I have a '98 V70 AWD (light pressure turbo) with 208 K miles and an '04 XC90 (same engine as the xc70 of that year) with about 190 K miles. I have been changing oil with synthetic just about every 5K miles since I bought them. I am the second owner of both, and I bought both with about 55K miles. While I may be overdoing it by not waiting 7500 miles between oil changes, I have not had any engine problems, and the oil looks pretty "done" when I do the changes at the 5K intervals. Granted, this is with about 75% of my driving around town on trips of fewer than 10 miles, but it does include several 400-500 mile round trips per cycle. I can't say that the reason I am avoiding trouble is due to the quicker interval, but spending a little more is worthwhile IMHO to do what I can to avoid problems.

I have a '98 V70 AWD (light pressure turbo) with 208 K miles and an '04 XC90 (same engine as the xc70 of that year) with about 190 K miles. I have been changing oil with synthetic just about every 5K miles since I bought them. I am the second owner of both, and I bought both with about 55K miles. While I may be overdoing it by not waiting 7500 miles between oil changes, I have not had any engine problems, and the oil looks pretty "done" when I do the changes at the 5K intervals. Granted, this is with about 75% of my driving around town on trips of fewer than 10 miles, but it does include several 400-500 mile round trips per cycle. I can't say that the reason I am avoiding trouble is due to the quicker interval, but spending a little more is worthwhile IMHO to do what I can to avoid problems.

Stick with the synthetic. You can pretty much double your oil change interval so in the long run it is actually cheaper than conventional! What is your oil change interval now?

It is best to use synthetic in your engine anyway as it should increase its working life and help prevent a clogged PCV system and oil leaks.