under 50mph til broke in?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gabe @ Jun 16 2006, 02:59 PM) [snapback]272431[/snapback]</div>

I was told stay under 85 mph for the first 600 miles

 

I was only told no aggressive accellerating or hard braking in the first 500 miles. My dealer is about 25-30 miles up the freeway from where I live, so I drove it 65+mph for the first 30 miles or so. Lots of people have flown across country or across their state to pick up their Prius and driven them home at highway speeds (70+mph) with no ill effects.

 

bah.

mainly the engine "break in period" nowadays is just the initial use of the engine. because most major manufacturing defect-related failures occur soon after the vehicle is put into service, it's kind of their way of minimizing possible damage to engine components and therefore the warranty repair cost should something go wrong.

DH spent a week or so pioneering the first rebuild of the new Tundra engine shortly after it came out. after he finished, he took all his hard work and test drove it very, very hard. now why would he go and do that if it would have thrown all his hard work out the window? the truck hasn't come back for engine trouble since.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gabe @ Jun 16 2006, 04:59 PM) [snapback]272431[/snapback]</div>

Now you have two reasons not to patronize this local dealer.
1. Long waits.
2. He's a liar.

 

Just drive it like any other car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gabe @ Jun 16 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]272431[/snapback]</div>

My dealer here in Carson California told me to drive the prius not to exceed 60 MPH for 1000 miles as part of a good break in.

 

RTFM kids. Page 318 of the '06 Owner's Manual:

Break-in period.

Drive gently and avoid high speeds.

Your vehicle does not need an elaborate break-in. But following a few simple tips for the first 1000 km (600 miles) can add to the future economy and long life of your vehicle:

• Avoid full-throttle acceleration when starting and driving.
• Avoid racing the hybrid engine.
• Try to avoid hard stops during the first 300 km (200 miles).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gabe @ Jun 16 2006, 02:59 PM) [snapback]272431[/snapback]</div>

Now for a question. What exactly is it that could even BEGIN to make you believe this local guy of yours, who is CLEARLY on the shortlist to win honest salesman of the year? I mean, what on earth could he stand to gain by giving you any kind of misinformation? He REALLY just has YOUR best interests at heart, doesn't he?

 

The only thing I was told was to not use the cruise control for a few hundred miles so the engine break in would include varying speeds. Other than that no restrictions.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(San_Carlos_Jeff @ Jun 16 2006, 07:41 PM) [snapback]272478[/snapback]</div>

This reminds me of my first visit to a dealership a couple of months ago. Over the phone, they told me they had several Prius available, as well as the Yaris, the Scion xA and TC, the Corolla, etc. When I got there 30 minutes later, the Prius and Yaris were just sold, they didn't have TC for sale but one of the salesmen owned one so I could 'see' it, but they had a brand new 2007 Camry that I MUST try. So I test-drove the Camry, didn't like the car because the automatic transmission was very 'bumpy' when changing gears (and I really didn't WANT a Camry to begin with, even if it DID have a sun roof). Sensing that 'NO' meant "NO' after I'd repeated it several dozen times, he let me test drive a USED 2005 Prius that had been a dealer loaner/rental car. I fell in love with the Prius, but didn't want a used car at above the MSRP of the current model with the same package, and specifically would not accept a silver car - call me foolish and arbitrary, but I wasn't going to buy a car the color of the one that t-boned my old car two days earlier. So he tried to talk me into the Camry again while he was trying to 'find' the salesman who owned a TC, but couldn't even get a copy of the window sticker on the Camry (it wasn't ON the car), and dinked around for another half hour or so after I told him that I'd like to test drive the Scion xA. He took me out to the lot to get the xA, found out he didn't have the right keys, and proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't get the Scion - it takes at least a year to get one that has the side air bags.

Your reason #2 was sufficient for me!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bobrye @ Jun 17 2006, 04:30 AM) [snapback]272627[/snapback]</div>

That may be true for conventional cars, however, due to the planetary gears power splitting device which the Prius uses in lieu of a transmission, there is no direct correlation between the speed of the car and the engine's RPMs.

 

Car dealers and salesmen don't know any more about cars than anyone else, a lot less about our cars than some of the people on this site. As galaxee said some of the mechanics do know a lot, and they follow their own rules. A lot of the old instructions about "breaking in" your new car are out of the 50s and 60s or even before and are no longer required. The short section in the owners manual, page 204 in my 2005 manual, is sufficient. I think it is more important to "break in" the brakes than the engine.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 16 2006, 04:32 PM) [snapback]272473[/snapback]</div>

I never thought about it that way. I'm gonna run the Prius hard now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tumbleweed @ Jun 22 2006, 04:04 PM) [snapback]275402[/snapback]</div>

I went to four dealers -- the salesmen at the first three were hopeless. At the first dealer, they couldn't even explain the warrantees let alone anything about the car itself. Actually, I did reserve a car there because I test drove a 2005 Prius and was immediately sold. They had a car in a color and option package I wanted that was arriving within a few days and I had heard how difficult it was so I ordered it. I cancelled my order, however, when I figured that I could get the same thing for $300-$500 less somewhere else and they refused to negotiate. Anyway, back to general ignorance. At another dealer, the guy told me to step on the gas pedal when pressing Power to start the engine. Then another guy was telling me to ignore the Energy/Consumption monitor because it's just a distraction and doesn't mean anything.

However, at the fourth place I visited, where I bought my car, there was a sales manager who not only has been driving a Prius since 2001, but was extremely knowledgable and eager to share his knowledge. He explained how the gas and electric engines work, and answered all my questions about driving techniques, etc. Regarding accelerating, his opinion is that you get the best gas mileage by accelerating fairly aggressively and then letting off the gas. He never mentioned anything about a break-in period. He said all the guidelines were written based on old technology.

Although, as I said, I had already made up my mind to buy a Prius and was just waiting to get the one that I wanted -- I felt really good about buying from somebody who really knew and loved the product he was selling. As it turned out, I got a reasonable price ($100 under MSRP, which just offset the $100 processing fee) for a car in the color I wanted with the #3 option package (I don't think the higher options are worth the extra money) and I only had to wait about 4 days.

 

I took it easy as far as trying to take off like Mario Andretti, but I did keep it under 90.

You can get to 90 quite easy if your not used to the car... it so smooth.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gabe @ Jun 16 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]272431[/snapback]</div>

The top selling Prius salesman in New England, Gilles Labelle of Westboro, MA Toyota, told me the Prius doesn't need a break in period. I lived in New York and found the Prius I wanted in Evansville Indiana. I flew to Indiana, then drove the car 1200 miles on the highway to NY. Now my Prius has 26,000 miles and runs great.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nyprius @ Jun 22 2006, 10:47 PM) [snapback]275630[/snapback]</div>

My dealer gave me a call today to check up on the car, he mentioned that there is no break in period, that the engines are already 'broken in' enough from quality control measures (for this car) and to only worry about not driving it like a race car (not that it's your first thought given the car) and to not worry about changing the oil until the 5K mark, but if I felt the need, 3K would be fine and that my first tune-up should be around 10K. He was the factory rep 'guy' that works at this dealer.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xen @ Jun 22 2006, 09:36 PM) [snapback]275650[/snapback]</div>

You did mean 100K right?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 16 2006, 07:32 PM) [snapback]272473[/snapback]</div>

I also lean more towards DH's approach. At http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm the mechanic says he breaks engines in hard, but it really is during the first 20 minutes or so that the break-in procedure is important. He actually thanks the hotrod salesmen and saleswomen for helping unknowing customers. However, as Rufaro pointed out, the manual states "Avoid full-throttle acceleration when starting and driving." So I would do about 85% to 90% of full-throttle acceleration, that way I'm still within what the manual recommends.