I've read many threads on this forum about the break-in period and I can't seem to find a consensus of on how to properly break-in the TC or any car. This is going to be a long read... and I have a bunch of questions.

People say there's break-in oil, a special type of oil with additives, and they claim that's bad for the engine if you keep in your engine for too long. So these people recommend that you should change your oil after the 1000 mile break-in period. Is there really a special break-in oil or what? Is it really better to do an oil change at 1000 miles? Others, say... say change oil at 3,000, or 4,000... But the manual say 5,000. Who's right? What's the best way?

As for driving habits, some say you don't need to drive your car under a certain speed like 60mph,. So it's ok to drive over 60MPH+ as long as you don't hard accelerate. Keeping the RPMS around 3,000k to 3,500 is supposedly ideal. The manual isn't specific about the RPMS. Any mechanics or engineers can vouch for this?

I found one consensus is that one shouldn't drive a particular speed for a long period of time. Most people say it's recommended to drive at varying speeds. But, what defines a long period of time? Is driving 30 minutes at a constant speed a long period of time? I find it hard to drive at various speeds on the highway when there's no traffic. Am I supposed to purposely drive slow for a bit, then speed up, then drive slow, so on and so forth? That's annoying and I hate that because I hate having to keep looking at my speedometer.

If you don't properly break-in your car, how badly does that affect your gas mileage? Not properly breaking-in is what I'm afraid of. I had a horrible experience with my old car, which was a 95 Eagle Talon Tsi and it would drain so much gas, it's not funny. I don't want my TC to end up like that. I'm not rich.

And what about the whole regular gas vs premium gas, which is better for your car. Is anything above regular better for your car in terms of gas mileage and engine longevity? Which school of thought is right?

That's all the questions for now.

 

drive it like a normal person, vary up the routine, don't redline it, but don't baby it either. Proper ring seat is of course what your shooting for, and these motors are ran at the factory, but just to seal the deal, the first 50 miles I did alot of half throttle up to like 3-3.5k rpms in third gear, and then let off and let it coast, which is supposed to help seat rings because it puts a load on the motor. Does it work? I don't know, but from what I read its part of someones methodology.

 

Read it _____. It's full of knowledge. Enlightening, yet old news. Enjoy.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm