Oil filter Mahle or Hengst

My E550 gets M1 0W40 every 5k, with a new fleece Hengst filter. I don't drive it hard until I see past 80C on the water temp (I don't have an oil temp gauge- only the E63s do). Basically the same procedure I use on my S54 BMWs, and every performance car I've ever owned

Mahle is the way. Allegedly the OEM maker and after using them for a year they look and feel exactly the same.

I do the oil every 5k on both and use liquid moly 5w40 and a hengst filter.

I use Liqui Moly Leichtlauf and Hengst filters from FCP Euro on my 1.8T Passat. Highly recommend.

I use liqui moly but I have my doubts about whether it actually is *the best* oil. I'm sure it's good, but any oil that meets the spec called out in your owners manual is "good". I place more weight on the filter than anything else. Hengst for me, get that Fram shit outta here.

No one ever talks about this but the truth is the oil itself will always way outlast the oil filter. What you should be worried about is the paper filter, not the oil! Can your paper oil filter withstand 10k miles in between changes before slowly disintegrating into the oil? If you use a high quality OEM filter then the answer is yes. I use the original Mahle brand filters for my Audi.

Liqui Moly Oil change 5W-40 with Hengst Filter

Yeah, the first thing I did was an oil change. I put liqui moly 5w-40 in the car and the oil level is top of the dipstick (EDIT: within the max/min level on the dipstick, top of max, I should specify). I put a Mahle filter in there as well.

Another Hengst filter?

But I've seen this too, with the genuine Hengst filters