I see Mobil 1 is now guaranteeing it for 15,000 miles (not KMs) but as Iain says, there's a disconnect with the manufacturer warranties.

That would be the major reason I wouldn't go synthetic until the warranty on the car was up.

There's no chance I'm going to give the manufacturer a reason to back out of a warranty.

im not sure.
synthetic oil adjusts to changes in temp better. its softer in bitter cold of canda. thus your car will start easier and warm up faster...it also has lubricant function. if you read the lable, it says how long it would last. in US they tend to advise you to change every 3000 miles. but that is for regular oil. syntheric can be used longer. ofcourse, if money is no concern, its better to change more frequently. synthetic oil is also more expensive.
also its good to know that syntheric is now OEM on may sporty cars like Mercedes.
why cars r more expensive in canda ;-0

Different crash and emissions standards and things like DRLs mean you pay for the inconvenience factor to produce slightly different vehicles for the limited Canadian market. Rising Exchange rate isn't helping either as the costs were probably set while the rate was lower.

Depreciation rates are steeper due to the harsher conditions, so lease costs will be more.

Compared to the UK of course they are not more expensive

Synthetic oil is the manufacturer's standard for my VW, they still say to change it every 5,000 miles.

Ford Dealer that hubby works at charges around $100 per hour - should think it's roughly the same for most dealers around here.

Obviuosley it depends on what service your vehicle is having and the amount of time it takes to carry out that service (different things are checked at different service times, so one time you will have spark plugs checked and another time you won't). I would think it is normal to pay between $500 - $1000 for a service on a relatively new vehicle especially if you need brakes.