Originally Posted by oldskewel

And also, is 5 liters in 12k km definitely a problem? I don't have anywhere near that on my X5. I know it is a completely different engine design, but my older 911 is spec'ed by Porsche to consume up to 1 liter per 1000 km before considering it a problem. Shocking to me, and my 911 uses about 1/10 of that, but I wonder what the spec is for the X5.

My 2001 X5 has the standard automatic rust inhibition feature where it leaks a carefully controlled amount of oil, eventually captured by the stiffening plate for recycling, keeping the entire lower engine coated in a 25 micron protective film of oil at all times.