Best Full Synthetic Oil for F15 X5 50i? Advice Needed.

[newtlicious]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

BMW Full Synthetic Oil, no guessing needed and BMW can't come after if there are any engine internal wear/issues.

Royal Purple, Redline, Amsoil, etc are just great at marketing. If you look at all their data statistic, they all use different parameters that favor their brand.

Unless you plan on keep your X5M past 150k miles, no need to over pay for oil. Your electronics, turbos, and other components will fry way before the motor will. The more important part is always use OEM filters.

I love those say "I've always used x brands," what does that even mean? Just because you never ruined a motor in your life doesn't mean that oil was the best. I'm sure BMW stress test the crap out of their oil before approving it, since they have millions of cars under warranty that counts on the oil to perform.

There is a lot of truth here but BMW really only cares about the car making it through the warranty period. Their interests stop there. Additionally, they are interested in boosting profits in the service department as well as saving as much as possible on maintenance plan purchases and free servicings. From a business standpoint BMW doesn't have much incentive to use premium base stocks or additive packages. It is much better for them to mark up a modest oil and try to convince you that it is absolutely necessary to use the house brand.

Synthetic oils that use Group IV or V base stocks are absolutely better oils regardless of how they are marketed. Wouldn't surprise me at all if BMW used hydro cracked group III base stocks and marked them up triple. At least VW was transparent about it and just sold you Castrol at the service counter. You knew exactly what you were getting for the money...

- Patrick

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by newtlicious

There is a lot of truth here but BMW really only cares about the car making it through the warranty period. Their interests stop there. Additionally, they are interested in boosting profits in the service department as well as saving as much as possible on maintenance plan purchases and free servicings. From a business standpoint BMW doesn't have much incentive to use premium base stocks or additive packages. It is much better for them to mark up a modest oil and try to convince you that it is absolutely necessary to use the house brand.

Synthetic oils that use Group IV or V base stocks are absolutely better oils regardless of how they are marketed. Wouldn't surprise me at all if BMW used hydro cracked group III base stocks and marked them up triple. At least VW was transparent about it and just sold you Castrol at the service counter. You knew exactly what you were getting for the money...

- Patrick

I would disagree that BMW only cares about protecting the car within warranty period. They have a reputation to protect and ensuring their products are reliable. If thousand of their engines have internal failure before 100k miles, trust me you'll hear about it (just like the HPFP issue, they had to extend the warranty for those recalls).

True, their oil isn't top shelf but their engineers probably would think it's overkill. There's a fine balance between a reasonable price for a qt of oil vs ensure they protect the engine.

If you use BMW oil and change between the recommended intervals, your car's engine will outlast before you're bored with the car.

Let's be real here, how many of us are actually keeping our cars past 100k miles? Average new BMW ownership is 2.5yrs. My honest advice is don't keep these V8TT cars past 100k miles unless you have an unlimited bank account. Especially knowing you need a fresh battery every 2yrs, turbos go out pre-maturely, fresh plugs every 30-40k miles, fresh coils every other plug changes, and you'll need walnut shell blasts every 50k miles.

If I'm a betting man, your electronics will go way before your engine (which costs more than the engine itself).

Here's the one of highest mileage BMWs. Using regular oil and service. =P
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...php?p=11358078

[alphaod]

I mostly use the Mobil 1 0W40 since I can use it on BMW, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW, and many more engines (I save by buying in bulk with friends), but for my new F15, I've been buying the BMW branded oil from the dealer for about $7.50/L after tax which is pretty good. For me I think if BMW rates it good for 10,000 miles and I do 5000 mile oil changes, then I'm good. I drive my car hard and I redline it all the time. It's just a joy to drive. I don't worry much about the performance of the motor oil. If in the future I want to save money, I could extend the interval to say 7500 miles per change, but why bother? I'd be only saving 1.5 cents/mile. I'd save more driving less spiritedly.