Im not sure if this was discussed here, but I was looking at a G35 site, and some people were saying its better to drive the car hard the first day you get it.

Is this guy a moron? Or does he have a point?

 

This can be debated endlessly in either direction. I started a thread about it when I got my 2k3 and there are people with opinions both for and against the break-in period. As far as what the guy at the Infiniti site said, he contradicts himself...

If the engine is already broken in when you get it, like he says the dealer told him, then the rings are already seated and it doesn't matter what you do to it. The statements about seating the rings and the engine already being broken in conflict one another.

The way I see it, nobody knows the engines better than the Nissan engineers who designed it, so if they say it's best to stay under 4k RPMS and not take off too quick for the first 1,000 miles that's what I'll do. As far as the computer "learning" your driving pattern, this is open to debate also. From what I've read, the computer adjusts this pattern on a rolling scale, so as soon as you start riding it a little harder it's going to adjust to that new pattern anyway. By the time you get to 10k miles you will have approximately 9k miles of your real driving pattern and only 1k of the break-in pattern, so it will have adjusted by then. And if you like, you can have a dealer reset the ECU after the engine is broken in and start the computer's "learning process" all over again.

The bottom line is...there are plenty of people who have followed the break in period and have had no problems, and there are also plenty of people who ignore it and have had no problems. You just have to do what makes you most comfortable. After all, it's your $25k investment.

 

funny thing... Ask about the break in procedure for the 350z and the dealer will read you the riot act (or the G35). But ask about a max and he says not to worry.. Its the same engine. Since I think Nissan assumes the 350 will be driven harder, they really want dealers to tell people to break them in nicely.

btw, its just as much for tranny and wheel bearings.. so yeah, I followed it.

 

I've driven my car as hard as it's gonna get driven by me since day 1....

1000 miles, 1 month later, no problems

 

From a computer program perspective:

The computer should continously adjust its settings as the vehicle is driven and as the engine breaks in. There should be no need to either reset the computer or worry about "training" the computer since it will adjust as time passes.

From a mechanical perspective:

Nissan engineers know their equipment better than we do. Follow the recommended break in procedure - it can't possibly hurt you.

 

I asked the dealer about a break in period when I picked up my 2K3 and was told no such period was required. The dealer simply told me to go have fun and DRIVE the car.

I don't think I am overly hard on my car and I have tried to baby it but I think it would have been impossible for me to drive 1000 miles without every going WOT.

I'm sure every car on the dealer's lot that goes out for test drives experiences a fair bit of full throttle time. I have never test driven a car without at least one blast down an on-ramp. I'm sure that not all these cars come back broken because they weren't driven lightly for the first 1000 miles.

 

IMHO I would trust Nissan engineers who designed and tested our cars and the machinery in them more than sales people at a dealership in the US . . .

 

Come to think of it, before I got my car, the sales guy took me for a ride. He wanted to "show me the power of the VQ" and floored it to 70 from a stop in a residential neighborhood. I don't think he gave a crap about propper break-in. He just wanted to sell the car I guess

 

Exactly. I doubt that car salesman are even trained in whether or not a break-in is required, they just say whatever they want. I'll take the Nissan engineers' opinion, the one they write in plain english in the owner's manual, over what some salesman tells me any day. I know to a certain extent it's probably to cover Nissan's own ****, like if someone takes a brand new car to the track and blows the engine the first day, but I doubt they would say to take it easy the first 1,000 miles if it wasn't necessary.

 

When in doubt, consult that thingy called the owners manual...

 

I am not trying to debate the knowledge of the salespeople, I just don't believe that it is an absolute necessity to drive like Grandma after buying your car.

Should you take it easy. Yes probably. But guess what, that holds true for the entire life of the car, not just the first 1000 miles. If Nissan was truly worried that you'd blow your motor immediately after driving your car off the lot, you'd find a big sticker attached to the steering wheel telling you this(not burried in the manual).

 

i broke mine in the right way... most of it was on the highway tho on cruise control. i did like 2 hard starts, and let the RPMs get up to 4500 or so 2, maybe 3 times. the car runs great not at 12,000 miles and i have no problems at all. great power and all... need to hit the track tho and get times. so break it in right, then have fun