Fishmeister

G'day

I'm in Australia and am taking delivery of my new MY02 STi today - VERY exciting.

This is a subject I have been debating over at the (Australian)Liberty B4 site.
The question seems to be receiving varied answers:

Some say that it should be run in over 1500kms.
Some say they flog their cars from day one.

I have a great relationship with my dealer and they have always said that these cars are built to be driven hard, and as long as they are not 'red-line thrashed' within the first 1200-1600kms then everything will be fine.
I just can't imagine pottering around at 3500-4000RPM for weeks. I have spent 60 large ones on what is essentially a rally car, and there are just too many HSV idiots waiting at the traffic lights dying to be left with their mouths gaping open.
Part of me says that I should be slightly conservative though, and I have decided to keep the RPM's under 4500 for the first 800kms and then under 5500 for the second 800kms.
This is our 4th new Subaru (WRX Ltd Edition, 2-Door STi, B4 which was only kept for 3 months as wasn't quick enuff for the missus)in 2.5 years (we love them) and we have driven them all very hard from quite early on with no problems. The only problem I had was with the B4 and that was due to boost/fuel etc.
I'd be interested to put this question to air with you guys.
I have also set up my own Newsgroup (small at this time) which focuses specifically on the new shape WRX and STi.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/my02wrxsti/join

Fishmeister.

frisby

Welcome fish,

in the UK, impreza's have a special running in oil which is changed at 1000 miles, and up till this change, it is advised to keep the revs below 4000rpm and don't place the engine under load or labour it in any gear. After this most people usually dip into all the available power but the car takes time to loosen up fully, maybe 10,000 miles.

Maybe you sti will have running in oil in so its advisable to follow the above, and even if it has normal oil in it, show some caution for the first 1500km, maybe 4000rpm and below for 1000km and maybe increasing it up to 5000rpm for the next 500.

At the end of the day, its your car so go for your life, remembering also that its not just the engine thats being run in, gearbox, diffs, brakes all bedding in over this period.

enjoy


stu

p.s. what part of Oz you from???

chrisp

I ran both mine in and stay below 3000 rpm for the first few hundred and added a few more revs as the miles clocked up. Dealer told me not to redline and especially NOT to labour the engine. By the time 1000 miles service I was sticking to around 3500-4000 rpm with a few journeys upto 5500-6000 rpm but not holding high revs and only when engine was very warm.

There is a school of thought that thrashing from new gives you more bhp, ROFL yep if you like , maybe but engine problems are just round the corner

cheers

chris