I test drove a VX220 Turbo on Sunday.
The car was great, but te engine was very very tight.

I was the first person to go out in the car and it only had 25 miles on the clock.

Needless to say I wanted to get a feel of the cars power throught the range, so when on the dual carrige way, I opened it up, lifting the engine to about 7000 rpm in each gear before changing.
I would imagine most other people test driving cars do similar things and these cars do not get their 1000 mile run in as suggested by Vauxhall.

As it happens, I would be looking to buy in a few months and the demo car I went in was the perfect colour scheme.
I mentioned this to the salesman and he told me he would give me a call when they were getting rid.


Ok, my question is, would the driving style a demo car would get in its first few months do any damage to the engine.
As I said previously, they are meant to be kept under 4000 rpm for about 1000 miles, but this is obviously not gonna happen.

Would I be foolish to consider this car, or are todays engines capable of this and the running in peroid is not really an issue?

Thanks.

 

Always swings and roundabouts..

Some engines produce more power if the running in schedule is ignored.. but they might not last as long.. but the modern engine either seems to last for thousands and thousands of miles (My Scoob has 144,000miles on it's engine, and Honda Fireblade engine nearly 80,000miles) or fail for no real reason with few miles on the clock.. as long as the price is right I wouldn't be too worried about buying it myself, presume there will be warrentee for a couple of years afterwards so anything obvious will show up.

If you wanted to keep the car until it fails an MOT and needs scrapping in 5years time having put 50,000miles a year on it then you might be better offer avoiding it..

How do you know any car has been run in correctly anyway?

Also the running in procedure is more advice rather than a requirement these days.

imho of course

JGM

 

OK, you've put my mind a ease a little there.
That was the answer I was hoping for anyway

My other concern was the fact that on the VX the engine is directly behind your head. Any over enthusiastic driving in the running in period could make the engine noisey and if anything, the noise was already a little intrusive on the 25 mile car I drove. Maybe i'm just speculating and worrying about nothing.
When your spending £25k I suppose you get a little anxious

 

How long are you planning on keeping it? Not talking about reliability here, I'm talking about VX residuals!

 

Actually my 02STi was a demo (granted it only had 250km on the clock when I picked it up ) so I figured it was already pretty well run in and caned it from day one . 65000 KM later it hasnt missed a beat, uses maybe 250ml oil per 10,000km, doesnt rattle or do anything worse than others I have seen that were run in perfectly.

 

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm makes for interesting reading...

 

My my99 is an ex demo, and was (according to the dealer who serviced it at the time) used "enthusiastically" by its previous owner (hello, Paul). Now on 92k and I haven't put a drop of oil in it between services and drives like it's new. Swings and rounadabouts really, I'm sure my car didn't get a 1000 mile running in period but then it probably has been warmed up and cooled down correctly before being hooned.

 

Chances are the VX demo car was a dedicated demonstrator and only used on accompanied test drives, in which case the car will have been allowed the correct time to warm up and cool down which is the important thing, despite occasional high rpm.

 

my nighbour works for Vauxhall, he's currently got the vx220 turbo as his run about demo car - every morning from cold flys up the road, must be reving to atleast 4k in each gear, wheel spins most days you can see the tyre marks out side the house, did just the same when he worked for Jag... ow and do you think he ever cooled the car down

would I ever buy a demo..... may be not
If I worked for Vauxhall would I do the same , not my tyres, clutch etc ....... to right

may be worth asking if the sales men have the car at weekend\ evenings