Hi All,

I am planning on buying a 2012 Fit--not sure which one yet--in the next few month. I will immediately be driving it over a 3-day period to another state. I have been made aware that with many cars the first 1000 miles should be driven a certain way---not all highway--keep speed at a certain level etc. I am concerned as I have to drive a few days--most of it highway---and don't want to screw anything up. Can someone tell me what the Honda book says about this. May change my buy date if needed. Thanks.

 

Not recommended to keep the motor at the same RPM for long periods of time during break in. Some off-throttle decel followed by accel is good to seat the rings.

Some people say the motors are already broken in at the factory, and you can drive it however you want.

I personally would pick it up a little earlier if you can and drive it around town for a little while if that's possible. Better safe than sorry? If it's not a hassle anyway.

These types of threads (engine break in) always spark a debate on car forums, so i'm sure you'll get a lot of opinions and a few facts thrown in as well.

 

no problem driving it that way.

 

variable rpm is best as wanderer stated.

 

Yes.

You said you will pick it up in next few months, which implies you cannot be certain about the date, which implies you don't NEED to drive 1000 miles on the day you pick it up. So maybe just wait a few days ... Or heck get a rental car; they're usually a better financial decision than depreciating your car on long trips, bizarrely.

Or take back roads. No particular speed is good or bad; you just want some variation. I certainly did probably 50% highway driving after picking up the car, but this is in moderate traffic, so .. different than going 75 straight for 2 hours

 

From my 2010 manual:

Break-in Period
Help assure your vehicle's future
reliability and performance by paying
extra attention to how you drive
during the first 600 miles (1,000 km).
During this period:
● Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid
acceleration.
● Avoid hard braking for the first 200
miles (300 km).
● Do not change the oil until the
scheduled maintenance time.

Don't know if the 2012 says anything different (it's the same engine) but you can probably find the manual on-line.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am actually moving it to another state after buying it in a state that has no sales tax--where I own a house. I can certainly manage driving my new car a couple hundred miles initially before a 3-day long trip. And yes, the dealer told me differently and I wanted more opinions. They said the gas mileage would not be great the first 1000 but would change after that but that I did not have to be concerned about driving it a certain way.

I have driven the Fiesta, Nissan Versa, Prius C---all hatchbacks---and kept coming back to the Fit even though the gas was certainly better in the Prius C--just did not love the car.

 

^^This^^

Goatgirl.... what a name!