It’s quite interesting. The manual of my car says it’s best to avoid hard braking, revving engine past 4K RPM, avoid quick starts, etc until 1,200 miles+
Here’s where I find it debatable…
Nearly ask any service guy at a dealership or sales person…and they laugh. They all say just drive it. Already good to go from the factory.
I brought it up at work…and some guy I don’t particularly like blurts out…“It’s a LEASE. Who cares…?”
I do realize I only have the car for (3) years or even less, but I still treat it like it’s mine and want it to last for many years after for someone else. It almost seems morally wrong to me to just trash something that someone else will proudly own one day.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you guys do it? Anyone just go all out from Mile 1?
In the case you didn’t break it in…when could/would negative impacts happen? Are we talking at the 100K mile mark?
There’s two main reasons I think manufacturers state this:
To keep people from driving a new car they’re unfamiliar with like a madman, to keep their liability down, and because it takes a little while for a fresh engine to break in. HOWEVER: every car is tested at the factory and driven on and off trucks and container ships, etc and they’re probably not going to spend the extra time warming it up and breaking it in properly.
Using the correct oil for the car and climate, and doing regular servicing is probably far more important than proper break in.
I’ll also add that this is generally not very applicable for your average commuter vehicle. The only time I think this really applies is if your car has a lot of power under the hood and/or if there are atypical features that need getting used to. I don’t think a Honda Civic needs to be broken in, but I wouldn’t gun a Hellcat right off the lot.
It goes without saying that stressing a new engine may cause rings to not seat properly. That could cause (somewhat) a loss of compression or excessive oil consumption. On the other hand, they’ve come a long way in reducing requirements for breaking in an engine.
Take a tour of the Corvette factory in Bowling Green.
Every single car is put on a dyno and taken right up to redline.
Makes me giggle every time I see a guy “breaking in” his new 'Vette.
It’s a lease. Drive it. I feel that if someone is buying a previously leased car they should take that into consideration before they purchase. I assume every car that comes off lease has been driven hard. L
Worse yet, I have bought 3 rental cars over the years. I’m sure that they were all redlined. Those cars I bought were just fine. And yes I have abused rental cars - just like everyone else. “Hey it’s not my car let’s see what this Taurus can really do”
really, like out of 100 test drives, only 1 guy/gal will probably floor it, even on corvettes. i always do the 1k mile break in. let all that plastic shit burn off the engine and exhaust and give the transmission a chance.
I get the car, put it in sport and rip it out of the dealer in manual shift mode (or just manual) and bang through the gears. Modern manufacturing is quite good these days. Zero worries.
i really dont give a f whether its a buy or lease. I drive it the same from day 1 to day 1000.
That break in rule is probably to prevent some idiot taking a brand new car to a drag race or autocross rally and complain to the dealership a month later that the engine is shot and need replacement under warranty.
Last 3-4 leases I’ve had stated in the manual that there is no break-in period per se. Just avoid redlining and abrupt stops the first 600 miles, which is what I try to do regardless what vehicle/mileage I have.
every time i leave my charger with the dealer to do something minor like change the window trimming those fuckers do circles around the block spinning tires and redlining the engine…got few free oil changes out of it as I caught them once.
