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Ideally, careful oil pressure monitoring and lab testing of the used oil will tell you what works best for you. For my daily drivers, I'm wholeheartedly of the opinion that the best oil is new oil. I use the cheapest 5w30 I can get my hands on (usually Walmart or Fleet Farm house brands) and change it more often then recommended. I'm a bit more picky on filters, but not by a lot. I have a pressure gauge and a 11mm oil pump on my EJ25 daily, and don't see much of a difference in pressures summer to winter (it's 93*F here today, and not uncommon to see 40 below days in the winter. Although my car does spend overnights in an unheated/uninsulated garage, so we have to get a pretty good gold stretch for it to be below zero in the mornings.

Only manual transmission cars have the guide. And no - an auto isn't going to break a belt. Even a manual isn't going to break a good condition belt. Skip a few teeth maybe, but not break it in half. The belt was old and past it's service life or was off-brand and poor quality if it's broken. And heartless is correct - buy a Subaru (or any car with a timing belt and an interference engine) - you are immediately remiss in your duties if you don't change the belt, water pump, and all associated with QUALITY Japanese made components. You generally have no idea if/when it was done or what quality of parts/labor were used. And it sounds like the transmission/torque converter are garbage. GD