GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk5 => Topic started by: bobotheclown on 19 April 2008, 18:42
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Hello! Ordered a new GTi and it will be delivered in July. I was hoping you knowledgeable guys could give me some tips on the best/optimum methods of running in the new beast? I haven't bought a new car in 11 years and that was a Saxo Diesel!
Any tips would be most appreciated as I want to get the most from this fabulous machine.
I have opted for the DSG gear box (sorry R32uk, i know how you like your manuals) but I am an old geezer who has a dodgy left knee. To be honest I almost slipped in the bath this morning so it's a good thing I got the "auto" gearbox. :grin:
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There are 2 camps of how to run in your car.
1. rag it from day one :evil:
2. stick to the VW guidelines and run it in gently, increasing the revs each time as you get closer to 1,000 miles. :nerd:
Most on here simply can't resist the urge to rag it :evil: :grin:
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There are 2 lines of thought on this from what I have read on T'internet. One is warm the car up, and drive it hard for a good while up to the red line, apparently the piston rings will seal better if driven hard as they only have a short period of time before they harden. After 100 miles of this then drive it normally to let everything "bed in"
The other is treat it gently and not rev it to the redline, vary the rev's and not let the engine "labour". It mentions this way in the handbook. I have spoken to some mechanics on this and they have different opinions. I suppose it depends on if you want your car for a short time then trade it in, or want it to last a long time and look after it.
If treated hard from new the engine seals better and has less friction, meaning it loosens up faster and produces more power, I was told.
I personally chose the tender aproach to my GTI after hammering my S4 from new, including 2 laps of the Nurburgring with under 1000 miles on the clock :wink:
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Wow, thanks for super quick responses. Driving it "hard" from the get go sure does sound more fun than treating it gently.
I intend to keep this car for many, many years to come.
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just make sure its warm imo, and don't go too mad for the first few hundred miles
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Even after being fully ragged from day 1, my S4 hardly used any oil in 2 years. It was very quick as standard, but did guzzle fuel.
VW/Audi engines are bench tested according to my dealer to ensure they meet their power outputs, and are mostly "run in" by the time we get our paws on them.
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just make sure its warm imo, and don't go too mad for the first few hundred miles
yep, make sure the temp needles in the middle before taking the rev counter in the red!
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just make sure its warm imo, and don't go too mad for the first few hundred miles
yep, make sure the temp needles in the middle before taking the rev counter in the red!
I'd go with that theory. I'd ALWAYS wait till it's warm regardless of mileage. The first few hundred miles I've left the redline alone, but after that :evil: :evil: :evil:
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Hello! Ordered a new GTi and it will be delivered in July. I was hoping you knowledgeable guys could give me some tips on the best/optimum methods of running in the new beast? I haven't bought a new car in 11 years and that was a Saxo Diesel!
Any tips would be most appreciated as I want to get the most from this fabulous machine.
I have opted for the DSG gear box (sorry R32uk, i know how you like your manuals) but I am an old geezer who has a dodgy left knee. To be honest I almost slipped in the bath this morning so it's a good thing I got the "auto" gearbox. :grin:
Hey Bob! no worries about the DSG cant have you poor old leg getting unwell. I had my cruciate ligament done in my knee over xmas and I think having a manual has actually helped strengthen it.. but thats a different story. What spec did you go for in addition to the DSG?? Either way I am sure you will love it.
I went down the rag mine early route.. but making sure it was warm first (well kind of :rolleyes:). I would just say drive it as you will always be driving it, as it will learn this style and aim to give you the best from it.
p.s. With a July delivery your going to be spending alot of time on here, trust me! i had a 14wk wait on mine and have seen probably every youtube r32 clip going, but nothing does justice to the real thing :wink:
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oh my god, you are so right about spending alot of time looking at youtube reviews and surfing the forums. Just been looking at the detailing thread here and getting some useful tips on how to keep the beast clean. The general feeling I'm getting is that the Meguiars' products seem to be pretty good.
The spec I have gone for is:
DSG gearbox
Luxury Pack
Winter Pack
MFSW with Paddle shift
Cruise Control (thrown in free by dealer to seal the deal as I was thinking of getting a Megane r26)
Service Pack (thrown in free by dealer)
Diamond Black
17" wheels
Touch screen Sat Nav with 6 CD autochanger
Leather seats (they come as standard now woo hoo!)
I didn't get much of discount from the dealer (mumbles, grumbles...). Damn I gotta learn that jedi mind trick thing...
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All I would say is that 'enthusiastic' running in seems the way to go.
Let it warm up then give it some beans
Vary the revs / load but no 6th gear from idle rpm full throttle pulls !
And remember to check the oil just in case it uses some :wink:
And get familiar with the manual mode of the DSG so you can hold it in gear.
Enjoy
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I've just gone over 700 miles in my Ed 30 ..... I took it really easy for 200-300 miles then began to ease the revs up a tad but keeping under 5.5K for the first 600. Once at 600 I redlined it and have since then.
The last car I ran in was an S2000 and that too had a recommended run in distance of 600 miles. I was too gentle and the car was never that quick. I changed it and bought an ex demo which had no doubt been thrashed from new ..... and it was loads quicker !
I took the view with the Golf that somewhere between my experiences with the two S2000's was probably a good place for the Ed 30. Too gently and it would be like my first S2000 - too slow. Thrashed like a demo and it may not last quite as well. Hopefully this time I have got it right :smiley:
FWIW I drive 530d's at work and we run them in for 500 miles regardless of the book saying 1000 miles. They get thrashed once over 500 miles and go to 100K without any real issues apart from the odd blown turbo. We tried letting people just drive them from new but getting thrashed from day one resulted in rougher cars and ones with more problems. 500 miles for the beemer seemed a good amount that got good power and no problems. Obviously each car is different though.
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oh my god, you are so right about spending alot of time looking at youtube reviews and surfing the forums. Just been looking at the detailing thread here and getting some useful tips on how to keep the beast clean. The general feeling I'm getting is that the Meguiars' products seem to be pretty good.
The spec I have gone for is:
DSG gearbox
Luxury Pack
Winter Pack
MFSW with Paddle shift
Cruise Control (thrown in free by dealer to seal the deal as I was thinking of getting a Megane r26)
Service Pack (thrown in free by dealer)
Diamond Black
17" wheels
Touch screen Sat Nav with 6 CD autochanger
Leather seats (they come as standard now woo hoo!)
I didn't get much of discount from the dealer (mumbles, grumbles...). Damn I gotta learn that jedi mind trick thing...
We get all this (except sat nav) as standard here in Australia... mines a 3 door, DSG, Candy White, sunroof, leather with everything else mentioned above for $47,600 with tax (just over 22,000 GBP)
Trash it from the start and every day after, mine is quicker and has a better exhaust note than my mates who "ran theirs in".
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I'm on car Number 55 now and I always, always run them in very gently. My father was a reliability road tester for Vauxhall for 26 years and his tales of woe and glee on identical cars with differing 'run in methods' were so clear that the pattern became unmistakeable.
The more methodically the car was run in and the longer it was run in for (up to 5,000 miles) the better it performed in the long term.
Cars that were thrashed often gave problems during the tests (up to 150,000 miles long) and although a few of them showed short term power gains early in their life the always gave up the extra power shortly afterwards whereas the 'cared for' examples could hold onto almost 100% of their original output up to 150,000 miles, and they almost always reached or exceeded the maximum power output of the thrashed cars. Fuel economy was also always better in these 'gently run in' cars, often by up to 15%.
Thrash your car early on if you simply can't wait or are likely to dispose of it before it starts to deteriorate.
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I'm on car Number 55 now and I always, always run them in very gently. My father was a reliability road tester for Vauxhall for 26 years and his tales of woe and glee on identical cars with differing 'run in methods' were so clear that the pattern became unmistakeable.
The more methodically the car was run in and the longer it was run in for (up to 5,000 miles) the better it performed in the long term.
Cars that were thrashed often gave problems during the tests (up to 150,000 miles long) and although a few of them showed short term power gains early in their life the always gave up the extra power shortly afterwards whereas the 'cared for' examples could hold onto almost 100% of their original output up to 150,000 miles, and they almost always reached or exceeded the maximum power output of the thrashed cars. Fuel economy was also always better in these 'gently run in' cars, often by up to 15%.
Thrash your car early on if you simply can't wait or are likely to dispose of it before it starts to deteriorate.
Maybe that only applies to Vauxhall engines, my point being.
Friend of mine bought a MK1 GTI from new, and absolutely ragged it from day 1. I used to share a flat with him in those days, he used to leave for work early in the morning and I could hear him scream off up the road every time, with the engine cold :sick:
Quite a few years later he put it up for sale, and I bought it off him cheap. By this time it had done approx 90k miles without any engine components being changed, only the usual service stuff.
I cleaned it up and lowered it, put 15 inch wheels on and strut braces. It went really well, and being honest, I absolutely hammered it, often with a full car loads of friends who loved to go fast!
A few years later on I was then lured into a MK2 16v, so I sold the MK1 GTI on. I regret it still as the MK2 was a lump, it was back in and out of the garage with many faults, doors dropped, oil leaks and was hard to start to mention a few.
By the time I'd sold it, it was on well over 140k miles. And now, all these years later, its still going around and I see it regularily. It has got a bit rusty around the roof welds and the rims are badly kerbed, but its still fast, and doesnt smoke when ragged (I was behind it about 2 weeks ago and waved at him! Off he went.... I had mother in the car so could only manage to reach the speed limit briefly).
Its on over 200k miles now and still going strong. When it went in for its last service, the mechanic who took it out for a test drive asked my friend if it had any performance mods as it was "Bloody Quick for an old loose MK1"!
Each to their own "running in" method.
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oh my god, you are so right about spending alot of time looking at youtube reviews and surfing the forums. Just been looking at the detailing thread here and getting some useful tips on how to keep the beast clean. The general feeling I'm getting is that the Meguiars' products seem to be pretty good.
The spec I have gone for is:
DSG gearbox
Luxury Pack
Winter Pack
MFSW with Paddle shift
Cruise Control (thrown in free by dealer to seal the deal as I was thinking of getting a Megane r26)
Service Pack (thrown in free by dealer)
Diamond Black
17" wheels
Touch screen Sat Nav with 6 CD autochanger
Leather seats (they come as standard now woo hoo!)
I didn't get much of discount from the dealer (mumbles, grumbles...). Damn I gotta learn that jedi mind trick thing...
We get all this (except sat nav) as standard here in Australia... mines a 3 door, DSG, Candy White, sunroof, leather with everything else mentioned above for $47,600 with tax (just over 22,000 GBP)
Trash it from the start and every day after, mine is quicker and has a better exhaust note than my mates who "ran theirs in".
You guys are so lucky in Australia! I have heard that in the US the car costs $20,000 to $23,000! Taking into account the exchange rate that is around half the price we pay here in the UK! Another case of Rip Off Britain, me thinks :angry:. I mean come on, if the GTi's are being built in Germany, surely it's cheaper to ship them to the UK than it is to Australia and the US?
Anyway have fun in your better specc'ed and cheaper GTI and also your better weather and also your better looking beaches...how easy is it to emmigrate to Australia?
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I followed Teutonic_Tamers advice:-
"For a piston engine, a good running in regime would be to start off with very light throttle, low revs, and light engine loads - and progressively build up both revs and loads (but still avoiding WOT) - and end aiming for full throttle, max revs, and max engine loading at about 1,200-1,500 miles. It is absolutely vital not to maintain a "constant" rev loading, say for the first 600 miles, and then to cane the pants off it suddenly. You need to vary the engine revs, up-to, say 3,500rpm (not consantly at 3,500rpm) for the first 300 miles, then upto 4,500rpm for another 300 miles, and so-on."
0 - 300 miles up to 2,500 rpm / 1/4 throttle
300 - 600 miles up to 3,500 rpm / 1/2 throttle
600 - 800 miles up to 4,500 rpm / 1/2 throttle
800 - 1,000 miles up to 5,500 rpm / 3/4 throttle
1,000 - 1,200 miles up to 6,500 rpm / 3/4 throttle
1,200 - onwards max rpm / full throttle
The most crucial thing when running in, is to vary the engine speeds within those thresholds, so for example, between 600 and 800 miles, don't religiously stick at 4,500 rpm for the whole 200 miles - vary it up to 4,500 rpm."
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Personally I would say dont be that gentle with it. Every VW person I have spoken to feels that modern engines dont need to be "run in". The reason they state the running in period is that if for any reason there is a possible fault with the engine, this is when it is most likely to be highlighted.
Lets put it this way... i hit 14.0mph on the second day of having my car (it was warm if not hot by then) and its still fine. Now at 10k its running ALOT faster and looser than previously and I think the hard running in period has aided this.
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Picked up my R32 about three weeks ago and i didnt bother running it in appropriatly to be honest. Just made sure the engine was warm and tried to keep away from the red line. The dealer told me the cars are bench run in and when they go to collect them from the port they normally give the cars a good thrash to the dealers, dont blame them as its not their cars! Car now has just around 1240 km's and im quite happy....dont use it much though :sad:
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
You do know the dealer can reset the milage with the VAG 5051?
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
You do know the dealer can reset the milage with the VAG 5051?
Isnt that illegal??
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Mine had 24 miles on it, they stated that it was because it had to be PDI'd and test driven a certain amount of miles for testing?
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
You do know the dealer can reset the milage with the VAG 5051?
Yeah I guess so. but like manu pointed out that would be illegal. My mate knock of nigel can too apparently :grin:
4 miles to the pump sounded about right as I drove past it on my way home too :cool:
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Mine had 22 miles on it .... but that was down to them fitting and testing the cruise control - which seemed reasonable given it didn't work to begin with and they had to go out twice !
Dealer also said engine is run in prior to delivery and not to be too gentle with it ... though he stated the 'recommended' method almost word perfect from the handbook. He said the run in period is more for the rest of the car and the gearbox / brakes / suspension to settle in.
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The problem is we just dont believe the delaers :lipsrsealed:
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
You do know the dealer can reset the milage with the VAG 5051?
Isnt that illegal??
when i bought my old cupra it had 5 miles on it, i drove it home and took the wife to Tescos, while i was waiting for her i was playing with all the instrument and somehow i managed to knock off the 50 miles i had put on the car !!!!, when i checked on the forums i found that the dealers had a secret combination they could do to new cars , like pressing wipers etc etc (only once, and under 100 miles iirc) that would zero the miles from the car
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Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.
Thats not the case with most. Mine only had 4 miles on. i was told that was to fill her up before i collected. Plus a small amount of moving her around. :cool:
You do know the dealer can reset the milage with the VAG 5051?
Isnt that illegal??
when i bought my old cupra it had 5 miles on it, i drove it home and took the wife to Tescos, while i was waiting for her i was playing with all the instrument and somehow i managed to knock off the 50 miles i had put on the car !!!!, when i checked on the forums i found that the dealers had a secret combination they could do to new cars , like pressing wipers etc etc (only once, and under 100 miles iirc) that would zero the miles from the car
That would make sense as the cars need to be "zero'd down" when new after testing etc to stop customers moaning about the milage.