So I saw the old threads, where everyone posts that link that about driving it hard as soon as you get it. Well I'm driving my new GTI like I stole it...not so much for the break in crap, but just because its so much fun

What do you guys do with your new cars? And do you think break in driving should vary by manufacturer, or is it all the same?

If you paid a bunch of money (whatever you call a bunch) for a new car, would you red line it as soon as it's off the lot?

7/30/2008 3:08:49 PM

you don't need to worry about it.

7/30/2008 3:09:14 PM

drive it like you want to from day one, doesn't matter.

7/30/2008 3:42:30 PM

sporty cars are made to be drivin hard. I wouldn't worry about it.

7/30/2008 3:43:15 PM

how does breaking in a new car differ from an old one? You just press the pedal, right?

7/30/2008 3:49:45 PM

yupper

7/30/2008 3:52:06 PM

word

7/30/2008 3:58:33 PM

dont worry, some guy at the dealership already drove the piss out of it during the PDI

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 4:26 PM. Reason : pre-delivery inspection]

7/30/2008 4:26:08 PM

change the oil at 1k miles

7/30/2008 4:30:17 PM

^^haha, exactly... even if it did matter from a mechanical standpoint, it still wouldn't to the buyer because of that. after that, the longer one sits on the lot the worse it gets from salesmen, managers, and even people test driving. i remember the days when they used to even let people take a vehicle home for the night or over a weekend. good grief, that's like giving people the keys to a rental free of charge.

oh, and don't forget even right after you close the deal it's going to the kid making minimum wage in the detail area. pretty much everyone in the whole place has taken a lick of your lollipop by the time you get it. i always love to explain this to people who are super anal about their brand new car. they look like you've just told them their gf/wife was gang raped.

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 4:51 PM. Reason : .]

7/30/2008 4:45:59 PM

haha cause it pretty much is the case.

7/30/2008 4:56:54 PM

Yeah, when I test drove my car, it was only the 2nd time I had ever drove a manual. The first time was with my buddies car in a parking lot. I think I bounced it off the rev limiter like 4-5 times and stalled it 10 times trying to get it to go back up the 15-501 off ramp (I'm seriously not even exaggerating).

Oh, trust me, that wasn't the last time I did that either. And my car is running perfectly fine to this day. So, let that be my testament to the "break-in" theory.

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 5:05 PM. Reason : oh]

7/30/2008 5:04:05 PM

Haha, I worked at Infiniti when the G35 first came out. We drove the piss out of those things down Capital. We used to take all the trade ins and beat em to death before they went to auction.

When the M35/45 came out, I got pulled on 540 doing about 110. The cop called my sales manager and ratted me out instead of giving me a ticket. Good thing we were homies.

We used to park overstock at Crossroads Ford, about 3 miles down Capital. There were cars with less than 500 miles that needed new rears pretty soon.

7/30/2008 5:40:11 PM

i red lined my car off the lot, but i don't buy new cars so YMMV. pun intended.

7/30/2008 5:53:48 PM

i've known several people who bought brand new cars and were burning the tires down as they were pulling off the lot. every single person has had major problems with the cars. one in particular was a '96 honda civic which needed an engine replacement at 36K.
i'm a firm believer in engine break-in. imo, if you plan on keeping the car and want it to last go easy on it for the first 1000 miles.

7/30/2008 6:07:33 PM

a "hard" break-in to me pertains just to the engine, not the driveline

aka a dyno break-in is OK (probably a bit harsh for my tastes, even) but an autocross is not.

7/30/2008 6:13:24 PM

don't be a pussy

7/30/2008 6:17:40 PM

I tried to take it "relatively" easy on mine the first 500 miles. Stayed away from the redline but still got on it a bit here and there.

The way dealerships treat new cars sucks like hell but there isnt much you can do. I did at least manage to pick mine up about a day after it rolled off the truck with about 3 miles on it. So limited abuse anyway.

7/30/2008 6:21:25 PM

Quote :

"i've known several people who bought brand new cars and were burning the tires down as they were pulling off the lot. every single person has had major problems with the cars. one in particular was a '96 honda civic which needed an engine replacement at 36K. i'm a firm believer in engine break-in. imo, if you plan on keeping the car and want it to last go easy on it for the first 1000 miles."

+1

To all the people who say it doesn't matter...Why? Is this all going back to that blogger who recommended holding your motorcycle's engine at redline because it was a more natural break in or some crap?

7/30/2008 6:36:04 PM

Maybe I should add : If i ever bought a brand new car i would take it easy a couple hundred miles.

7/30/2008 7:12:21 PM

the sentra se-r i bought back in 2002 said specifically how to properly break the motor in in the owner's manual

i think there is some merit to the idea

7/30/2008 7:17:10 PM

^ good job! most people dont pay attention to the owners manual. the correct answer is in the owners manual.

but if youve bought a brand new car and you havent actually read the owners manual, then post shit like this on the internet instead of actually checking the OWNERS MANUAL then you arent likely to realize that.

7/30/2008 8:04:53 PM

so truthful you almost sound sarcastic

7/30/2008 8:06:29 PM

Quote :

"The way dealerships treat new cars sucks like hell but there isnt much you can do. I did at least manage to pick mine up about a day after it rolled off the truck with about 3 miles on it. So limited abuse anyway. "

yup, it sure does suck ass. i wonder how many engines are actually ran at the factory before being installed in a car. i know all dmax engines are hot tested but they are not put through a strenuous test at all.

7/30/2008 9:07:05 PM

^ i would bet most are at least started and run through some sort of diagnostic. alot easier to catch the problem then than when its at the dealer. however I doubt they are seriously run either.

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 9:10 PM. Reason : ...]

7/30/2008 9:09:56 PM

i agree, not more than 30 minutes on the assembly line, once off its usually less than 5 miles to PDI, then its hot and on the lot

7/30/2008 9:53:55 PM

i thought this thread was about theft

7/30/2008 10:09:45 PM

ive never owned a brand new car

i did follow the mfgr's suggested break in for my bike when i bought it for the first 600 miles

3 days and 3 tanks of gas later not breaking 5000 rpm on a new cbr

good thing it was raining and february when i got it

7/30/2008 11:38:00 PM

Quote :

"i've known several people who bought brand new cars and were burning the tires down as they were pulling off the lot. every single person has had major problems with the cars. one in particular was a '96 honda civic which needed an engine replacement at 36K."

Quote :

"+1 To all the people who say it doesn't matter...Why? Is this all going back to that blogger who recommended holding your motorcycle's engine at redline because it was a more natural break in or some crap?"

okay, and and in how many of these situations would you say the problems were simply a result of general heavy use/abuse? keeping in mind how these people drive, would you say that following a recommended break in would have saved them any problems? what about things like oil changes? people who use their vehicles hard driving also tend to neglect keeping them maintained. even if break ins do serve any purpose, they still definitely aren't a cure for anything a person does to a car after that time.

i've personally owned one new vehicle and i've rebuilt a number of engines, axles, transfer cases, and transmissions. never once have i bothered with any break in, and i've never had any failures from anything except abuse or neglect. my immediate family has owned more new cars than i can count off hand (at least 20-30 just since i've been alive), and has never bothered to follow any recommended break in. everyone except my mom drives their stuff hard, and never any premature major mechanical failures. we've had probably 10 new trucks in our company in that time as well, and no related problems there either. our employees don't drive them terribly, but they aren't putting around like grandma either. besides just knowing them, it's easy to look at the fuel bills and mileage to see. that alone doesn't make anything fact or me an expert, but it's a pretty big chunk of brand new vehicles to have direct intimate experience with. it would have me pretty damn convinced even if i didn't have any knowledge of the technical and mechanical reasons.

decades ago, there may have been some merit to break in procedures because of the difference in metallurgy. not today though. they exist simply for liability reasons in an attempt to reduce warranty claims. besides all of the technical evidence out there that supports break ins being pointless, i guess i'm also just a little skeptical that any major corporation in the business of making money is really going to always have my interests in mind first and foremost instead of their own. i like owners manuals to tell how all the fancy features work and which fuse is for what, but that's about it. we can look back on the question all our parents used to ask us. if the manufacturer told you to jump off a building, would you? i'm not saying you should always ignore everything you're told, just keep an open mind and weigh the validity of any alternatives. people always ask why shouldn't they be doing something, when the question ought to be why should you do something.

Skack mentioned it, but there's also the school of thought that running a vehicle hard actually HELPS various moving parts "seat" to eachother better like rings, bearings, gears, etc. and that higher initial heat cycles are critical for metal parts. i don't think it hurts, but i can't say that i quite buy all of that yet. some of their reasoning and research makes a lot of sense, though.

in these sorts of discussions, there is always the point of "well, it's just a couple thousand miles, why risk it after paying that much". certainly valid, and that's all the reason you need if it's something you don't mind doing. personally, i look at it like i'm spending all this money, i'm going to drive the thing however i damn well please. most new cars are a HUGE investment to the average person. like anyone else, i want all of what i've paid for from that time forward. not a few days, months, or miles later. that includes anything non material i get from a product too like pleasure, excitement, or whatever. all that money is also going towards a warranty. don't think manufacturers don't include some amount of money in the msrp that accounts for the average of 5.2 warranty claims for each vehicle sold or some such figure. you think you're getting things repaired for free under warranty? yeah, right. you've bought and paid for it, might as well put it to use.

7/31/2008 12:23:50 AM

That part about the warranty is a very valid point. Especially for anyone who buys an extended warranty, lol. WOT from day 1 y0.

7/31/2008 8:43:59 AM

Quote :

"okay, and and in how many of these situations would you say the problems were simply a result of general heavy use/abuse?"

There is no way to say for sure what caused the failures, but in one case I can think of my mom bought a car straight off the lot with about 75 miles on it. 25k later the engine locked up. I'm sure it got the general test drive/salesperson flogging, but we both know there is no way to say for sure that the break-in was the root cause on a single failure like that. It could have just been dumb luck, a bad oil pump, or something else unrelated to the break-in.

You really summed up my feelings on it when you wrote this:

Quote :

"in these sorts of discussions, there is always the point of "well, it's just a couple thousand miles, why risk it after paying that much""

If I drop a lot of money on a car I see no reason not to take it easy for the first 1,000 miles or whatever the manufacturer recommends. It's just not that big of a deal to me. An extra oil change or two doesn't hurt the pockets too much either.

^ Damn....SaabTurbo is back. Where you been?

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 10:22 AM. Reason : l]

7/31/2008 10:19:29 AM

Quote :

"^ good job! most people dont pay attention to the owners manual. the correct answer is in the owners manual. but if youve bought a brand new car and you havent actually read the owners manual, then post shit like this on the internet instead of actually checking the OWNERS MANUAL then you arent likely to realize that."

you know, if you take the point of view that [insert manufacturer's name here] knows their cars the best and so doing what they tell you will be the best thing for the long life of your car, sure...and while i do give that SOME merit, i think there's probably a lot of "let's cover our asses by putting a lot of strict guidelines in the manual so that if something happens, we can always say the owner didn't follow the instructions" going on

i'm betting the truth lies somewhere in between (but then, i don't really know what i'm talking about in the garage...i'm just trying to use common sense)

7/31/2008 10:31:27 AM

I thought it had something to do with seating compression rings in cylinder walls? I also have heard though it doesn't apply to general 87 octane motors...but I've always followed guidelines for any outboard motor we've ever had. I'd do it if I were you.

7/31/2008 11:07:40 AM

Well, since most of the new cars have guards over the lock assemblies, I just use a brick.

Back in the day, a slimjim did the trick.

7/31/2008 11:47:30 AM

I was about to make a parody but didn't..

7/31/2008 11:50:37 AM

Quote :

"Damn....SaabTurbo is back. Where you been?"

Layin' low, lol. Lots of shit talk has been spread that had no validity and I was trying to let it die down. Plus I was straightening my shyte out in the areas that needed straightening. Oh and I got a bike the other day, we'll see how that goes, haha.

7/31/2008 12:18:12 PM

^^^^yes, seating rings is a very key process in the early life of an engine. i would suggest some reading on "break mean effective pressure" if you're really curious about how new rings interact with a freshly honed/bored cylinder wall. doing it "right" ensures a life of low oil consumption and less blow by. this of course results in better compression also, and we know that equals more power. too much bmep heats the oil to the point of break down and will glaze the cylinder walls, but not building enough has similar effects.

marine applications definitely require more attention here since they frequently spend long amounts of time droning along at the same rpm. the optimal way to seat rings is bursts of hard/high rpm running followed by and equal amount of lower rpms/easy throttle. basically, the key is to just keep rpm's and throttle input varied across the board. don't spend too much time at one level. this is easy to do in a car just over the course of "normal" driving and not pay much attention to it (other than getting out on a flat highway and setting cruise control).

one thing i would definitely follow on most reccomended break ins is the first oil/filter change. if an engine is well assembled and broken in, there is going to be lots of fine metal expelled within the first 20-30 hours or 500-1000 miles of running.

on that same note, here's another little bit of food for thought. how many vehicles are shipped with synthetic oil these days? if break in is so critical, why in the world would they do that? there is no credible source that i'm aware of that reccomends or even concedes the use of synthetics early on, no matter what their position is for anything else.



[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 12:26 PM. Reason : ^still got the churched up neon?]

7/31/2008 12:24:59 PM

Quote :

"I thought it had something to do with seating compression rings in cylinder walls?"

this is what i thought, and read, as well

7/31/2008 1:20:38 PM

Quote :

"Haha, I worked at Infiniti when the G35 first came out. We drove the piss out of those things down Capital. We used to take all the trade ins and beat em to death before they went to auction."

oh yeah, i remember this one blue escalade ext w/ 24's that used to come in at thompson. man, we would DOG that thing!

7/31/2008 4:33:59 PM

Quote :

"^still got the churched up neon?"

Yeah and the '97 Miata.

7/31/2008 5:49:52 PM

These still work right?

7/31/2008 5:51:42 PM

not nearly as easy as they did. Count on taking the door panel off so's you can hook the rod back up to the key cylinder when you're in.

7/31/2008 10:40:59 PM

Quote :

"you know, if you take the point of view that [insert manufacturer's name here] knows their cars the best and so doing what they tell you will be the best thing for the long life of your car, sure...and while i do give that SOME merit, i think there's probably a lot of "let's cover our asses by putting a lot of strict guidelines in the manual so that if something happens, we can always say the owner didn't follow the instructions" going on i'm betting the truth lies somewhere in between (but then, i don't really know what i'm talking about in the garage...i'm just trying to use common sense) "

you fucking cocksucker, you dont get it. when you go in the dealership, get walked to the finance office and throw your cash on the table (or sign your name, same thing) you are agreeing to abide by the "strict guidelines" or else get denied any warranty. if you didnt realize that, you should have been drug out to the quicklube lane and shot before taking delivery.

8/1/2008 1:08:17 AM

:lol:

yeah, there's just this one little problem though. it's called:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act

kinda puts a damper on iron clad warranties. thanks congress, you finally got off your ass and protected us from something, the big meanie car people! now get your asses over to the insurance companies next!!

^so where do you stand on this anyway? i can't really tell. we usually disagree about these sorts of things, just makeing sure that's the case here.

[Edited on August 1, 2008 at 1:18 AM. Reason : .]

8/1/2008 1:17:57 AM

why whatever do you mean

[Edited on August 1, 2008 at 2:01 AM. Reason : lol]

8/1/2008 1:58:40 AM

8/1/2008 1:59:33 AM