Running in your weekend car

[Hoofy]

Was just speaking to a friendly chap who picked up his Emira yesterday with just 200 miles on the clock. He has to do another 800 as part of the run in. It'll be his weekend car so I was wondering how someone deals with having a crazy, fun car and can't drive it properly for ages. I do about 5 miles max for a weekend!

Would love to hear your tricks and tips for this. Do you just keep driving round the M25?

[Hoofy]

EmailAddress said:

I used to drive mine in on Fridays as it was usually quieter in the mornings and knock off mid-afternoon and take the scenic route.

I guess if you commuted 20-30 miles a day, it's doable in half a year.

[PositronicRay]

It's a service I provide.

[Missy Charm]

My current car isn't big enough to walk in, let alone run. One might be able to sidle crabwise in something like a stretched Lincoln Town Car, assuming side mounted bench seating, but the only vehicle truly suited to the sport of onboard running is a bus or coach. A few shuttles up and down the centre aisle ought to see one break a decent sweat.

[Hoofy]

PositronicRay said:

It's a service I provide.

On a serious note, I have thought about offering this service but I'm not sure I could do it and not get really bored. I could catch up on a lot of reading! (Audio books obvs!)

[Zarco]

I think the idea of a weekend car is you drive it for fun. Not just use it to go the supermarket and back on Saturday morning. Maybe it's not for you Hoofy

If I needed to run it in I could easily do 200-300 miles over a weekend. Just drive to some fun roads in Wales and back.

[Hoofy]

EmailAddress said:

Hoofy said:

EmailAddress said:

I used to drive mine in on Fridays as it was usually quieter in the mornings and knock off mid-afternoon and take the scenic route.

I guess if you commuted 20-30 miles a day, it's doable in half a year.

Unfortunately it was nearer 60. Each way.

Ouch. On the plus side, you get to run in a car very, very quickly!

[Hoofy]

Missy Charm said:

My current car isn't big enough to walk in, let alone run. One might be able to sidle crabwise in something like a stretched Lincoln Town Car, assuming side mounted bench seating, but the only vehicle truly suited to the sport of onboard running is a bus or coach. A few shuttles up and down the centre aisle ought to see one break a decent sweat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXDo4dL7SU

[Hoofy]

Zarco said:

I think the idea of a weekend car is you drive it for fun. Not just use it to go the supermarket and back on Saturday morning. Maybe it's not for you Hoofy

If I needed to run it in I could easily do 200-300 miles over a weekend. Just drive to some fun roads in Wales and back.

True. I drove for about 20 minutes to fuel up then came home. I did enjoy the drive, though!

[Monkeylegend]

It's the "Running In Please Pass" sticker on the back that would piss me off the most.

[South tdf]

I know someone that collected their new M3 on 1st March and took it back in for its running in service on 5th March after doing a quick tour of the Highlands.

[Hoofy]

South tdf said:

I know someone that collected their new M3 on 1st March and took it back in for its running in service on 5th March after doing a quick tour of the Highlands.

Impressive. Must have been tempting to exceed the guidelines for running it in if the roads are anything like I imagine.

[W201_190e]

Do people still bother? When I worked in dealerships, no one did.

[Equus]

W201_190e said:

Do people still bother? When I worked in dealerships, no one did.

I'd be interested to know what the factory recommendations for the Emira are: I thought these days it came down to 'don't thrash the tits off it for the first few hundred miles'?

[e-honda]

Hoofy said:

Impressive. Must have been tempting to exceed the guidelines for running it in if the roads are anything like I imagine.

What does exceeding the guidelines mean?
For the lotus it seems to basically be avoid revving over 4k rpm and using more than half throttle most of the time, but make sure you do some of the time.
I have a car with a similar amount of power and a fair amount more weight, if I spent much time above half throttle and / or 4k rpm I'd be racking up a fair amount of points.
If anything I'd say many people will have the opposite problem of the lack of opportunity to open it up on occasion which is particularly bad for running in a car.

[Hoofy]

e-honda said:

Hoofy said:

Impressive. Must have been tempting to exceed the guidelines for running it in if the roads are anything like I imagine.

What does exceeding the guidelines mean?
For the lotus it seems to basically be avoid revving over 4k rpm and using more than half throttle most of the time, but make sure you do some of the time.
I have a car with a similar amount of power and a fair amount more weight, if I spent much time above half throttle and / or 4k rpm I'd be racking up a fair amount of points.
If anything I'd say many people will have the opposite problem of the lack of opportunity to open it up on occasion which is particularly bad for running in a car.

Yeah - those kinds of guidelines.

Is the last bit true about being bad for a new car then?

[brillomaster]

Pretty sure if i had a car that needed a 1000mile run in, id have fish and chips for lunch in lands end on saturday, and then a fried mars bar for lunch in inverness on sunday.

I live near birmingham. Two days, job jobbed.

[breadvan]

I picked up my GT4 on 1st March ready for a Euro trip in May. With a crazy 1,800 mile running in period, I’m having trouble doing the miles even using the car as a daily. Certainly getting to know it though and as others have said, 4k rpm is plenty fast enough most of the time on our roads.

Not sure I’m fully embracing the flippers mentality though.

[chopper602]

I had to run-in my GR86 for 1000 miles. Picked it up 11th Feb. Took about 6 weeks. There were quite a few 'emergencies'

[Nickp82]

Up on Jack stands , engage a gear , turn engine on, come back the next day. Job jobbed