[Rednaxela]

Hi, I've never had a new car before. What can and can't you do to begin with? Do you have to be very gentle, if so, for how long?

Any opinions would be great thanks.

 

[MarkyMark]

The old fashioned rule we used when I worked for BMW was to have a running in period for the first 1000miles, not pushing it to hard or exceeding say 80mph. But this is just an indicator and not a hard fact. You aren't going to damage it if used hard, but breaking it in gently will aid fuel consumption and smoothness.

 

[Craig200588]

From day one of having my brand new Polo I drove it like normal (80MPH up dueler) and its been fine! Dont go mental with it, just let the car settle in for the first couple thousand miles!

 

[R1ch]

I was under the same impression that for the first 1,000 miles you shoudn't treat it too mad. From talking to people in the trade this doesn't seem to apply anymore. Engines are produced to such a high level of accuracy it isn't necessary any longer. Still, don't think I will be thrashing my little baby when it arrives : )

 

[Rednaxela]

Thanks for your comments.. Someone said once that you can't wax for a while because the paint will be soft. Is that true?

 

[R1ch]

Are you getting the lifeshine treatment? If so they will probably advise you with this.

 

[willowaz]

the dealer will be able to advise you on both these things, but yesw when my dad got a brand new eos like a year or so ago, the combination of better engineering and a special oil they put into the car initially means you dont need to "run in" the engine, but like everyone else, i wont be ragging mine everywhere for a long while!!

 

[MarkyMark]

No the paint thing is nonsense!!

 

[ianp]

been taking it easy in mine, up to the dizzy heights of 250 miles !!!. Not been past 65 mph yet !!!!. Has it got a 5th gear !!!! lol. Put a coat of autoglym on her at the weekend, looks very shiny...

 

[willowaz]

so youve been coasting around in 4th? haha! did you go for the autoglym treatment?

 

[move up!]

I agree: treat them reasonably gently for the first 1000 miles. The tolerances are tight on new machines, and they generate a little more heat from friction when new. The manufacturing is very accurate nowadays, and the oils are incredibly good at all temperatures, but it's still worth treating the car well.

 

[balltofeet]

Do not spare the horses thrash it within an inch of its life. Apparently this helps the valve seals bed in!

 

[David M]

My dealer guy said to drive it as normal - he said the worst thing you could do to it was drive it like an old lady. He says to "drive it out in the gears" (danish expression, don't know how to translate it proper).Try to vary your speed a bit. Don't just keep the revs constant for extended periods of time - he says that if people try to "go easy on it" by, say, staying in 3rd gear when doing a turn the car would like it more if you downshifted and gave it some gas.
I recently had a really nice trip from Denmark to France and back - I actually hit a top speed of 175 kph (108 mph) at one point - the car actually felt like it could have gone faster had I had the inclination to.
Real nice trip btw. Ppl gawked and stared all the way through Germany and back - it seems they are not even commonplace in Germany yet!

At one point we DID spot an up! - - but then I saw a VW dealership 100 meters down the road, so I'm assuming that someone was probably out test driving that up!

 

[R1ch]

Different opinions on this subject but who is right? Perhaps we should make another poll

 

[Roadrunner]

Can someone who has a manual see what that says?

Having had a few new cars, they are definitely tighter when new and loosen up over time, I will always treat gently and extend the usage over time. If nothing else it allows a gentle test of the performance envelope to see that it all works

 

[luckyjimmy]

I was advised, when I last bought a new car, to keep the revs below 3500rpm for the first couple of thousand miles. There was an oil change at five hundred miles too.

Although I don't believe the Up! gets a five hundrend miles oil change, I think you would keep the revs low in a similar fashion. The engine in my last car seemed tight until about 3k miles and the mpg figures had improved by then too.

 

[tiny10]

Hi i picked my up up on saturday and the dealership advised drive her as normal just dont thrash her as im sure none of you will. And take her back at 1000-1500 miles for a quick check over.went for a 110mile drive on sunday and she drove great no problems!

 

[despicable]

How a new car is treated by its owner can be academic; as the dock workers will have not treated the car well, and maybe the apprentice mechanics at the dealership.

 

[Rednaxela]

if thats the case, then I shall get a bus to Slokakia and collect my car in person...

 

[David M]

How a new car is treated by its owner can be academic; as the dock workers will have not treated the car well, and maybe the apprentice mechanics at the dealership.

Actually, the dock workers can't treat it very poorly, because the car is in "Transport Mode" from when it leaves the factory to when it's prepped by the dealer. Also the heater and the radio and basically every other electric gizmo in the car is disabled to discourage the transport ppl from sitting in there having a good time in their dirty clothing eating their lunch!
Only the dealer can disable it in the onboard computer systems - the car is limited to drive only like 30 kph. / 20 mph - this is at least true for the up!