BMW releases a new firmware for the cars every few months. From what I understand, the process isn't a little half hour job. Takes quite a while, and if it fails part way thru, they have to do it all over again. So they're not about to just start flashing every car that comes in for routine service if there's nothing wrong with the car, and it's not some recall issue that the software fixes (like last year, where they flashed people for improvements to how the HPFP works).

Like with most things, technology has changed a lot in the past 10 - 20 years and there have been improvements in oils, and from what I understand, it's no longer the same old rules that one must follow. I used to change the oil every 5,000 km's as per my manual on my 2000 Audi A4.

So how many km's do you do per year?

 

^^ I do about 15-20K km per year, I would say 70-75% is city driving which taxes the car even more. I do even less mileage with my golf and still change twice per year.

I am moving the BMW to European oil, I am done with N.A. Castrol oil which in my mind is subpar to European.

 

Here's a link to BMW's approved engine oils for the U.S. market. That hopefully includes Canada. The good news is that the list includes Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30, AKA "German Castrol" or "GC".

HTH,
Jim / crewzer