From personal experience I have always changed oil every 3500-5k miles depending on how I drove. I used to do 6500-7500k and I noticed on my 540i last winter on days when it got below 20 degrees the engine was very noisy during the first 5-10 mins driving. It was so noisy I was convinced it was piston slap or something. It wasn't a low oil "thunking" sound though. Always kept it under 3k rpms and was very gentle on those cold mornings. This was when my oil had 4-5k+ miles on it and it was last changed in Sept 2024 and this was Jan 2025 back then. So I scheduled an oil change worried my oil was low or something and the noise went away. Oil quantity came out normal no burn or leak! After that I reduced my intervals to 5k max and I also always changed the oil before winter/summer (mid-late Oct and early-mid April) ever since following this personal guideline of mine I have never experienced that cold rough engine sound in the winter anymore. Also two examples of manufacturer oil recommendation being shite is the B58 states 0w-20 but the manual says 0w-30 is acceptable. I also noticed that switching to 0w30 the engine sounded/felt smoother especially on cold idle. Second example is N63tu2 BMW used to recommend 5w-30 but then they dropped it down to 0w-30. Many cases of those motors particularly found in 2018 M550i's etc were consuming 1qt every 3k-4k+ miles yikes! But once switching back to the original 5w-30 recommendation all consumption ceased.
I’m up to 150k miles on my B58. Oil changes every 10k miles from new. Still running smoothly, not burning any oil, pretty sure it’ll go another 50k miles at least. Personally, through 5 BMWs, I’ve always just stuck with the factory recommendation and never had the slightest issue. It’s always been the rest of the car which has gone before the engine.
My mom's impreza will loose oil between oil changes with 0w-20 and will be fine with 5w-30. It burns the thinner oil.
My wife\u2019s 2012 Impreza is at 195k miles and I switched it to 0w-30 and then 5w-30 due to oil consumption. Was burning a quart every 1K miles on 0w-20, burns half that on 5w-30. I\u2019m actually considering going thicker.
The dealership here itself was using 5w-30 as the default for oil changes even though 0w-20 is stamped on the filler cap. After checking myself that Subaru said that would be OK, I started using it too for my own changes just to avoid flipping back and forth -- though I have no idea if that would be a problem. In any case, the Forester seems happy, even if the mileage may have dipped slightly.
Engine does become a bit quieter with 5w-30.
In my case, the oil consumption was also high—I had to refill it constantly, though BMW claims that’s 'totally normal.'
Nah you're fine. BMW engines are known for using some oil. Even 1l on 5k km is not much, even the dealership considers this as normal.
0W-20 at 5K interval. 74k miles.
Gen 1 B58 with plastic oil pump. Increasing oil viscosity is a recipe for failure, especially in cold climate.
10k miles later, went to do my usual 1k mile quart of oil, looks like chocolate milk.
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If choosing engine oil across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare engine oil across these categories:
In March 2026 on PartReview, engine oil OEM BMW were overall better than OEM Subaru.
In March 2026 on PartReview, engine oil OEM BMW were overall more popular than OEM Subaru.
By vote balance, engine oil OEM BMW surpassed OEM Subaru:
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In March 2026, according to PartReview, engine oil OEM Subaru led more car-specific ratings than OEM BMW:
OEM Subaru are chosen by owners of cars such as: Subaru Forester, Subaru Impreza, and others.
Engine oil OEM BMW have not yet taken leading positions in car-specific ratings. You can help by adding a review and specifying your car.
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For example, comparisons of engine oil OEM BMW with: Mobil, Castrol, LIQUI MOLY, MOTUL, Shell, AMSOIL, VALVOLINE, PENNZOIL, RED LINE, OEM Toyota.
Also available: comparisons of engine oil OEM Subaru with: Mobil, Castrol, LIQUI MOLY, MOTUL, Shell, AMSOIL, VALVOLINE, PENNZOIL, RED LINE, OEM Toyota.
You can also see who is better among other engine oil manufacturers: Mobil or Castrol, Mobil or LIQUI MOLY, Mobil or MOTUL, Mobil or Shell, LIQUI MOLY or Castrol.
