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Read our primer articles on High Mileage Oil, Synthetic Oil and Kinematic Viscosity

I just got this car, i'm assu ming it has the "dealership brand" bmw oil in it, which is synthetic but i doubt it's the best. I live in a climate where it's cold and hot (philadelphia), do spirited driving year round and i'm wondering what the best oil would be. 5w-30 synthetic is recommended but i've heard of many people using 0w-40. I think im going to go with Elf brand oil, but im not sure which line of their oil would be best for my car or if there are any other brands that would be better. The car has 93000 miles on it and im looking to keep it another 50K, driving as hard and fast as possible! Thanks! Sorry for the Ramble!
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Your car should require an A3 rated oil. There are some easily acquired oils that are suitable: Mobil 1 0w/40, Castrol 0w/30 (also known as German Castrol - look for "made in Germany" statement on the back), and the new Pennzoil Pure Platinum series is looking promising - they have an A3 oil IIR. Of course, ELF and Redline are great oils too, but pricey. If you haven't done so, check out www.bobistheoilguy.com and hang out a while - lots of cool oil heads there.oils, filters, analysis etc.
The best bet for this car is to stick with a ACEA A3 rated oil with a HT/HS of 3.5 or greater (required for the A3 rating). Unfortunately this excludes the lighter Mobil-1 products except their 0W-40.

Castrol 0W-30 is a excellent choice, as is their 5W-40. Mobil's Mobil-1 0W-40 is also a good choice.

Valvoline MaxLife synthetic 10W-30 is also a fitting oil along with Valvoline's SynPower 5W-40.

Personally I would not try to run the full 15,000 miles dictated by the oil life monitor. Settle for a 7500 mile interval with any of the above mentioned oils and you will have a trouble-free drive to the 150,000 mile mark.
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