Breaking-in period

I was told by the dealer to not use the "manual" transmission (paddle shifters) and to try not to floor the gas pedal.

luckylen said:

What are general instructions for breaking-in period?

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Also, full details in section 8-1, page 376 of the owner's manual.

As long as you are not a crazy, aggressive driver, just drive the car and you'll be fine

I'd make sure to vary the RPM and try not to go over 4k for about 1,000miles....although mine had over 200 miles on it when I picked it up and probably was floored several times to redline during those 200

I would not be afraid to push it to 4k though as you want to seat the rings. I know when breaking in snowmobile engines it's important not to baby the engine for the 1st few hundred miles to insure everything seats in correctly.

I kept mine under 2,500k rpms and stayed under 65mph during the break in. Also don't cruise at a continuous speed for long periods. I did a 720 mile round trip during my break in, but I made sure to vary the speed as I was doing it. Hills up and down helped.

Now that it's broken in, my gas mileage has dropped from 28 down to 23 as I can't seem to keep my foot off the gas as the turbo is too much fun! Also, 85 vs 65 hurts with the air resistance as it's much taller and wider than my Outback.

Just cleared the break in period! My inclination is to continue to drive like a grandma (no offense to grandmas on the board) but it's nice to know that if I want to I could kick it up from time to time.

J_Ascent2020 said:

Just cleared the break in period!

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I highly recommend checking how it feels to push the skinny pedal harder ?
At least that way you’ll know what it can do when you need it. Just don’t get addicted if you don’t want to visit the pump early!

J_Ascent2020 said:

Just cleared the break in period! My inclination is to continue to drive like a grandma (no offense to grandmas on the board) but it's nice to know that if I want to I could kick it up from time to time.

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xydadx3 said:

I highly recommend checking how it feels to push the skinny pedal harder ?
At least that way you’ll know what it can do when you need it. Just don’t get addicted if you don’t want to visit the pump early!

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I too look for any excuse to floor it.

I mean, yes, it's a good idea to test what the car can do.

Robert.Mauro said:

it's a good idea to test what the car can do.

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So you're saying it's basically a safety issue. I can get behind that.

J_Ascent2020 said:

So you're saying it's basically a safety issue. I can get behind that.

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Yes, that excu.... reason... is also valid. Safety is good.

A car isn't safe, unless it has a certain level of acceleration. You need to be able to confidently accelerate and merge onto a highway (or busy two-lane divided road if you live in New Jersey or Long island). As I mentioned before, I came from a turbo V8, and the Ascent has no issues whatsoever with power and acceleration.