New Car Run In

[greg1903]

Hey folks,

Wanted to find out the general consensus regarding running in new cars these days. There's various arguments for and against this. My opinion is more towards not bothering. This is from discussions with various people including mechanics, car sales people and amatuer racing drivers.

Manufacturing has changed quite a bit over the last few years, and there is less chance of any imperfections in materials from machining processes etc.

In addition, engines are already run in on a bench right through the rev range. I believe they are actually run for a sustained period at maximum revs, so there should be no issues there.

Is it better to drive it how you normally would (my style being like I stole it...) so that the ECU learns quicker, or do peopel still believe in the drivig miss daisy style for the first 1000 or so miles?

 

[sportstractor]

If in doubt, drive flat out! Its generally accepted that you don't have to bother now, but you will always get the traditionalists who say you should. I'd make the most of it from day 1, after all if it's going to break, you want it too under warranty!

 

[Sticks]

Drive it like u stole it lol

 

[CarrG]

I would have been inclined to say drive it like you stole it but after reading Jonny C view and from a mechanical point of using more oil I think there should be some caution when the engine is tight. MPG is dire when new so thrashing it will make it even worse!

 

[Dan1720v]

Lots of hard on and off throttle. TBH, ive seen cars when they come in off the docks, lets say no matter what you do they're run in well there. You can usually tell if they've got DSG shall we say...

 

[g5und]

I was all set to run in gently but the guys at the garage were adamant you don't need to. As soon as the engine warms up I've been giving it hard throttle (not even 100 miles on the clock yet!). With regards to mpg, yes it does appear to be dire when brand new

 

[Dave Hedgehog]

modern cars dont seam to like being pussy footed about

the S3 i have atm is now getting 50 more miles per tank after 700 miles of spirited driving (4k miles now) it was very tight when i got it