Can someone offer an explanation why my MY97 standard car only consumes oil when driven hard, but hardly any under normal town driving? I am using Mobil 1 5W-50 and the car has done 65k kilos. Done about 3k kilometers after oil change and the oil level remained midway between the F and L marks, then did a high speed 800 kilo run and the level dropped below the L mark. No obvious oil leaks or smoky exhaust. Strange.

 

When you're driving hard, the oil gets hotter and combustion chamber pressures are greater, which will cause a little oil to get past the piston rings into the cylinders to be burnt.