Not worried about break in. If it has more than 25k miles on it when we trade it I’d be surprised.

 

Just noticed now.....from the front tag, you apparantly got it at Fair Oaks Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler (you can see the Brown Chantilly Mazda shop there, in the distance, to the right, across the street). Nice, big, impressive place...but, then, all of the dealerships in that Chantilly complex are. One of the best local Chrysler shops I've seen in terms of space, facilities, parking, service, etc....(I've done a number of reviews there, and shopped with some people). But that place had one odd quirk...it was the dealership I wrote about, a while ago, in Car Chat, where they had the most disorganized system for keeping all of the keys and key/fobs for their vehicles that I had ever seen. No order whatsoever. Most places, of course, keep the keys in an electronically-accessed lock-box or cabinet, numerically-hung in order. The last time I was there, at least, they had just thrown all of the keys and key-fobs (with attached stock-numbers) into an open cardboard box, and left the box out on the floor near the sales manager. To find the key I needed for the test-drive, the sales-person simply took the box, dumped all of them out on the floor (no, I'm not kidding), got down on his hands and knees, and started going through them, looking for the correct stock-number. I didn't have my cell-phone with me, to take a picture or video...and, even if I did, I didn't want to hurt the guy's feelings by recording it. I guess the system basically worked, or the General Manager would probably have changed it......but certainly unprofessional, to say the least.

The than that, though, and a couple of salespeople that seemed air-headed at times............ generally an impressive place.

 

I know the President of the dealership's husband. My partner bought a Ram truck there about 2 weeks ago too. Great experience...

I did notice the same key thing you did though lol

 

^ Seriously on that key thing???? That's crazy, hilarious and kind of pathetic. I'm betting they wouldn't notice a car being stolen for a week until after its gone if they're that disorganized.

 

Yeah it’s pretty ridiculous

 

mmarshall, yes, you relayed about the key situation about a year ago...

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...ml#post9652989

 

Either way, I guess it works for them. Certainly unprofessional, though. Wonder what Sergio Marchionne (FCA's CEO) would think if he ever visited the place LOL. (and that's a distinct possibility, too, as it is one of the largest Chrysler dealerships on the East Coast).

Anyhow, the main thing is that Steve and his family have a nice new minivan and appear to be quite satisfied with it. How the dealership stores the keys, even though I took the time to write about it, is probably of secondary importance.

 

Wow. No respect for future owners. Very respectful of you. 👍

 

On the risk of taking this thread off topic, why should he care about the next owner at all? SW15LS bought the car for his use and you're literally scolding him for driving it

 

The only "break in" procedures modern mainstream cars need, is regarding braking. You shouldn't make hard stops for the first ~1k miles. I guess it's better for you to hit the car in front of you than slam on the brakes!

 

For Toyota and Lexus, they still have a break in. Says right in the manual. No constant speeds. No hard acceleration. Brakes. A few others.

 

LOL, I don't hot dog any of my cars, certainly not a minivan. I have all the scheduled maintenance done, cars are babied. My LS460 has a $1,400 full front clear bra on it that will certainly benefit any future owners. I keep all the maintenance records. I use synthetic oil even when its not specified.

Anybody who buys one of my cars off a lease return is really getting a great car. I know a guy who doesn't ever change the oil or ever even wash his leased cars...he doesn't see the point. I completely disagree with that obviously.

Even if I did own it, I wouldn't worry about a break in procedure. I never have, and I've had cars for upwards of 200k miles plus.

However, if I need to drive my new car on a road trip, I'm driving it on a road trip. I'm driving a constant speed, and it will just have to be fine.

 

Let's use a little common sense here. Obviously, avoiding an accident is always top-priority.....even if you have to make a panic-stop with new brakes. The point (and Jill is correct on this) is that a proper break-in, for the pads/rotors, is to brake gently and evenly as much as possible, and (again, as much as possible) to avoid panic-stops.

 

Again though, lets bring it back to reality. What does having a panic stop during the break in period mean? It means perhaps the life of your brakes are going to be reduced. The car is not all of a sudden going to fall apart and have less usable life because you had a panic stop within the first 186 miles.

Same is true of the break in. Find a situation where somebody says when the car is old and has some problem "Man, clearly the original owner drove the car at a constant speed within the first 600 miles". Its just ridiculous. Whats the purpose? To seat the rings? Show me a modern car that blows smoke because of blow by from the rings? And again, the cause is "Man, clearly this guy drove at a constant speed within the first 600 miles".

I just drive new cars normally...the way I need to drive them. If I need to take it on a trip when it has 300 miles on it and drive it at a constant speed, thats what I'm going to do. Its a tool, thats what I bought it for. What am I going to do, skip Thanksgiving because my driving my new van may somehow possibly reduce its life that will be spent with some other owner a decade plus from now? If thats "showing disrespect to future owners" then so be it. I'm the one who paid the most for the thing, and if they want to control how its used all through its life they can pony up and buy a new one...which is why I pony up and buy new cars.

Maybe I should just pay for it and let it sit in the garage so the next owner gets a brand new vehicle? Every time I use it remember I am causing wear and tear and taking time off its life that the next owner can't enjoy.

 

Strange. I can not find any mention of engine break on my 2013 ES in the manual. Maybe a Canadian thing?