Does A New Prius Require The 500 Mile Break-In Period?

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by jayman

I just drove it normally, like any other car. Almost 150,000 km and everything is still fine

Jeez Jay.. 150,000km already?!?

[jayman]

Well, it is 4 years old

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by jayman

Well, it is 4 years old

Mine's 3½ and I thought I had high mileage lol

[jayman]

Well, I'm a consulting engineer. I was doing a lot of driving to project sites as far away as Saskatoon and Thunder Bay. Fortunately I haven't had to do that sort of adventure since 2007, I'm in the office or working from home almost all the time

[PriusGirlyGirl]

I just bought a 2010 Prius and I've already driven over 60mph! What negative effects will that have on my car? I'm getting kinda nervous now since I will be driving into the country on the highway for Thanksgiving on Tuesday! What do I do?

[The Electric Me]

You are just going to get back and forth opinion on this. My opinion is if you can follow break in procedures for the first 500-1500 miles, then why not? If your not helping, your not helping...but what does it matter? I'd always error on the side of being conservative.

If you have a big trip, or a daily stretch of freeway and following the recommendations is difficult I certainly wouldn't slit my wrists. I think varying speed is always possible and I think everything else is only potentially helpful but not 100% necessary.

I think anyone who cares enough to ask about the break in period is going to be attentive and careful enough with there car that it probably isn't going to be an issue.

So I'll sit on the fence and say Break In Procedures? Sure follow them if you can, if you can't or occasionally stray? Don't sweat it.

The only aspect inwhich I would care too much about would be trying to vary the speed...I wouldn't use cruise control for a while....

[F8L]

Originally Posted by PriusGirlyGirl

I just bought a 2010 Prius and I've already driven over 60mph! What negative effects will that have on my car? I'm getting kinda nervous now since I will be driving into the country on the highway for Thanksgiving on Tuesday! What do I do?

Likely... None.

The break in period on cars is not something that can be accurately assessed once you have 100,000 miles on the car. We played this argument out for years on my racing forums and some people adhered to the break in period and others left the dealership lot roasting the tires so to speak and when it came down to engine tear downs you couldn't really say which car had been beaten on and which had been babied. When it came down to which cars were the fastest there was no consensus either. Some of the fastest bone stock Trans Am's I've seen were the ones who left the dealer in a cloud of tire smoke!

IMO, it is best to just go easy for a while (few hundred miles of varied driving) and keep up on your maintenance and not worry about the specifics of the "break in period".

[uart]

Originally Posted by PriusGirlyGirl

I just bought a 2010 Prius and I've already driven over 60mph! What negative effects will that have on my car? I'm getting kinda nervous now since I will be driving into the country on the highway for Thanksgiving on Tuesday! What do I do?

I agree with the above poster, just going 60 has probably had no negative effects. It's not really the speed that's the issue anyway, it's more a matter or just taking it easy on the engine. The prius seems (by design) to take it pretty easy on the engine in most circumstances in any case. If you only use easy to moderate aceleration to get up to 60 then really cant see it being an problem at all.