Car has 7 miles put by the port/dealer. Will have to drive home right away, so city miles will be minimal before hitting the open road.
I'll be very easy on the throttle, but would like to know how fast I can take it (eg. 80 mph first 100 miles, 85 next 100, 100 there after, blah blah) and how much to vary the rpms if that's still recommended.
How long before applying full throttle?
I usually drive very gently, but like to open up my cars every once in a while so they don't become a turtle.

Your comments are very much appreciated.

JC

 

JC,

Pedal to the metal. If somethings going to blow, let it happen under warranty.

As stupid as this sounds.......when i was a kid I knew an ace mechanic that used to build and maintain race cars. His advice (from experience) was as follows:

- When you get a new car, beat on it from day one. The way you break it in will be the way it'll drive for it's entire life.

- Don't make a lot of "panic stops" for the first 300 miles. You don't want to glaze the shoes or the rotors.

- Change the oil after the first 1,000 miles and FAITHFULLY every 3,000 after that.

I've actually taken his advice on every car since 1969. They all ran great (except the Buick, the Pontiac and the Mustang).

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck with the new car !

 

The notion of breaking in a car "like you plan to drive it" is a old wives tale with NO merit. It's stupid and dangerous. These engines are nearly bullet-proof and you may only be trading service life long after you've sold it, but you never know what you'll decide to keep long-term.
I'd suggest you go to the BMW M3 site and see what they require to maintain the warranty. In summary, you don't exceed about 60% of redline rpm for the first 1200 miles and then gradually approach redline over the next 1800. An oil change occurs at 1200 miles. A more high-strung engine than that in an SC430 but the same issues in play.

My advice to you is as follows:

1. Baby the car in terms of acceleration until the car is up to temp and the oil is flowing well. Nothing is more important than that ANY time in the life-cycle.

2. Vary your revs and speed on the way home but stay well away from the redline and avoid full throttle accelerations. This won't be hard to do. Then do basically the same for the next 600 miles, change the oil and drive with increasing aggressivness to 3000 miles. I'd also switch to synthetic oil at the first change. The crap you read about valves not seating is baloney. MANY new cars come with synthetic to start. I've switched over before 1,000 miles in my last 5 cars and have never burned oil in any of them. These oils are so much better in terms of film strength, etc. Maybe overkill for some, but no me. Especially in a 60K car.

Good luck. It's nice to see you are interested in taking good care of one of the nicest motors out there.

 

Old wives tale or not, it's worked for me. Each to his own belief BigHat.

As far as BMW's.........New M3's have been notorious for engine problems as of late. They also "recommend" that you use only their brand of oil..............at 9 bucks a quart. The day I see a "BMW" sign on a refinery is the day I'll take their advice.

 

Hey bighat, I always put fully synthetic oil on my vehicles right off the bat, but with OEM oil filter, just in case. This 'old wives' tale is especially alive with BMW motorcycles; folks there say to wait until 20K miles (ha ha). I switched right away and my bike is smoother than ever, and consumes no oil at all. Hopefully the SC has a hole on the undertray for the filter, unlike my GS400.

Now that we're on the subject, which is the cheapest toyota/lexus place to buy OEM filters and other parts? I need to buy a touch-up paint right away as well. I remember buying stuff for my GS from a guy in CA (supraTRD or something like that). Your input is welcome.

Later.

JC

 

Carson Toyota and the guys name is "Steve". He's extremely knowlegeable (sp??) and an all around nice person.

 

Not trying to be adversarial, but your comments on the M3 are wrong.

The facts:

1. The current engines are fine. The late "01 and early '02 had a defective part in the low end of the engine. BMW has replaced the engines under warranty and has extended the warranty on all cars through the '03 model year to 6 years and 100K miles. No word yet on the '04s. Yes, engines have failed outside this production window, but not many and rarely at all since the defective part was identified. In any event, I don't know how this is relevant anyway. They have recommended this break-in process before the engine defect was discovered and still do now that it has been resolved.

2. BMW doesn't recommend its own oil, they don't have their own oil. They demand the use of 10W60 synthetic in the M3 to manitain the warranty. Castrol has product specifically blended for the M3, but nothing wrong with using any synthetic 10W60. I've seen it for $9 at the dealership but I have also seen it for $7 which isn't out of whack. BMW maintenance is free for the first 4 yours anyway so who are they trying to cheat out of money.

 

Me neither BigHat. I'm just basing what I know on conversations with mechanics and enthusiast owners. A friend of mine is the sales manager for a NY Infiniti dealership that also owns a BMW and Mercedes dealerships. Then again, those guys have their opinions as well.........

7 bucks a quart for oil is pretty steep. Mobil 1 is about $3.50 and I'm sure just as good.

Two of my friends have M3's....one 2001 Coupe and the other a 2002 convertible. Both are quick, agile and a bit too "quirky" for my taste.

Whatever you drive, enjoy it and Happy Motoring !

 

It is funny that you wrote this. Not making any judgement on you or the different break in theories but...

With every car I've bought, the salesperson said to baby it and break it in for the first nnn (depends on the salesperson) miles. When I went to BMW, that salesperson told me to drive it hard from the start so that the computer would adapt to my style of driving. Maybe it was that salesperson's personal philosophy.

Just a little life experience to share.

 

Most of the high-end autos have computer assisted TRANSMISSIONS that adapt to your driving style. In essence, you train the car to your taste. You can play around with it and see it get more responsive to your needs, especially going from mellow to aggressive. Shift points come at higher rpm, etc. This is really different from the engine break-in issue. There's nothing the engine "learns."

I'm not surprised that you heard that from your sales rep. There is no worker population that knows less about the products they sell than car salesmen. I don't even think they read the car rags. BMW is MUCH poorer as a group than Lexus. For example, BMW has a placard hanging from the mirror telling you about the mandatory break-in process noted above and the free oil change at 1200 miles. About once a week I hear of a service rep that is clueless about the process and must be shown the placard before he'll do the service.

M3 is an awesome car ,but quality pales compared to Lexus. At about $60K you get a convertible that rattles so bad it sounds like a stagecoach and a service department that stiff arms you at every turn. After years of experience with nice cars I came to realize that for me "luxury" is, first and foremost, total reliability. This is followed closely by build quality and customer service. I love gadgets, but hate nothing more than a gadget that doesn't work properly. Sadly, BMW has more of these problems than they should. Lexus quality and service and BMW driving excitement would be quite an appealing combination. I trust Lexus will get closer than BMW ever will.

 

I can attest to that BigHat. I left Lexus 2 years ago because the cars I bought were getting progressively worse with quality issues, but after having a BMW, a vette, my complaints were nothing in comparison. How about ROTORS (and pads too) every 15K for my BMW? That's ridiculous. Even my '03 BMW K1200RS bike, which has been built for SIX years, is leaking oil, having transmission problems, and 2 TSBs issued JUST THIS YEAR. Unbelievable on a $17K bike with only 3K miles. And what people say? But you have a BMW, like if it was a prized possession or something. Just like you said: a luxury vehicle should start by being reliable, before anything else. I haven't given a chance to MB because I didn't like their step backwards with a SOHC engine with 3 valves, and don't particularly like their interiors either. I honestly hope Lexus goes back to its previous glory (before everybody started catering to Wall Street instead of customers), but compared to the others, they're easily ahead in quality.
I also hope we all bash Lexus when it's necessary in order to force them to improve, or we'll be like the BMW, vette, etc. guys which are 'too proud' of their cars to say anything bad about them. That's a very stupid attitude IMO. I think we're smart enough not to be 'obsessed' with a stupid car; all we ask from our cars is to be reliable. At least I do. If we want it to keep up with a 911, we'd be at fault because it's the wrong car for that.

The only thing I wish lexus had done with the V8 was to make it a no-major-maintenance engine, but decided to save a few bucks with mechanical (vs hydraulic) valves and cheap belt (vs chain)-driven cams that require replacement at 60K miles (to be safe), at a stratospheric cost (cash cow for dealers). Other than that, there's no comparison in quality. By researching the SC, I was pleasantly surprised to find out its problems have been minor and few since its inception, and hopefully all but eliminated by the end of '03. As I've always said, as long as I don't have mechanical issues, and not too many other problems, I'm a happy camper.

Take care.

JC

 

So 60% of redline? That's 3,600 rpm, right? How fast the SC is going at those rpms in 5th? Hopefully fast enough. Since i'll be with my daughter, I don't plan to exceed 100 on wide open roads.

The haggling is almost over; should hear a final answer from dealer on that new '03 at any time.

Thanks.