I don't like the idea of no dipstick either. But who knows as long as the sensor works right it will be ok. BMW have been using these for a while now. I think if you need to take a look at oil condition you might could get a small sample from the oil filler cap. Personally I will be changing my oil myself ever 5k between all of my 10k services so I'll make sure I get a good look at my oil condition. I think 10k between services is just nuts on a turbo car. On my mkv gti the oil at 5k miles was As black and dirty as could be and I'm not anticipating this car will be any cleaner

 

Yes!!

 

I never was very good at judging the lubricity or the remaining effectiveness of the additives when I felt the dark brown oil on the dipsticks of cars I've owned. ;-)

 

Same here and I think I will change every 5K.
Visual inspection of old oil is just a pure guesswork. I will send out my old oil to a lab and have them do a spectrum test to see:
> What metal contaminants are there and how much (ppm)
> What the viscosity is (how much degraded or thinned out)
> Fuel content (%)
> H2O conent (%) Shouldn't be any!
It costs only $10 per test.

 

I had my oil changed at around 1200 miles (first one post-break in, I may have waited a bit too long, but scheduling conflicts, so be it).

Anyway, the local MINI specialist was very eager to work on my car as it was the first F56 he had up on the lift (I did not go to an MA, they would have charged $150!!!) showed me the oil and sure enough, I saw what appeared to be a lot of silver "glitter" in the oil.

I'll be planning to have it changed every 5K between the 10K as others have mentioned as well.

 

Dang!
Now that worries me because now I have about 2000 miles on my MCS with factory oil still. I know what I will be doing this weekend... already bought a new oil filter for $25 (too much!).