In the US and Canada the BMW recommendation is for 5-30, full synthetic. If the vehicle has low annual mileage, BMW recommend to change the oil and filter every 24 months regardless.

The service lights work out to about 24,000 km in my experience (approx 15,000 miles).

Because BMW includes free oil changes in North America, many owners automatically equate longer oil change intervals with cost-cutting recommendations by BMW marketing departments. IMO, that doesn't fit for two reasons: many countries do not have BMW maintenance included, and have even longer intervals (as you post), and secondly, BMW Financial Services holds the residuals on most leased BMW vehicles, so they have an incentive to care about the vehicle condition at the end of the lease.

There is not a history of engine failures due to extended oil change intervals. However, this is an enthusiast board, and many want to change the oil more often to be nice to their vehicle. Personally, I understand that thinking, even though I follow the BMW recommendations, but I can't see any logic whatsoever in changing the oil at five times the manufacturer's recommended interval, especially without any data to support the requirement for early oil change intervals.

At the end of the day, as I said above, it is up to each owner. I just get a little bothered by promoting the blatant wasting of natural resources, using marketing information from companies selling traditional non-synthetic motor oils.

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue