Oil filter OEM Toyota or OEM Volkswagen

I have found that my engine runs smoothest with the Toyota 90915-YZZD3 filter and Valvoline full synthetic. The first time I put an OEM filter on the engine and fired it up, i was like woah! thats even smoother than usual!

I ALWAYS use a Toyota oil filter.

It's in-line with what they used to recommend and how I have always done it my whole life, so swapping the oil and filter at 10,000km with synthetic oil and a genuine filter is how I roll still.

I prefer to buy Pennzoil Platinum (high mileage or ultra) 5w30 and use a WIX or Toyota filter, whichever is cheaper.

A change with that oil and an OEM toyota filter costs me a bit more than $23.

Oil and filter every 5k miles give or take a couple hundred. Air filter... when it gets dirty or once a year. Which ever is first. Most of the time it is the year.

every 5k miles for me to stave off the inevitable HG issue. 160k miles on a 3rd gen which is notorius for HG problems if you don't change your oil.

This is normal. Funnily enough, a Toyota dealer is probably the cheapest place to get a 0w20 oil change (TGMO from Exxon-Mobil) and OE filter for your vehicle.

That happened to me too. I went to Dick Dyer Toyota because it's closer to my house and they charged me $100 because they put in a new oil filter

I just changed the oil on my TDI at 15,000 miles and when I pulled the engine cover it looked factory fresh under the cover. Meaning there was no evidence that the dealer even made an attempt to change the cartridge filter. I was very, very careful not to spill oil on the engine components but still managed to get oil on the white mesh heat shield next to the filter housing. When I removed the cartridge filter it looked extremely dirty and gunky.