Hey all!

I tried searching this on the forum, but came up with no results. My car is about 2 weeks old now, and has 620 miles on it. The dealer told me not to redline it for 1200 miles, and the manual says there is no set "break-in period" but for extra safety wait till 600 miles. This is my first new car, and I don't want to do anything bad to it, so any input will help :|

 

Just be gentle in general, especially when the car is cold. No full throttle application should ever take place on any car when operating temps have not been achieved. It's better to drive a car to warm it up than to let it idle for 5 to 10 minutes. These are just a few general guidelines that are always good. Check Racing Beat's site for excellent break in recommendations also.

Paul.

 

Are you serious, there are a million posts about this. I'll give you the short answer, there is no 1 right way. Everybody has a different opinion. Rotary gurus and engine builders seem to advocate a hard break-in.

Personally, I drove it nice for the first 600 miles with no full throttle and a 5K to occasional 7K RPM limit. After 600 miles, I changed the oil and let it rip.

 

Yes, there are many opinions on what's the best way to break-in a new RX-8. At one extreme, some believe you should drive it real hard right from day one. Mazda's 600 mile break-in—see your Owner's Manual—is pretty much the standard break-in you'll find for any new car. Finally, if you're very **** (like me), you can follow Racing Beat's break-in:

https://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda4.htm …and then click the "How To Break-In Your New RX-8!" box on the upper right part of the page.

 

This article is helpful but it suggests that this "may" help the life of your engine and that no "special break in is necessary". Bottomline: Don't abuse the engine. Break-in period or not. If you rag on the engine and brakes on a consistent basis you'll be visiting your dealership for constant repairs.

 

As unscientific as the data is, the consensus seems to be that those who track, autocross, and drive the car hard are the ones with little or no problems. Each to his own, but Ill be enjoying mine without concern if you know what I mean More important than if you like to rev it not are oil changes which you should never skimp on, rotary or not.

 

Everyone has an opinion, but Racing Beat's guidelines seem to make the most sense to me:


- For the first 1000 miles do not accelerate under full throttle.
- During the first 1000 miles do not exceed 4000 RPM.
- For miles 1000-2000, expand the RPM upwards - but do not accelerate at full throttle.
- Over 2000 miles, full throttle and high RPM is acceptable.

Having owned several new cars, this seems to me to be the way to break in an engine. A gradual increase in the usable rev band seems to help engine life.

So do frequent oil changes........

 

basically... take it easy for 2000 miles.