Big D

I've heard a lot about the break-in period. When I got my 99.5 2.8 last week, the salesman told me<br>to break the car in the way I planned to drive it<br>eventually, like getting up to 6k RPM several times over the next 200 miles. Being cautious I haven't done anything like this yet. <p>Is this guy giving me bad advice? So many others are talking on this forum about break-in that is very much UN-like what my salesman said. What does everyone think? What are the consequences of being too violent during the break-in period. (haha, no burglary jokes here...:*) )<p>--Big D

JohnS

When I sold cars at our local VW/Audi/Porsche dealership, I always told my clients the same thing. As we bought used cars at auctions it amazed me at how different the cars felt - you could tell how the owner broke in the car, and drove it. Cars that were babied all the time seemed to have a noticable power drop off at around 4000 rpm.<br>I'd drive it hard. Stay out of the red overall, but make sure you vary the speeds and revs as much as possible.<br>JohnS<br>

Big D

That's exactly what my salesman said.<p>Vary the RPMS all over the map, drive down the highway in 3rd or 4th for a mile, drive in 5th<br>in a residential area. Basically run it through<br>all kinds of combinations of RPM, gear, and throttle, just not crossing into redline.<p>Anyone else hear the same, and if you followed this advice, any negative results?<p>--Big D

_rl

haha, i literaly "broke" in my 98.5 2.8. i drove the first 1000 miles the way i planned to use my car, ended up in a blown transmission at 1500 miles.<p>take care of it until about 800-900 miles then start driving harder gradually. =]

ed

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vik

I am picking up my spankin' new 1.8tqms tomorrow at 1:00 PM (WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!), and I am scheduled to attend a McKamey autox school on Sunday. I have been going back and forth about whether to take the A4 or whether to go in my current ride ('91 Escort). I like the idea of learning in the same car I plan to autox, but I also don't want to whip it too early. I figure I can probably try to keep the revs down, but I still am leaning toward taking the Escort -- better safe than sorry. Opinions?<p><br>-vik<br>1.8tqms (20 hours away -- can I get a HELL YEAH?!?! :-)

JohnS

The Tiptronic trasmission adapts to your driving style. There are several hundred different shift mappings programmed into the trasmission, and if you vary the way you drive, they will all be available for you to use.<br>This may not make sense, but here's an example:<br>We would receive new cars from Audi, and at times the cars felt VERY gutless, sluggish, whatever you want to call it. If we took the car out and drove it around for a few miles, kicking the transmission down to pass, accelerating off the line (not thrashing the cars or anything) then the transmission would recognize a more 'agressive' mapping and shift in a more 'performance oriented' way.<br>Just drive the car the way you plan on driving it. If you plan on using your tip a lot, use it on the breakin. There is no 'magic point' where it's ok to start DRIVING your car.<br>JohnS<br>

JohnS

I probably wouldn't race it right 'out of the box', although when we sold Jeff Zwart his Pike's Peak winning 911 Turbo, all he did was modify the suspension and put a fuel cell in it and raced it.. He didn't worry about a break-in period....<p>JohnS<p><br>

Cathleen

Redline...with a rev limiter, this isn't possible anyway. After I had driven my A4 with varying RPMs for approx. 500 miles and had it warmed up, I had ventured to the higher levels and must admit I hit the limiter by accident. It came up very quickly and was there before I knew it, Thankfully, it just cut out.<br>I am always very watchful when I push it high now, to make sure I keep it at only 6200 rpm max (after the car has warmed up) , since 6300ish seems to be the cut out point on my car.<br>If this is *bad* to get so close to redline, then I must be very lucky because my car is still in perfect shape and has/had a very strong response as compared to other stock 12v's.<br>I'm no longer going to be able to give a fair comparison of a stock 12v, I get my car back tonight with a modified 12v engine. Yahoo. <br>-C.<br>

Steve S.

You can do the autox school later...yeah..I know those guys are good teachers.<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM