I noticed you are in Texas, your car probably doesn't run "cold" as much as it does here in the frozen North. I think the cold running rich causes the oil to smell bad and get dark early. The oil interval I figure what's right is what works for the conditions . I can see the camshaft(V6 at the oil fill hole) in the Mystique basically does not wear, using Mobil 1, even after 100,000 miles.