> Tolerances are generally tighter, and surface finishes better, meaning that the engine is smoother-running and has fewer corners to be knocked off (resulting in less of a requirement for an early first oil change).

That may be; however, when I purchased my Z4 new in 2004, I decided to get some real data, having oil analysis done on a sample take "as delivered" with 14 miles on the odo, a sample at around 2,000 miles when I changed the oil, and another sample at around 4,000 miles.

Guess what?

In the first 2,000 miles there was approximately five times the wear metals in the oil as in the second 2,000 miles.

Now, this does not prove anything as to the need for, or impact of, an early initial oil change; however, it clearly shows that in modern engines there still is some "break-in" action going on which involves a wear rate several times that of a "broken-in" engine... or at least the one BMW put into my Z4.


I might also add that BMW still requires an early first oil change for their M models. If your logic held, this would suggest the non-M engines have "Tolerances generally tighter, and surface finishes better, meaning that the engine is smoother-running and has fewer corners to be knocked off" than the M engines. Since I am sure you did not mean to imply that, then there must be something else going on that has BMW specifying an early first oil change for the M engines.