Hard Driving in Prius

Probably nothing significant, they're not that fragile. But yeah, best to take it easy on a new engine. And any time, both for engine longevity and mpg.

Why do I feel like I'm listening to confession?

 

Some have argued it's good to "seat" the engine with a little hard driving.

 

at 500 miles, as long as your engine was warmed up, I don't think anything bad can happen. 500 miles is already a good amount of break in

 

i don't think hard driving is good for any car at any age. it can't do anything but cause faster wear at the very least. maybe rethink the future and stop worrying about what you can't change. all the best.

 

Are we gonna be seeing a Prius on a future episode of "cops"???

Haha!

 

Your contrition is apparent, you are absolved, now for your penance, give it a good wash and wax and promise to refrain from further thrashing of you beloved Prius.

 

In high school I worked part-time at a diesel shop that specialized in detroit diesel stationary power plants for the oilfield industry. These are two-stroke OHC 4 valve turbo or supercharged (in some cases both) behemoths. After the initial warmup on a total rebuild, the chief mechanic would immediately perform full power runs. That was the break in.

This engine builder does the same thing: Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

 

Before we had "micro-machining", break-in performed the job of getting the parts to mesh tightly together without wear. These days that requirement is very limited. The main reason you had to take it easy on a new engine was the "micro-machining" generates a lot of very localized heat. So much it could change the metal, making it either very hard (so it could chip) or very soft (so it would wear much faster). As that is no longer required due to the "micro-machining" done at the factory, only a few things need to be "broken in". Things like the brakes. By 500 mi. most of that is done. In fact, as I recall, the manual advises to (and I'm paraphrasing here) momentarily load the systems heavily, with breaks in between.

I doubt very much you caused any future problems. Hope you had fun, and don't show up on any photo-radar images.

 

Your guilt is so extreme, and your regret at the actions so complete, I would ask why did you do it?

You don't have to answer, but I don't think the reason is irrelevant. I think it's primary, if personal and hidden.

That was about a 100 miles of pretty specifically defined driving style. Hardly accidental.

 

as much as most of the rest of us.

 

Plus with the transmission being a CVT (constantly VARIABLE transmission) one would assume that even driving the car hard the load on the engine is constantly changing. I think the main thing in initial break in is not to maintain a set speed/ rpm for any significant amount of time so I've been told and heard over and over. With a cvt as stated the Rpm's are always changing thus I assume making break in a moot point? Just driving the car in no special way should break it in just fine I would think.

 

As long as you weren't flogging it and throwing threw the chicanes you should be fine