qwertykid0

Hi all. I will be purchasing a new 2021 GX460 in the coming weeks and need engine break-in advice as my daily/weekly driving is very different now with working home. I plan to keep this GX460 as my forever vehicle with meticulous upkeep, maintenance, care. This is why I've decided to purchase it new as I don't intend (knock wood) to purchase another vehicle for a very long time and I'm ok spending more to know that I'm the sole owner (I looked at CPO but hard to find the standard safety features of pre-collision unless you find a Luxury and CPO prices are pretty high right now - Just feels like going with a 2021 with the safety features standard plus w/ dealer and manufacturer incentives - made sense for me).

Here's the situation as it relates to break-in period, since I can't really avoid the fact that 5 days a week in morning I have to do a lot of city driving. Only on the weekends, would I be able to get above 20mph and hit higher RPM's .

Please let me know your thoughts on everything here! Not sure if I'm over-thinking this but my first GX460 and I want it to last!

Weekday Situation
- Monday to Friday driving in morning is a total of 4.3 miles taking 26 minutes round trip
- Some of this involves idling for 1-3 minutes as it involves kid drop-off at a school and then a daycare
- I prefer to idle because it's such a short trip to begin with, so I'd rather let the engine stay on than to turn off/on (twice)
- This is all city driving - I never really get faster than 20mph because of the inevitable next stop sign or red light

So based on this, I was actually thinking perhaps 1-2x a weekday morning, after the morning drop-off w/ kids - that I go drive for another 10-15 minutes just to give RPM's a little variation, get up to a faster speed than city driving, and allow the engine (of course keeping it below 4K RPM).

Additionally given all this city driving, I was planning on doing more of a 5K oil change service interval to keep the oil fresh as I'm highly unlikely to drive 5K in 6 months until I go back into the office. I read up on all the OCI details in the forums here and most are doing between 5K and 10K (some 7.5K) but it all varies by your driving conditions. Pre-pandemic I averaged 16K a year (60 mile highway daily round commute to office). Now I'm probably averaging 5-6K annually based on driving patterns over the last several months.

Weekend Situation
- Would likely make 1-2 driving trips ranging 20-30 minutes of semi-highway driving - say 15-20 miles
- Occasional longer trips say 30-50 miles and maybe every other a month a trip that's 100 miles or so
- Until I get to 1,000+ on the odometer, will try to vary the speed on the highway to avoid constant RPM

Lexus guidance is:
1. No sudden stops in first 200 miles (OK, easy enough will coast to stops)
2. No towing in first 500 miles (OK, easy enough / done)
3. For the first 1000 miles (1600 km): (OK, easy enough / done)
- Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
- Avoid sudden acceleration.
- Do not drive continuously in low gears.
- Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

SlickTRD

i drove my brand new 2019 off the lot like i stole it and never looked back. i think if you want the best for the life of your car, keep up with regular scheduled maintenance and fluid changes and you will be good for a long long time.

situman

Dont stress out about these things. Just dont do anything stupid that's all Lexus is saying. Just chill out and relax for the 1st 1k miles.

qwertykid0

Thanks! Yes, absolutely will keep w/ regular maintenance, particularly the 10K changes for oil/filter and any other fluids as needed. From what I can tell, the 5K changes are really just inspection and some tire rotation which I could probably forgo and just build the tire rotation into the oil change at 10K. I may though, do my oil change more frequently than 10K as fresh oil/filter can't hurt and should have some improvement on longevity of the GX.

qwertykid0

100%. Thanks for the advice. I figured as much. And I know I definitely sound overly OCD above with my original post But definitely, chill out, relax, and just drive it w/o doing anything stupid. Very good synopsis for a TLDR.

MrTorgue

Modern engines don’t really need a “break in” period much anymore. Bought numerous new vehicles and a couple former rentals (everyone knows how people treat rentals) and I drone them all pretty hard with rush hour traffic and a heavy foot from the get go and never had a mechanical problem. My problems were always with stupid electronics across multiple brands. Proper maintenance is key.

So OP, just drove like you normally do and properly maintain it like you said and you’re golden. Don’t forget the GX is quite possibly one of the best rugged reliable vehicles you can buy today, mechanically.

qwertykid0

Much appreciated!

ASE

... yes, they do need a break-in period. For the first 1,000 miles avoid hard acceleration and avoid constant speeds for any extended length of time ... mixed driving conditions are best.

I also change the oil and filter at 1,200 miles and again at 5,000 miles and then every 5,000 to 6,000 miles.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

+1 on the early oil change.

AzAL

Be nice on your rotors for 500+ miles, no high revs or long sustained rpms for first 1000. Enjoy the new car, and really no need for oil change intervals less than 10k miles. Do get the diffs changed at 15k or so. Enjoy the new, old car; it is basically a 2010 car.

qwertykid0

makes total sense. I will absolutely enjoy this new old car.

JonGX

def agree with an early oil change

GXinUT

The dealership manager drove my 2020 GX for its first 220 miles and I have no idea how he treated it. At least I got a demo car discount when I bought it. At least they provide free oil change at the six and twelve month marks.

qwertykid0

I was in a similar situation. The 2021 GX I took delivery of had 119 miles on it. I found out about it the night beforehand and was stressing a bit that it was so high. I then did some research using Lexus VIN to look at the service history and it turns out it was initially delivered to one dealer and then sold/swapped to the dealer I purchased from. That would have accounted for a big chunk of the 119 miles. The sales person said only Lexus employees drove it, but that's really hard to buy completely.

My brother gave me a great perspective. He said, think about all the people who have leased the GX470 or GX460 over the last 15 years. They likely drove it like it's stolen right off the lot given it's a lease. And who knows, maybe a good chunk of these leases weren't even that well-maintained. And yet, when these GX return to the dealer, they get snapped up by enthusiasts and then are driven another couple hundred thousand miles without a ton of issues. These vehicles are truly built well and are reliable.

I realized he was right and I immediately stopped worrying about the 119 miles that the dealer had on it when I got it. I also was able to get a little bit more of a deal/discount, but not as steep as a true demo discount, so at least that was somewhat accounted for.

I'm babying this thing and will be doing all regular maintenance and fluids - and will even get an oil change early at 1,000 miles as I purchased this GX to be a very long-term vehicle. So that first 100-200 miles, hopefully no one really smashed the RPM too much and kept the vehicle in fairly good shape. But even if so, the leasing experience mentioned above makes me comfortable that we'll be OK!

JonGX

Toyota/Lexus vehicles are very forgiving. That's a great viewpoint re: the leased vehicles. There are ALOT of high-mileage Toyota/Lexus vehicles out there. I have a 99 4Runner that just hit 401,000 miles and doesn't leak a drop of anything. I had an 2007 BMW 530 with 130k miles and there was always some new leak or electrical gremlin to deal with.

I saw the following on the comments section of Jalopnik a while back and took a screenshot because it really made me laugh:

"See, here's the thing: Japanese cars don't require maintenance.
You can park it on the street in the snow, never change the oil, never get it serviced, and somehow it will keep driving for 150k miles without complaining. And if something does break...just replace it...that one faulty part won't cause the rest of the car to fall apart.
Meanwhile, if you look at a German car wrong, the control arm joints die, which causes the car to judder under braking, which warps the rotors, which unevenly wears the pads, which rattles the engine, which breaks a knock sensor, which damages the engine, which totals the car."