The cartridge filter change is EASY. Unscrewing the cartridge drain plug every time is a needless step. There is no need to take this off and replace this o-ring every time. Last oil change took me 15 min total and I did it with full synthetic for less than 20 bucks.
There are several advantages to the cartridge. For one, it doesn't fill up the landfills with a bunch of metal cartridges. If any of you have cut open a metal cannister filter before, you'd know the insides of the filter look just the same as your cartridge coming out. The cartridge is advantageous because I can SEE the quality of the filter I'm buying for my car.
The position of the drain plug on the pan is in a great place. With the car jacked up, it actually allows most of your oil to drain from the pan since the plug is facing to the rear. Like I said, we really don't have much to complain about...at least we don't have a cannister or a filter that is in the way of parts in the engine bay and splashes oil on various parts. This is a simple, straightforward, CLEAN oil change.
I compiled a list of all the different filters for our I-4. There are more out there and I plan on updating the list as I go. I have a stock of about seven different ones and I plan to line them up and have a review of each filter soon. The part number is in the left hand column. I have the Motorcraft/Mazda/Napa Gold/PureOne/Premium Plus/Fram/STP currently in my stock. So far, I've found the Napa Gold/Wix cartridge to be the most economical. You can order them from Fleetfilter.com for under 4 bucks each SHIPPED. You can buy the Napa Gold directly from Napa for under 5 bucks if you want to go to Napa. So far, I have found the Fram to be one of the most expensive. I bought two of the Mazda filters off of ebay for 9. shipped.
If you have any questions, let me know.
FL-2017B - Motorcraft OEM filter
L321-14-302-9U - Mazda oil filter
7203 - Napa Gold oil filter (made by Wix)
52703 - Wix oil filter
L15505 Purolator Premium Plus oil filter
PL15505 Purolator Pure One oil filter
GL15505 O'Reilly's/Microgard oil filter
P7313 - Baldwin oil filter
HP-7013 - K&N oil filter (made by Champion Labs)
84203 - Carquest oil filter (made by Wix)
LF594 - Hastings oil filter
CH9641 - Fram oil filter
P960 - Champ oil filter (Champion Labs, makes oil filters for other companies)
S9641 - STP oil filter (made by Champion Labs)