It’s exciting when you first get your hands on your brand new car. Everything is clean, shiny and smart. You can’t wait to get it on the road and give it a good test drive. However, it’s important not to push the engine hard for the first few thousand miles to prelong the life of your engine, according to the manufacturer’s advice. With advances in the technology, fuel and oil used in cars the strict ‘go slow’ advice of yesteryear is more relaxed today but it’s always wise that if you wish this vehicle to last a long time, careful driving and care to the engine in the first few thousand miles can still be beneficial. We recommend that when you pickup your new car from the dealer, ask them the best approach for running in the engine.
Running-in your new car for the first thousand miles
- Begin driving slowly, preferably in town areas ensuring all main parts of the car are bedded-in.
- Like any new tyre, they come with an oily coating. This is normal from the manufacturing process but you may notice that the handling is different in the first few hours of driving with them, especially in the wet.
- Avoid as much as possible quick acceleration and braking hard.
- Diesel engines are advised to be kept under 3000 rpm, but you can still regularly hit this limit.
- Petrol engines should be kept to 3000 rpm for the first 500 miles. Slowly increase the limit to around 4000 rpm thereafter and continue to reach this limit often.
- Try not to labour the engine – e.g. changing up gears early
- Make sure you check coolant and oil levels every week. With new cars you don’t know how quickly the oil will be used-up. For the first 6k the engine oil consumption might be high but you should see signs of it slowing, especially if you’ve looked after the car early on.
- Once 1000 miles has passed on the ‘clock’, you can slowly increase the performance of the vehicle.
If you find that you have any issues with your new car and you are inside the warranty period, contact the original dealer for help since you should be covered free of charge. Should you find your car outside of it’s warranty period, MCM Garage would be happy to assist with any issues with your car. Get in touch with us today.