[BimmerMark2014]

I just bought my 2010 BMW 528i with Xdrive. I just returned from a 10-day trip to Florida from Michigan and return. My BMW had 69k miles before the trip and it has about 73k miles now. During the trip the car performed perfectly. It is a joy to drive. But I have a couple of questions for the forum. For one, I had the oil changed before I left. But during the trip I opened the hood to check the oil level. Hmmm. So, I'm not an idiot. But I could not find the dip stick(?!). Really? I checked the instrument panel and the car informed me my oil level was fine. Is this what BMW has done for the owners so they won't have to bother pulling an oily dipstick out of their crankcases? I guess that's fine. I've never owned a BMW before. But I'm not accustomed to being coddled. Another issue was the fuel mileage in my car. I checked the mileage by recording fuel data at every fuel stop. And the car has a dynamic fuel mileage gauge on the IP. To my astonishment the car delivered over 30 mpg and as much as 34 mpg at freeway speeds (75-85 mph). Is that possible with the I-6 engine and six-speed auto trans? If so I'm REALLY happy with that. And often I had to pump mid-grade fuel instead of premium due to lack of availability. In the meantime I am extremely impressed with my BMW.

[Twix]

The dipstick in a BMW sits behind the steering wheel. Bam! Enjoy your new car

[six_timer]

Yeah, I was baffled when I got my '06 Z4 and just couldn't find the dipstick, as all my previous Bimmers had one.

From what I'm told, the reason is not to require coddling, it's just a further evolution of the well-sealed, foreign-matter free, high-pressure & high-volume oil system. They've always had the drop-in torque-bolted oil filer, rather than the screw-on type.

Also, the newer generation BMW engines have what they call "volumetric-controlled" electric oil pumps, rather than conventional engine-crank driven ones. So perhaps this eliminates the sitting pool of oil for a dipstick to measure. Either way, it's done for technical reasons.

And yes, on a trip, I can see the N52 yielding over 30 mpg, if you're not doing a lot of hard acceleration or speed changes.

[pj.rodriguez]

I drove from Toronto Canada to myrtle beach and was getting mileage better than that with my n52. But I drive a 1er. I am also amazed by the mileage.