Rockout

I will be picking up my new Q5 2.0T next Saturday if all goes according to plan and driving it to my detailer 30 km (20 miles away). The main highway is the best way to get there but is it an issue to drive a brand new Q5 at highway speeds when it is brand new?


Thanks in advance!

Q5 Bob

Nope. No problem at all, especially for as little as 20 miles. Enjoy the drive.

scrmorling

There's no problem on the highway at all, even for 200 miles, as long as you vary your revs. Steve

Rockout

Thanks to both of you for your comments.

What is the importance of varying the revs? And what is the duration of that burn-in period?

I have heard about not using cruise control initially, presumably for the same reasons as varying the revs, no?

BlackSVT

On a fresh engine. rings, bores, pistons, bearings, etc have no set mating pattern with whatever surface it's next to. The bulk of whatever break-in/wear-in/mating is going to happen in the first few hundred miles and then progressively less so as time goes on. There's actually a fair amount of wear happening during that time as tight spots and such are being worn down (for lack of a better way to describe it...)

So to your question -- while the engine itself feels "smooth" from the driver's seat, there are many different, RPM-dependent resonances and harmonics that are set up during normal operation of any engine. If you keep the engine RPM constant during the high-wear, break in, those resonances can cause things to wear in a patterned way that's really detrimental to good sealing and fit. Once that resonance-induced, abnormal wear sets, you can't do much to reverse it. Varying RPM is the best way to combat it.

To be clear, when people say vary RPM during break-in, you don't have to go crazy. A mile or 2 (and probably much more) at constant speed won't affect anything, but driving a new car off the lot, onto the highway and setting cruise at 70 for the next 200 miles is probably a bad plan.

I need to add "IMO"... because break-in is very much a hot topic with people

rdA4WtQ5

Yes this has been discussed many times before on this and many forums. Do some searches and you will see a relationship to using oil and "I always babied my car during break in" My experience over many years is get the oil up to temperature and be sure to run it under load during break in. I ran mine harder during break in than I have since. I had a 2 hour ride home with mine in '11 with enough traffic to vary my speeds. Many theories about break in but you only get one chance per fresh engine. Enjoy your new Q5.

Rockout

Thank you both for your comments - reading through other threads now. Definitely a trend to not run the RPM's up past 2/3 of max for the first 1000 km.

Hockeymonkey

I have commented on this in a few other posts if you want the details. I used the motoman breakin method. In short, make sure the car is at normal running engine temp then I rev it fairly high in sport mode then let off the gas pedal so that the engine has a load then I go to the next targeted speed and then do the same. Not sure if it works but I have had zero issues with burning oil. My babied audi still burns oil even after all of the fixes.
My newest Audi Q5 I did the same high rev break-in.
Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power