engine oil
 

Hey, first time to change oil my 2002 3.0 x5, what brand do you think is better excluding bmw oil. Castrol or mobil 1. Thanks

Mobile 1, IMO. That comes stock in Porsche.

Hi jmj...if you want to read threads until your eyes
glaze over, and see about 4 main groups of opins,
do a search on "oil" or "what oil brand", here...

Any top brand full synthetic will do jes'fine, imo.

Welcome to the Board.
GL,mD

The Castrol that we get in the US (including what is used at BMW dealers) is junk. The only good Castrol comes in 0w30 and 5w40, and even then make sure to look at the back and see if it says 'made in germany' (not all of it is).

Just go for the Mobil1. If you wish to go past 7,500 miles for the OCI, they have a M1 Extended Life oil that's supposed to be ok till 15k miles. In the case that you use a 15k OCI, make sure to still change the filter at 7,500.

I thought the BMW Synthetic oil was just Castrol (german kind) relabelled for the US. I know the US Castrol does not equal the german Castrol. However, I use it currently in the X3 and have no driveability issues. I don't have an autozone nearby that sells the 0W-30 so I'm stuck with the 5W-30 for now. Inspection I coming up in a week!

The dealers use the american stuff. You won't have driveability issues if you use non-synthetic oil either...if you really do care just use M1 or Amsoil in between your free oil changes.

The short answer is look for synthetic that is BMW "01" spec. That is 15000k miles proven oil. The BMW "98" spec is only 7500k mile proven and is the spec of the the BMW USA Genuine oil. The only oil that I know of that meets European BMW longlife "01" spec is the VOLL-SYNTHETISCH Pentosin. It's about 10 bucks a liter and is by far the most prefered oil in my opinion.

http://217.237.184.77/shop.php

I like Amsoil. I've used it for many years with great results. Their 5W-30 that I use in the X5 claims to be much better than competitive synthetics. And no, I'm not a dealer or otherwise benefiting from this recommendation.

The newer BMW LL-04 spec oil is even better (made by Castrol), but we don't get that here. As far as the LL-01 is concerned, I believe Motul makes an oil that meets the spec as well.

Have not seen the 04 spec stuff yet. I think you are right that some other oils meet the 01 spec, I have not looked very hard for alternatives to be honest, but I would not hesitate using any 01 spec oil. I take my cars to 10K+ between oil changes so I like to use the best stuff I can find.