XSeries-forum

But what are the 3 little squares for on the left hand side of the cluster which illuminate with the ignition.

Where exactly and what colour are they.

Sounds like the service count down to me but a picture paints a thousand words.

That was my thought as well.
This might help the op.

Its the 6 yellow squares above oil service folks.

One green square disappears every ~3,000 miles.  There are 5.  When it gets to Amber you need a service.  Red tells you you're a very naughty boy and can't come out to play because you haven't had the car serviced........

The words below tell you which service you need.  Oil/Filters or a major one. 

[quote="X5Sport"]
One green square disappears every ~3,000 miles.  There are 5.  When it gets to Amber you need a service.  Red tells you you're a very naughty boy and can't come out to play because you haven't had the car serviced........

The words below tell you which service you need.  Oil/Filters or a major one. 
[/quote]

Depends on your driving style/fuel consumption. I do a lot of motorway driving. My green squares disappear every 5000 miles.

Surely Smee, you don't go 25k between oil changes

Yes I do. Never had a problem. But 25k may only be five months for me sometimes.

Previously i had a VW golf tai and it had variable servicing that went up to 35k without a service or oil change (although I had it changed to fixed service intervals).

But ........I also top up the oil between services so it not the same oil between services - it gets a regular dose of 'fresh'. It takes top ups infrequently i.e. I can never tell when it will/won't need a top up but it gets checked, and topped up, regularly.

I used to regularly get up to around 23k on my E53 and managed 22k on my current Škoda.  The X6 gets changes on a time rather than condition basis.  Even our old E46 managed more than 22k between oil changes when in regular use.  None of them need topping up.

Modern synthetic oils are far better than of old and more than capable of achieving these sort of durations. 

I agree. Im not concerned in the slightest by my oil service intervals. Every 10k is quite old school really imho (no offence to anyone)

I'm still old school enough to have a full oil & filter change after the first 1,000 miles.  Modern machine tools may be able to produce wonderful surface finishes, but they are programmed by humans!

[quote="X5Sport"]
I'm still old school enough to have a full oil & filter change after the first 1,000 miles.  Modern machine tools may be able to produce wonderful surface finishes, but they are programmed by humans!
[/quote]
Yes I'd agree on that one