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One of my cars is a '97 Ford Escort that's mainly used when we take longer trips and only has 32K miles on it right now. I change the oil (conventional) in it every 3K miles regardless of elapsed time. It's a 15 year old car with 32K miles and has had 10 oil changes since new so it's averaging an oil change every 1.5 years. Viewing the head/valve train from through the oil fill hole it still looks just like new inside. With the type driving I do in this car I wouldn't be afraid to let it go 5K miles between changes regardless of elapsed time. The oil I drain out of it when I do the oil changes still looks very clean, I pour it back into oil bottles and use it for topping off oil in my '88 Escort Pony which uses/leaks lots of oil. If it were me and most of the trips were short trips of under about 10 miles where the oil barely reaches temperature I'd continue to change it every 3K miles, but if the oil get hot enough to burn off moisture it should be able to go 5K miles with no problem regardless of elapsed time, maybe even further on synthetic.
When I was a child my dad had a '68 Mercury that was used basically for longer trips for the first several years of it's life. He changed the oil every 3K miles regardless of elapsed time and this was back when oil wasn't as good as it is today. When he sold the car it had 168K miles on it and if I recall correctly it wasn't using but about 1/2 quart of oil between changes.
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