I thought about getting one of these awhile ago, because I’m all for saving time, but then decided against it because for me.

*Neither the X5 or the 550 have a dipstick, so I wouldn’t be able to use it for those cars. Draining the oil isn’t going to be the issue….Refilling the oil back to the correct level without a physical dipstick is always a bundle of joy. Fortunately, this only needs to be done roughly once a year, according to my logs.

*The audi and miata would be a beneficiary to this extractor… Both are a bigger pain, because I need to take off the splash shield to get to the drain plug. But being that both cars are boosted, I wouldn’t feel comfortable not draining the oil from the bottom. The audi can go 6 months between intervals. The miata, I go roughly every 2 or 3 autocross, or roughly every 2 – 3 months. … But I need to crawl under the car often to do a safety check anyway.

That leaves the mercedes. The drain interval is 1 year, and it’s relatively easy to access the drain plug. So I didn’t think it was worthwhile for me to get this just for 1 car.

If you really don’t like to crawl under the car, just pay someone to do it. Especially if you don’t need to use synthetic, it won’t cost *that* much. Personally, I don’t think I could ever trust one of these extractors that do it from the top.

If you’re tired or jacking up your car, buy yourself a nice set of ramps.