[chatoyer78]

Hi all,

Considering purchasing a MY16 340i x-drive. Went to my (only) dealer and my regular salesperson was busy, so a sales manager pulled out the specific car in question for me to look at. Before letting me drive it, he took me for a drive to explain a few things and proceeded to redline the car once to show me its power.

I asked whether that was appropriate given the car had, literally, 30 miles on the odometer and needed to be broken in. He explained that break-ins are no longer necessary.

I know it is a well discussed topic, but should I stay away from this particular car?

- Chatoyer

 

[porsche driver]

Cookie jar.... finger.... Caught you....

Avoid that particular car..... no, there is virtually no likely hood of damage from a single brief acceleration...

Just don't make a habit of it on the one you ultimately buy.

 

[VVlasy]

When I was taking delivery of my car my salesperson also told me no breaking in is needed but I still tried to be gentle with it, not taking it to redline. But I was driving agile. And from what I read on the web. The general consensus is not baby it, but drive it like it is not at its operating temperature, but almost. So try not use that kickdown yet.

Also the break in is for your safety as well! You will notice the brakes feel very numb for at least a few hundred miles! I remember I ran a few meters past the signal when I was in the car for the very first time. Now after 3k miles they feel like my old E70

 

[chatoyer78]

Cookie jar.... finger.... Caught you....

Avoid that particular car..... no, there is virtually no likely hood of damage from a single brief acceleration...

Just don't make a habit of it on the one you ultimately buy.

So, no likely damage, but avoid anyway?

 

[chatoyer78]

When I was taking delivery of my car my salesperson also told me no breaking in is needed but I still tried to be gentle with it, not taking it to redline. But I was driving agile. And from what I read on the web. The general consensus is not baby it, but drive it like it is not at its operating temperature, but almost. So try not use that kickdown yet.

Also the break in is for your safety as well! You will notice the brakes feel very numb for at least a few hundred miles! I remember I ran a few meters past the signal when I was in the car for the very first time. Now after 3k miles they feel like my old E70

Sales manager said similar things as well: don't go crazy on a regular basis during the first while.

 

[BobinIl]

It can't hurt to follow the guidelines in the owners manual. I don't think it recommends redlining the car out of the box on a test drive. Probably didn't hurt anything though.

 

[khammack]

I read somewhere that they red line the engines at the factory during their testing phase. As was said above, once or twice isn't likely to be an issue (I unintentionally did it to mine a couple of times).

 

[SOOT NO]

I drove my Boss Mustang like a grandma for the first thousand miles. Yeah, it was hard, but have no oil leaks and it looks like everything seated perfectly. I like to do the first oil change at 1000 miles and at least 500 mile break in.

Dave

 

[bear-avhistory]

Who are you going to believe? Some guy who could be selling washing machines next week or the guys who designed & built the car. Most people are pretty clueless about break-in & think it all about the engine. Every moving part on the car including the tires need to be broken in.

So just enjoy the first X miles & do what the book says. BMW's can roll pretty fast out of the box they just want to avoid a lot of WOT & high RPM runs. They have to pay for warranty failures so its in their interest to set a break-in period.

 

[chatoyer78]

Who are you going to believe? Some guy who could be selling washing machines next week or the guys who designed & built the car. Most people are pretty clueless about break-in & think it all about the engine. Every moving part on the car including the tires need to be broken in.

So just enjoy the first X miles & do what the book says. BMW's can roll pretty fast out of the box they just want to avoid a lot of WOT & high RPM runs. They have to pay for warranty failures so its in their interest to set a break-in period.

With you 100%!

But, I was wondering more whether folks think it would be wise to stay away from this particular car.

It had never been driven off the lot, had 30 miles on the odo, but within 10 minutes of being started it was redlined. Irreparable damage? Who is to know, but the question is whether to stay away or say "Bah, one redline incident in the very early life of the car won't affect anything."

 

[55]

Are you guy serious to listen to a sales person? Just open the book.
My latest experience with BMW sales guys was pretty decent, but I also visited a couple Volvo dealers. That was just embarrassing...

 

[jephwoyo]

I would be most concerned about it if the car wasn't fully warmed up when it was at WOT. If it was at temp, it probably wouldn't stop me from buying it.

 

[Mr. J3030]

Doesn't the 340 have ECU controls that protect the engine from over-revving when oil temp is cold?

I wouldn't worry about it. People get way too anal retentive regarding break in. For modern cars, break in is more about tire, brake, and tranny wear-in and not engine wear. Almost every performance vehicle gets ridden hard on test drives. Who cares! They were designed for that kind of driving. That's why your dropping $60k for it. It's not a fragile econobox, it should be fully capable of handling a little spirited driving.

 

[Robin128]

My pre-registered MY 2016 340i M Sport came with 14 delivery miles. The next day my son who has a new Merc AMG wanted to know what it could do. So I gave it a squirt for about a mile to show the error of his buying habits.

I'm renowned on 'babying' my cars and will not let anyone else drive them, with no exception. STMBO doesn't drive no more.

The manual says something like don't hammer it for the first 500m or something like that. And, yes...I've changed the oil and filter at 2250m, much to the consternation of those on here that think it is ok to wait 18,000m for the first service. To me that's bollocks. Here we go! :bigpimp:

Over the years I have learned that one should not keep it under 3,000 rpm and then all of a sudden red line and tare ass to your heart's content.

But as for buying a demo with say 5,000m on it... Buyer beware.

:angel:

 

[KeinAusfahrt]

Work colleague just took over a new 2016 320i in Würzburg as part of the new car experience when you get it in Germany, and when he was there, they still recommended that he keep it under 100 mph for the first 1000 miles. And that's a 320, so with a 340...

 

[VVlasy]

Work colleague just took over a new 2016 320i in Würzburg as part of the new car experience when you get it in Germany, and when he was there, they still recommended that he keep it under 100 mph for the first 1000 miles. And that's a 320, so with a 340...

As I said, the break-in is also for safety!!! For the speed limit, it is mainly about the tires and brakes not being broken in and not working at their peak when the car is BRAND NEW, which would put you in grave danger at those speeds, but also the transmission having to set in.

 

[cptcrunch]

The cars BMW uses at the performance center do not adhere to the breakin procedures, what-so-ever. I had a car with a few hundred miles on it and was redlining it every chance i got during the exercises. This was normal for all of the cars there, low miles and hard driving.

That said, I did adhere to the breakin procedure by not redlining the vehicle more than 5 times during my 1200 mile break in period (2016 340i). Butttt, I was also on the autobahn doing 130mph with 55km on the car. I only did the briefly because the tires did not like that, so I backed it down to 100mph until I had over 100 miles on the car. Then, it was 130mph all the way to Austria (except speed limit areas) and back. At 2000 miles, not a hint of problems.

 

[pgold1230]

The cars BMW uses at the performance center do not adhere to the breakin procedures, what-so-ever. I had a car with a few hundred miles on it and was redlining it every chance i got during the exercises. This was normal for all of the cars there, low miles and hard driving.

That said, I did adhere to the breakin procedure by not redlining the vehicle more than 5 times during my 1200 mile break in period (2016 340i). Butttt, I was also on the autobahn doing 130mph with 55km on the car. I only did the briefly because the tires did not like that, so I backed it down to 100mph until I had over 100 miles on the car. Then, it was 130mph all the way to Austria (except speed limit areas) and back. At 2000 miles, not a hint of problems.

Wouldn't expect problems at 2000 miles. It's 50,000 miles I'd worry about. Cars have break-in schedules for a reason. Porsche recommends keeping revs at or below 4200 RPM for first 2000 miles, which I intend to do. Hope your BMW has a long, healthy life, but for the OP, no I wouldn't buy the car that was whipped on a test drive with 30 miles on it.

 

[bear-avhistory]

How long was the test ride? Figure the miles you got was their normal run. Divide it into 30, that how many times the jerk had chance to flog the car. Once or twice is not going to kill a car but any longer term damage will depend on how cold the car was when he was running it hard.

Most normal wear takes place on a cold start in everyday car life. If the sales guy did not have many opportunities to flog the car I would buy it. Unless you are getting a car on order any car on the lot could have been flogged & you have no way of knowing which ones have been run.

 

[blazinskunk]

This thread is hysterical. Drive the car the way you normally drive from the start. Every new car Ive bought I've done this to. "Oh, but what if the way I drive is to redline every gear, every time I drive!???!!?" Well, then your car wouldn't last too long anyway.

I bought a new 2007 Saab 93 and had it to 110 mph and redlined every gear on the test drive. When I got back to the dealer I smelled clutch and brakes. I bought that car. I sold it at 107,000 miles and it never burned a drop of oil or had any engine related issues. I got an email from the kid who I sold it to a year after the sale. He said he was just checking in to let me know the car was about to turn 135,000 and it was a pleasure to own (typical Saab guy to keep me in the loop). Of course, I changed the Mobil 1 every 5,000 miles and did all the scheduled service.