking about when they are buying a new car is what the future maintenance interval is.
Bottom line: Follow the owners manual for oil changes just like you do for every other maintenance item on your car. This isn't 1964 anymore, and there is no engineering reason to change your synthetic oil at some ridiculous interval, unless you enjoy wasting oil and money.