Quote:
Originally Posted by XB101
The first maintenance is at 12,000 miles? I went for a test drive in the 28i and 35i and the salesman said maintenance is yearly vs 3x a year for MB (and other). Does that mean oil is not changed for entire year? I usually change oil 2000 after break in, and every 6000 km.
|
The much higher performance synthetic oils specified by most new car manufacturers have pushed oil change intervals out to 12 months and mileage as determined by the vehicle's usage. BMW computes the change interval by counting miles traveled, number of cold start-ups and time spent at high rpms. Miles driven while the engine is cold, and miles driven at high rpms count for more than miles under light load conditions.
My X3 now has 3000 miles (on the odo) and the time to maintenance readout is displaying "Maintenance needed in 4500 miles" which will put the first oil change at 7500 miles.
Of course, changing oil sooner won't hurt the car, and if you're planning on keeping it for more than 150,000 km, it may actually be a good idea. However, given the cost of a "non-warrantee" oil change at a BMW dealership it will be costly and will probably be wasteful of the actual oil (not just the oil itself, but the energy needed to refine it).