Is it ok to drive a new car on a long trip within the first 100 miles put on the car?

Answer

A common misconception is that you should be easy on an engine in the first 500km's but in actual fact (if you talk to anybody the builds engines or races) you should drive the hell out of it for the first 500. Not saying you should do 180 wherever you go but just giver a little more gas than usual when leaving lights or passing and if you are going on a long trip try not to keep your rpm's in one spot, let your engine work a little.

New Answer

When driving a new car never run it on the same speed for very long as the pistons will wear a grove in the cylinders and will cause problems in the future, and do not use the cruise control for the first 500 miles.

Answer

New cars are run in before they are sent to dealers. Just drive according to the law of the road and you will not have any problems.

Answer

READ the owners manual. There is a section devoted to BREAK IN. It should explain what you need to do.

Answer

Yes. you can drive it as far as you want as long as you keep the engine RPMs under 3000 - 3500.

It is ok to exceed these RPMs on the freeway as long as you are not driving super fast. Generally they should be kept below 4500 during freeway driving.

Acceptable break in period for a new engine is 500 miles.

Answer

You could drive as far as you want just don't rev the car too hard. And that also includes gunning it to about 3500 rpm and letting off the gas. Just drive it like a really old grandma for a few hundred miles (I would say about 500 to 700).

Answer

Yes.

However, I would avoid long trips in where the RPM stays the same for an extended period of time. This tends not to let the rings seat properly. (Don't use cruise control!)

But I would read the Break in Period portion of the owner's manual for your car.

Answer

An important part of breaking in a car is heat cycling. When the engine heats up to operating temperature parts can expand, and when it cools they contract. I would recommend driving several short trips that let the engine get up to operating temperature with time to cool off in between them. It is also a good idea to change your oil more frequently (say, at 100, 500, and 1000 miles) which a long trip might not allow for.

Your car won't die from taking it on a long trip immediately, and you may never see any ill effects from it, but I wouldn't do it myself. Of course, you never know about even a new car, if it was test driven and it's anything but the most sedate of cars there's a good chance it wasn't babied on the test drive. And I used to hear stories of the guys that drive the brand new trucks from the assembly line to the lot and the lot to the car haulers driving the trucks hard right off the line at our local GM plant.

Answer

Manufacturers recommend that a 'bedding in' period is adhered to when you purchase a new car. Details can be found in the owners pack (either in the owners manual or a seperate notice within the pack). It outlines the nature in which the car should be driven in order to maximise future reliability of the engine and to 'bed' the engine components in.

As with most new mechanical items it is advisable to ease them into use, initial over-exertion can be damaging to the components in question. As with most things, you can't simply exert full stress immediately, procedures need to be followed to minimise the risk of damage, this applies here.

If it was totally irrelevant then the manufacturers simply wouldn't go to the effort of informing new car owners of such procedures.

First answer by ID0000000000. Last edit by Fatprawn. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 255 [recommend question]