For my european delivery, i was trying to figure out how to get as many miles as possible, so I could eventually start revving beyond the 4200 or so Rpm that the manual suggest after 2400 miles or something like that.
My Porsche host,xxxxx, told me this is not necessary, and that the only reason there is this type of instructions is for us americans!
Theory is that with our straight long highways, the concern is that we throw it into cruise control, drive hundreds of miles with no changes in engine speed, and initiate possibly some kinds of resonance that can make a dimensional difference in a cylinder by some kind of uneven wear. Leading then down the road, 80-90,000 miles later a lesser compression in that cylinder, and possibly lesser reliability.
I am sure I have gotten the technicalities incorrectly and someone here will elude to the magics of friction, but needless to say, my xxxx porsche host was in short telling me that I should not have any concern and just to make sure, oil temperature was up before any spirited driving and not to go redlining straight away, and definitely no racing. He also said, give the tires a few hundred miles to set in as well as everything else. The fact that I had manual and going through a variety of countries roads and time on the road was he said great for indeed having the engine experience a variety of speeds and efforts. You can imagine my joy leaving zuffenhausen with an authorization to truly enjoy the car! European delivery and road experience went from a great planned experience to now f.... Awesome! The engine noise at high rpm in more than a couple hundred tunnels is a lifetime memory!

Lastly, the car upon departure for the first few hundred miles felt oddly loose up front, not quite planted, and truth be told a little disconcerting. Nothing immense, but at high speeds, very 3.2 ish.

After about 600-700 km, the car was rock solid, so I presume, it takes time for all the joint, bearing, dampers, tires, rods,...to settle in, leaving way for a really incredible stable and amazingly grippy car. If anyone has a gts 4, try even getting it loose on new wet roads, so much grip!

So, if you get your car new, xxxx, says wait for oil to warm up and drive it like you stole it! I did!

 

I'm sure I will get counter arguments and links to advice from Porsche directly thrown in my face but I've always felt extended break in periods were unnecessary. A few hundred miles for tires, suspension, etc. makes sense. I bet the tires were the main reason you noticed such a difference in the first few hundred miles. Keeping the revs low until the oil is at temperature is important for the life of the car, especially with the older air cooled cars that I'm use to. I write off anything beyond that as urban legends passed down from one enthusiast to another.

I also wonder if emphasis on the break in period really serves another purpose for Porsche which is keeping their cars from showing up in the media wrapped around a tree. For many people these cars represent performance potential they may not be use to controlling. Taking it easy for the first 2000 miles or so could have more to do with breaking in the driver than breaking in the car

 

Broke in allot of motorcycle motors in my time, air and liquid cooled. Always aired on the side of caution for first 100 miles or so. Vary your speed as in don't stay at one speed for very long...up and down your speed for 90 or 100 miles and then you are good to go. The old theory of break in periods were for older mostly per 1990's era motors with older types of cylinders and pistons. Today's engines and oil are really light years ahead of those vehicles. So stay cool till 90 miles or so....then screw it on.
The looseness you are feeling I'm betting is your tires. They have a releasing agent on them to make them easy to get out of the molds at the factory. They just need to be "scrubbed" in a few miles and they will fell normal. Also check the pressure WITH A GAUGE. Don't trust the TPMS for now. Hope this helps. BTW congrats and be safe.

 

The over/under is 7 pages.

 

...lol

 

Over 7 for sure if the topic stretches into when to have the first oil change

 

I was aware of the "European Break-in Rules" when I picked-up mine. My delivery associate told me ...

... exactly the same thing. I proceeded with a "European Break-in." I always assumed ...

... that the "American Break-in Rules" were devised by Porsche's warranty accountants and their lawyers.

Too easy. Make it more interesting by betting on the average post rate during the first week of the thread's life.

 

The factory quote Balaclava got on his ED is admirably succinct:

"careful while cold, then flat out.”

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/8250...ery-diary.html

Worf is on the mark. But see how far logic gets you with the baby it crowd. There is a quote I once read somewhere about it being a lot easier to fool a man than to make him realize he's been fooled. It comes to mind often, but never more so than when the faithful are confronted with the high priests of the factory shooting their most cherished faith down in flames…. and yet they still believe.

 

Yup, but at least we got the inevitable rip on Americans out of the way in the first post.

 

Just like every other car manufactured in the last 15 years.

 

I basically drove it from Zuffenhausen to the Nurburgring, then did a few laps, simply did not trash it until the engine was at temp etc...

 

+1

 

Well, that obviously depends on whether the car has the PDK or the M7.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to ask the resident troll how he broke-in his new 9A1 motor. Or any new Porsche motor for that matter.

Crickets. Crickets. Crickets.

 

Or more. My first engine rebuild came back with detailed break-in instructions to do repeated back to back full throttle accelerations, using progressively taller gears and for increasingly longer intervals, during the first 50 miles. This was in 1977. A friend who had his engine rebuilt that same year was given the same advice from the machinist who did his. My friend already knew this from years of motorcycle racing. The machinist he used started young and had worked his whole life as a machinist, a good 30 years at least. That would take it back to the 1940's.

The importance of using lots of full throttle to seat the rings very early on may seem radically, revolutionarily (not to mention heretically) new to some, but it is in fact something that has been known for a very, very long time.