[Rochester BMW]

Only just covered 1500 miles and my new E90 335i is only 2 'green squares' off being empty!

Is this normal?

Ive spoke to my dealer and he gave me some shpill about pistons etc...

This is a £40,000 car and it needs oil after just 1500 miles!

Anyway enough of my moaning, what oil do i need to put in it????

[ChrisMWard]

I've noticed in the past with new cars that they do use a little bit of oil initially until the rings bed in.

Best bet is to get the oil from the dealer, it wont be any more expensive than Halfords and if in the unlikely event of a future warranty problem there will not be any issues.

Regards

Chris

[ZiM]

high performance petrol cars can drink the oil like a good'n - but in my experience its luck of the draw... doesn't mean the engine is better or worse, just, thirstier

my integra needed topping up every 1k miles or so (but dont forget, you fit maybe 5 litres of oil in the engine, whereas the difference between max and min in terms of oil is a few glugs... plenty of safety margin )

[mgarvey]

My E91 320d needed a top-up after 16k miles, and rear tyres too. Both seem to be normal - all my recent cars have used some oil over time.

I purchased my oil from a main dealer. Cost about £15 for a litre but I know it is the right grade and won't get any warranty hassles. The filler cap says 'BMW recommends Castrol', so this would be okay too I suspect. I think the grade was 0W40 but don't quote me on that.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Rochester BMW

Only just covered 1500 miles and my new E90 335i is only 2 'green squares' off being empty!

Is this normal?

Ive spoke to my dealer and he gave me some shpill about pistons etc...

This is a £40,000 car and it needs oil after just 1500 miles!

Anyway enough of my moaning, what oil do i need to put in it????

I think this is just about normal. They are supposed to use oil in the first few thousand miles, whilst everything beds in.

You don't need to top it up until it reaches the 'min' mark (i.e. all squares out). Then one small oil bottle will restore it to the 'max' line.

My car had a bottle of oil in it's own little velcro zipper bag in the back or the car. I used that to top it off.

[ES-Jet]

I've just topped my oil up at 14,500 miles. I phoned my dealer up, who told me I needed Fully Synthetic 0W30. My local BP garage sells Castrol oils, so I managed to get my oil from there - 1 litre at £17.50.

Is it my imagination, or does the car sound smoother when you top it up again?

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by ES-Jet

1 litre at £17.50.

Is it my imagination, or does the car sound smoother when you top it up again?

That'll be the placebo effect... "I spent near £20 quid on a litre of oil - it'd better make the car run better."