I have a 2011 Scion TC and I was told to always use Synthetic oil.
0W20N SYN.
Why synthetic in a new car?
Anyone else? Is there a certain brand that is better than the other?

 

I do not like it either. I have a 2015 TC. I asked the salesman (my fault asking a salesman) if the car needed synthetic oil. He said there was nothing in the owners manual about the car needing synthetic oil. He was correct, the owners manual says the car needs 0W20 oil. I did not know at the time that the only way to get that oil weight was through a synthetic oil.

The reason they go to the very low weight oil is to increase the miles per gallon of the car, and the fleet of cars available through Scion/ Toyota. There are other things that would increase the gas mileage, but I suppose everything is a trade off between gas mileage, performance, comfort, and cornering. It may be marketing that makes these decisions under a close watch from accounting.

The article below, discusses the engines being made with a tighter tolerance that works better with the thinner oil. Personally, when my warranty expires and I have to start paying for the oil myself, I will start to use a heavier oil. I think they will see an improvement of the gas mileage only at the first few thousand miles, once the engine is broken in, I do not think there would be any significant improvement
in mileage.

Fuel economy race brings expensive oil to inexpensive cars