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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.
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