I'm a new BMW owner. I bought a 2005 X3. A guy I work with also owns a BMW. He was telling me that you change the oil every 15,000 miles because of the synthetic oil they use, but that every couple oil changes it cost like $600 bucks to have it done. Please enlighten. I think the dealer was taking him for a sucker, but maybe there's more to it that I know.

Your friend at work is having fun with you. Not on the 15K oil change because BMW recommends that. Most people here will change in half that interval. Costs me $90 every 7500 miles.

My guess is that he was describing Inspection I or II.

Makes me feel better that I bought the car now.

The inspection 1 and 2 are every 30,000 miles, respectfully, and yes, those are what he is talking about. The oil changes are cheap. We've had our 2004 X3 since since new and for 50,000 miles, it has been VERY reliable. Aside from the sunroof getting noisy and the mpg gauge resetting itself to 99.9mpg twice, nothing has gone wrong on the car. And we USE our car, if you know what I mean. We take it off road, long distances, it sits in traffic, it hauls stuff, I even beat the crap out of it as the demo car at a teen car control clinic every month, where I put it through slaloms and engage ABS while turning and all sorts of fun stuff. The car is great :)

guys, look up DIY oil changes for the 3.0L engines (used in many BMW models). They are sooo easy. When you pop the hood the oil filter practically bites you.

Use an oil evacuator and you don't even have to get under the hood. check out these links for more info.

http://www.peakeresearch.com/silights.htm
http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/JF-Tech/BMW_inspection_1_and2_check_list.htm

be aware these may not be specific for your model, but give you a good idea what to expect as you do your research

good luck