Brand new car - long idle before break-in

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: quint
I worked at a dealer a long time ago. There wasnt a single car on the lot that hadnt been horribly, viciously abused within inches of its death at least once (I could say the same about the customers for the way they were treated....) Started up and instantly redlined, neutral drops, left idling forever, dead batteries because someone left the car running with the radio on while moving it until it ran out of gas and forgot about it, etc. The lot guys were in high school, making minimum wage, and didnt give a rats behind about anything. The cars didnt seem to mind the abuse. A bit of idling or a spirited ride early in its life wont hurt anything, I wouldnt be concerned about it at all.



+1 LOL I worked at 5 different dealerships. I watched lot boys and salesmen beat the [censored] out of cars moving them. Five grand+ hole shots, power braking, burnouts, you name it were not uncommon, with stone cold engines. In fact if they didn't get a beating it was odd. Honestly it's water under the bridge since we can't go back in time. I'd find something else to worry about, everyone of those cars survived.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Put it in gear and drive it.

 

[emmett442]

I'm pretty new here...but I gotta say, some of the stuff I see on BITOG is really bizarre. Get out, do something exciting. If you spend time worrying about stuff like this, your mind is too idle! You're bored!

Your car is a machine that you purchased to serve you. Use it while living your life!

 

[KrisZ]

Bob Is The Obsessive Guy.

 

[Huie83]

When I picked up my 2013 explorer years back, it had 6 miles on it but 12 hours of idle time!

I'm guessing that it was moved around a lot and just left idling. I Traded it in @ 45K miles, engine was fine the whole time. No oil burning etc. I'm sure you'll be fine, if not, that's what a warranty is for.

 

[PimTac]

I didn't know about the idling times but it makes sense. I bought my last Mitsu way back in 2000 with less than 1 mile on the odo. It did run beautifully during its long life.

I remember reading the story about the Audi or BMW , can't remember the brand, that was used in a demo or something that was on the media. These were rarer models and a owner discovered that his new car was one of those being trashed. After complaining,The automaker swapped him for a new one that had not been demonstrated with. Yea, I would be [censored] if someone had tracked or otherwise my car before I got hold of it without disclosure from the dealer.

One vehicle I bought was a Ford Ranger driven 200 miles in a dealer swap since what I wanted was not in inventory. That truck was a pos. It never ran right. This was before Lemon laws. I finally traded it on a Toyota Tacoma. Absolutely no issues whatsoever. So the stories have two sides.

 

[379KITTY]

Wife's 11 Equinox had about 250 miles on it when we bought it new due to dealer trade. I'm guessin it was on cruise nearly all the way (which is not recommended initially) or driven like a bat outa [censored]. Either way, 60K on it now with absolutely no issues whatsoever so it survived apparently.

 

[SatinSilver]

My first new car back in 1994 was a Civic Coupe that had to be driven in from Erie, PA to Cleveland. So it had about 300 miles on it. It was a stripper version, but at least I was able to get the color I wanted with a dealer that was nice to work with. The only issue it had were the speakers blowing out, or giving off a lot of static. One by one each one went. So they put a new one at each oil change.

 

[PimTac]

If a new car with automatic transmission has a lot of mikes on it, should the buyer ask for the learning process be flashed so it can learn the new owners habits etc?

 

[SilverFusion2010]

You can wipe that by disconnecting the battery for a minute or two.