Is it me or is it that everyone either redlined the 8 when they test drove it or came pretty damn close? As we all know your not suppose to redline that damn thing until 1000 miles, so they say. But does it really mess up the engine and if so how?

 

I redlined during all 3 of the test drives that I went on.

I didn't redline my car till around 950 miles were on it.

I did chirp my tires once at around 650 miles, but that was the only time...

 

haha i was thinkin the same thing... if you buy a model off the lot with like 100 miles on it, i DONT think it was broke in properly... i know i was dancin around the redline when i test drove! but lettin people get to that 9000 mark is a big seller for the 8!

 

On one of my test drives the salesmen said as soon as we got in the car "Okay this is going to be some aggressive driving". I swear he wasn't happy until I did hit redline.

 

I don't think it'll hurt the engine. In all the cars that I have owned, I never respected the break-in period. I've always pushed the car a little bit - I wouldn't be spending 80% of my time at redline, but the occasional trip thru the rev range can't hurt. And I swear I NEVER had any more mechanical problems with any of the cars that I have owned than if I would have baby-ed the car for first 1500 kms. Mind you, I never keep a car for more than 3-4 years, always low mileage. I don't think rotary would be any different.
One thing is I do an initial oil and filter change at about 1500 kms. It's probably superfluous but I figure it can't hurt.

 

I ordered my car from the factory, after test driving one on the lot. What was interesting is that the salesman wanted to go around the block and have me get aggressive with the test drive. I did get the car up close to redline a few times. When my NEW car was delivered, I did not offer him that excited test drive in it, and told him to take one off the lot like I did and abuse it.

I followed the RB break-in strategy, and it must have worked, because my 8 is not using allot of oil. I check it all the time and I am amazed that I have put very little oil in it as compared to some of the stories I have read here on the forum. I changed the oil at 500 miles and then again at 5,000 miles. I am coming up on 10K this week, so will change it again. I'm going to change every 5K in this car, and not the 7,500K recommended in the manual.

So maybe this test drive redline is just to try and sell the car, but it really is not the proper way to break-in your new rotary. The dealer should have one car that they use for this only.

 

i heard something completely different before, a friend once told me that to break in the engine, you should not keep the rpm constant at any rpm. redlining will not hurt the engine as long as its not excessive

 

My new 8 had 100 miles on it when I bought it. Should I be worried?

 

VERY!!!

 

To seat the rings on a piston engine you will find service managers take it out and run it a high revs for a few minutes. We do not have pistons and apex seals do not need seating. So do like yhe manual says for 1st 600 miles and then red line it daily if you want.
1100 miles Oil change
3300 miles Redline MT90 trany and 75W90 diff fluids ( my dealer did it for me, I supplied fluids)

 

Even if your car had 5 miles on it when you picked it up, you never really know if someone might have redlined it. I wouldn't worry too much. The owner's manual states nothing specific about redline shifts during the break in period. It states to drive at various rpm speeds and NOT to drive above 7k rpms for extended periods.

I followed a slightly modified version of Racing Beat's suggest break in process. My engine feels strong, so I'm happy.