Agressive driving on a fairly new engine will do it. But after 6K mile your engine is pretty much broken in and your consumption should go to very little, in fact, if you're full now I wouldn't expect more than a quart per 5K miles of normal driving is all it would take. But if you're running it to redline every five minutes then what you're seeing is normal. The price of having fun is a quart of oil every now and then....

 

I have a 520i also and after 10.000km I had to add 1,3 L of oil or so. My car has 110.000km. Is this normal? I am begining to worry...

 

I also have this problem. 04 545i with 29k miles. I use 1 quart every 5k miles. But just because everyone else has this problem does not mean that it is normal... it just means that it is not fixable ( if you were the only one then that would mean that something is wrong with just your car and this seems to be how they all are ) I would feel better if someone could explain to me why it happens and where it all goes. When the dealer says that "these engines love oil", or that "the oil needs to seep in" I just feel like they take me for a fool since both those explanations are stupid. For example the SR71 airplane has to wait until just before takoff to fill the gastanks which leak all the way down the track. There is a perfectly good explanation for this, and it is not that the "gas tanks love gas" or that they need the gas to "seep in" the reality is that they do leak, they leak at room tempature because the wings are the tanks and they do not seal up until they have started to expand from the extreme heat they were designed for. So what is the real explanation for the oil loss on our motors? Did BMW use their new reverse engine wear technology on our cars? ( Motors that start out worn and burn oil but then after 300k miles the piston rings and valve guides are like new )

 

Go slower

 

That kind of consumption is abnormal. I have put 16k miles on my car in 8 months and I have never had to top off the oil. It just had its first oil change.

 

You learn something new everyday !

 

Seems like there are 3 possible sub-topics going here:
1) oil sensor malfunction
2) improper break in, now car "love" oils
3) occasional agressive driving make my car to snack on oil

1) can easily be tested by doing oil change and measure the drained oil when "low" oil indicator goes off. Don't keep topping off until you are sure, sice too much oil is bad fron crank seal not to mention turbo(if equpped) and cat.
2) This happens to any engine, don't care what people are saying that modern engine needs no break in. Just check with Mike Miller at BMW CCA master tech.
3) should be expected, though I drive agressively when the car is fully at optimum temp and never had to top any of my car with oil, though I change my oil @7500 or 6mo whichever comes first.

 

this is OK, itis normal for the new engines to burn oil.
Just look at the M5 it drinks oil like petro.

 

I'd have to agree - 2 quarts of oil on 6000 miles is not normal at all...that's high consumption! I don't have history with BMW (yet) but do these engines use that much oil? I'd be worried that a sensor is faulty and they may be adding too much oil. Is there a manual dipstick you can check? I sure hope mine doesn't use that amount, (or ANY for that matter), of oil!

 

That doesn't sound right...I have a 500hp V8 with only 3000 miles on it and I drive it VERY agressively quite often and it doesn't use any oil....I have another V8 with 26,000 miles on it and drive it very agressively as well...it has not used any oil between changes....why would BMW design (must be by design if they say it's "normal"?) an engine to use oil...that's not good for the combustion chamber, plugs, cat converters, in sensor OR the environment.