I was planning on taking my soon to take possession RX350 on a trip
which will consist mostly of highway driving of about 3000mile drive
and been told that that's not such a good idea because you don't want
to drive a brand new car on the highway for any extended amount if you
can help before the car's properly broken in.
The seals, rings and the machine just needs to set in properly, which
happens during the break in period and before that, I was told you
should avoid any long highway trip.
What do you guys think? If this was your car, would you do it or put
off the trip until after the car's broken in properly? Thanks.
Enrique Quijano - 10 May 2008 09:34 GMT
I would combine highway and B-road ( secondary roads) mileage, alternating
between high and low rev engine use and avoiding constant speed for
extended periods. I broke in the engine of my previous s Lexus doing
precisely that, and the engine really came into its own compared to other
cars of the same brand, which felt sluggish.
Also, short bursts of acceleration up to 100 mph , and cruising at variable
speeds in the 50 to 85 mph range helped me loosen up the engine during the
first 4000 miles, plus, of course, some city driving. If you do not want to
incur the wrath of the law by driving at 100 mph, downshift to 3d or 4th
speed , thus revving up the engine and achieving the same effect .
Contrary to what manufacturers claim, break in periods are still required
for new cars.
Good luck.
St. John Smythe - 10 May 2008 12:59 GMT
> Also, short bursts of acceleration up to 100 mph , and cruising at variable
> speeds in the 50 to 85 mph range helped me loosen up the engine during the
> first 4000 miles, plus, of course, some city driving. If you do not want to
> incur the wrath of the law by driving at 100 mph, downshift to 3d or 4th
> speed , thus revving up the engine and achieving the same effect.
Going 100 mph isn't as important to good break-in as the full-throttle
acceleration to get there. Just do the occasional full throttle bursts,
and don't worry about going 100.

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Ray O - 10 May 2008 13:59 GMT
>I was planning on taking my soon to take possession RX350 on a trip
> which will consist mostly of highway driving of about 3000mile drive
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> What do you guys think? If this was your car, would you do it or put
> off the trip until after the car's broken in properly? Thanks.
I've taken 50 or 60 new cars and driven them for roughly 12,000 miles of
mostly highway driving with no problems. The nature of our business was
most of the people in our office also had to drive mostly highway miles.
Figure 30 people get 4 new cars a year for 120 new cars a year, x my 15
years experience for 18,000 cars with no ill effects of driving mostly
highway miles from the time they are put into service. Many of those cars
were bought by employees, relatives, and friends afterwards and they did not
experience any problems related to how the vehicles were broken in.
Enjoy your trip in your new ride!

Signature
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)
wtrplnet - 10 May 2008 19:12 GMT
>>I was planning on taking my soon to take possession RX350 on a trip
>> which will consist mostly of highway driving of about 3000mile drive
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>> What do you guys think? If this was your car, would you do it or put
>> off the trip until after the car's broken in properly? Thanks.
You sure buy a lot of cars!
From alt.auto.bmw:
I was planning on taking my soon to take possession X5 on a trip which
will consist mostly of highway driving of about 3000mile drive and
been told that that's not such a good idea because you don't want to
drive a brand new car on the highway for any extended amount if you
can help before the car's properly broken in.
The seals, rings and the machine just needs to set in properly, which
happens during the break in period and before that, I was told you
should avoid any long highway trip.
What do you guys think? If this was your car, would you do it or put
off the trip until after the car's broken in properly? Thanks.