Hi,

I picked up my UK spec MY00 a few weeks ago and treated it... pretty well up to the first service. The dealer said the most important thing is "variation, variation and variation." He said 4K is a good limit, occasionally straying towards 5K is not a bad thing and also don't be too scared of the throttle... but of course, overall, "take it easy". During the 300 mile drive home I found it increasingly difficult to establish exactly what "taking it easy" means in Impreza terms! My last car was a MY97 Sport but this is SOOOO different!

Anyway, I now have about 1500 miles on the clock and I'm still totally blown away! I HAVE to take this thing to a racetrack sometime and figure out where the limits are for both the car and the driver. In the meantime, I'm not sure how I should be treating my looser (but still getting noticably faster by the day) new car. Surely it can't be good to wring it's neck anytime I feel like it after 1K is on the clock? But it wants me to, it's begging me!!!!

Should I still be "taking it easy" for a few more miles yet, or am I just suffering from impreza-paranoia-euphoria-guilt syndrome?

Thanks,

Jamie

 

OK well the thing is this.I work in a Subaru garage and we had a MY00 turbo and as soon as we got it there was no runnig in period,the car was driven flat out from the word go,and I would say that the car would have touched 100mph almost every day of the week.The car was also used by a rally driver who has a Group A Impreza and he is sponsored by the garage and he used it for the recce of each rally so I should imagine he didnt go easy on it.The car had about 8000 miles on it and it was very noticibally faster than any other standard turbo.And when ever a customer had there own turbos serviced they would be given it for the day until their own car was ready.And when they come back in the evening the first thing they used ask was "What did you do to the car?" or "Is it chipped?" And it even accelerated from a standing start faster than an STI v5 in a side by side race.So dont be afraid to go above 3000rpm.Similar differences have been noticed as well in the Forester S turbo if driven hard all the time.
Regards
Kevo

 

I'm sure someone more knowledgable will correct me but..... I was told (by someone who should know ) that if you abuse a car while running it in, it will ultimately be faster but less reliable in the long-term. Obviously, the other side of the coin is take it easy and benefit from a longer lasting and more reliable car.

I can see the logic in it (sort of) but I have to say I've been lent a W reg 5 door which has spent time on the IM press fleet (ie had it's gonads thrashed) and it feels like ****e. It's only got about 8k on the clock, but it's noticably slower than my old MY98, the clutch is shot, it looks like it's already had a new set of discs and pads, and the suspension feels rather soggy.

So this does seem to DISprove the rule somewhat.

Anybody, who knows what they're talking about, care to comment on the dos and don'ts?

Josh

 

Kevo

I cannot believe that you work for a Subaru dealership and are encouraging owners to ignore the running in period.

Come 50k, your "loaner" will be a smokey old dog with noisy transmission and no go left in it.

We are talking about people's "pride and joy" road cars, not competition cars that you fully rebuild at least once a year.

 

I'm 250 miles through running in a new engine now on my MY97 5-door. By the end of the 1000 miles, I should have about 200 miles of commuting (revs all over the place up to 4000) and 800 miles of (unavoidable) M-way driving (revs between 3000-4000 for a couple of hours at a time) on it.

Hopefully that's a decent run-in, because it's the only practical way I can do it anyway. I really can't cope with doing less than 70 on the motorway

After its 1000 mile service, I'm going to take it easy for another 500 miles or so, then take it for a full-on blast around Scotland as my last "holiday" for the year (ie. loads of M-way at 4000-5000 rpm, then yee-haa around the A-roads!)

I think that should be OK? This "running in" business seems to be a bit of a black art, so I guess that means that unless you choose one extreme or the other, there's no real difference in the end result. But any comments from the "professionals" among you?

Cheers,

Steve

 

I think you'll find 4000rpm is more than 100mph, and 5000rpm is around 125-130mph. I guess you takes your choices, but doing that on a UK motorway is tantamount to saying, here, take my license.

As for running the car in, I understand they put a thin oil in which is subsequently changed after 1000 miles (1st service), so if you do drive it at high revs there will likely be trouble ahead.

I run my 98 5 door in for the first 1000 miles or so at various revs, we all have motorway driving I think, where 3,500rpm should be reasonable for sustained distance, but it is worth coming off and doing some A-Road if possible. My car is not modded and generally shows well against most cars so I guess it worked... I did get obliterated by a P1 recently and am now jealous - ho hum

 

Kevin,

Thanks for the info. My only concern is the longer term reliability. I plan to hang on to this car for 2-3 years at least.

Jamie

 

With my new Scoob (collected a month ago), I am slowly building up the revs (had 1k service last week). We took the car down to Dartmoor last weekend, a good excuse to put several hundred miles on the clock. Felt great on those roads in the poor weather conditions; am reving up to about 6k on occasion at present, can't wait to do more....

Steve

 

Engine speed variation is the key. I was told that sustained motorway driving is fine as long as you don't sit at one speed. I found this to be a very unnatural way to drive, and it can be difficult not to annoy other drivers.

Jamie

 

Cheers Guys.

I was being approximate on the revs - I don't see 120+ very often (I'm not THAT daft), but I'll cruise at just under 100 if I think can get away with it

4000rpm is just under 100mph in top on mine, but I'm not going above the high 80's while running in.

Getting the rev variation is going to be a problem for me I think, as most of the miles will be M-way, and like you say, it's hard to keep changing speed without winding other people up (and feeling a bit of a fool!). I can't really take A-road alternatives as it would take too long for the journeys I need to do. I'll just have to make a special effort I guess

Ta,

Steve

 

Steve,

Rev variation is easy.

Just run for a bit in 5th, then in 4th, and so on. Means you are not changing speed all the time!

D

 

Yeah, changing between 4th and 5th is a good start. To get even more variation though, race ahead of the pack a little and then slow down to let them catch up again. I also ease down to about 60-70 for a while - until I get bored.

Cheers,

Jamie

 

Fact is, I need to slow down on the motorway while running in to give me more options for using different gears/revs, but I was hoping for an answer which said "hey, do what you like"

It's all a bit frustrating after haring around in the thing for nearly a year, to now have to drive it slowly! Oh well...

S

 

I've just had mine (UK spec MY00)in for its first service, and according to the invoice they filled it with Ultron 5W40, which I'm pretty certain is a fully synthetic oil.

Mind you, I think I've seen elsewhere on this board that other dealers recommend the semi-synth until the 7500 service, and then switch to fully synth.

Pete - very happy with the car, which after 1400 miles is going like a bat out of hell! If this is what it's like when the engine is "tight", God knows what it's going to be like when it loosens up!

 

Dont worry Pete, hes irish. once it gets to 50k he'll park it in an automatic car wash and walk away

 

BTW, the Sub dealer advised not to use synthetic oil in until 7500. Anyone care to comment?

Thanks,

Jamie

 

I know this is slightly off thread but I once had a trip round the Nissan plant at Washington. They test all switches, ***** etc just before it's shipped out and as part of the test, they redline the engine in each gear up and down the box. And then they ask you to be gentle with the running in! Suppose they're assuming that if it doesn't go bang in first 2 mins of its life then it should last out the warranty. I'd have to assume that scoobies are tested similarly.

Apple