"Running in" new GTi

[john_o]

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 
And get familiar with the manual mode of the DSG so you can hold it in gear.
Enjoy

[SO8]

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 

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.

[Chardy]

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".

[speedynz]

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.

[NewGolf]

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 

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.

[bobotheclown]

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  . 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?

[TagnuT]

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."
   

[R32UK]

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.

[Manu_R32]

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 

[NewGolf]

Thats what I was thinking, the cars have probably been thrashed from the port to the dealership.