[ajbowman]

I am still waiting on a delivery date for my Terrain... but we are planning on driving to Florida for spring break. Roughly 1500 miles one way. My question - what if we pic the car up the week we leave and only have a couple hundred miles on it? Will it be bad to immediately go on a long trip? What if we pick it up the day before and put very few miles on it before we leave?

Am I better off to put a few thousand more miles on the old clunker and leave the brand new, shiny, XM Radio equipped, comfortable SUV at home?!?!?!

 

[Scooby24]

It really shouldn't be a problem as long as you vary the speed enough to cause it to down/up shift occasionally.

There are two schools of thought on the break-in. Drive it like you stole it, or baby it.

In either scenario, you don't want to run the rpms at the same spot for any extended period of time. Varying the speed encourages the piston rings to move slightly and create a more uniform wear surface between the rings and the cylinder wall.

 

[Roesterman]

Took a trip to the Mammoth caves in Kentucky, then on to Amish country in Pennsylvania and back home. This was a few days after picking up my brand new Montana in Dec. 2004. I kept track of gas mileage. The last tank I recorded was approaching 40 mpg(Imperial). I was exceeding 1000 miles per tank of gas. Till I sold vehicle last Dec. it never burned a drop of oil and was always thrifty on gas. Every Drive clean test(Smog test..USA) was aced by a long shot.
I conclude taking a trip right after purchase is the right thing to do![/color]

ps. I have holidays in 2 weeks and plan to drive my Mocha Nox to Myrtle beach if it arrives in time!

 

[10equinox]

My experience from being a GM mechanic, these newer engines break in is not as critical as it used to be, the biggest concern on break-in is the final drives, they need to develop the right wear patterns, accelerating hard, what happens is the gears will break in with a different pattern and can develop noise. (I have actually replaced a front differential, under warrenty because of this.)

A majority of people who buy new cars just drive them. We recieved our equinox on a Monday, and Friday we took it on a 700Mi trip, driving 70-75 on freeways. Personally I think that was a better way of breaking them in than driving them short distances, the constant cooling down and warming back up of the engine, from the restarts. My 2 cents.

 

[scottyyyc]

+1 on breaking in the engine a bit first. The first 50-100KM's are crucial, so do a bit of spirited driving first.

 

[Steve A]

Read the "Break in Secrets" on this site:

http://MotoTuneUSA.com

Also after following the advice there, I recommend changing the oil and filter as this gets any manufacturing debris out of the engine early on.