I am hoping to get my new Mk2 vRS early next month and have been avidly going through the forum for info. One thing which does crop up in a few threads is making sure you run the engine in properly to ensure best performance and economy for the engine. A pdf copy of the manual I managed to download doesn't say very much other than use 3/4 throttle and don't over rev it for the first 1000km.

Noting that there are some serious petrol heads here what are people's views about how to run it in then?

(I have searched to see if this has been covered but running, engine etc come up too frequently!).

Let the engine fully warm - 80C plus on the oil temp then run it through almost to the redline in as many gears as you can.

This will bed the piston rings in resulting in more power and less oil used.

Yeh, just make sure its warmed up if you do decide to have a play

Give it some Jip............when warm of course.

Use decent fuel, 98 ron or above

Definatley do not drive it like its about to break down, otherwise it will used oil and will never give you the ultimate power, I was always told never go above 2.5k rpm in any gear for the first 1000 miles in any car

Definatley do not drive it like its about to break down, otherwise it will used oil and will never give you the ultimate power, I was always told never go above 2.5k rpm in any gear for the first 1000 miles in any car

Bit confused! Statements seem to contradict each other :S

Keep it nice n steady don't rag it, 2.5k in my crtdi in 5th is roughly 70mph, so in a VRS should be bit more in 7th see what I meen ? , for the first 1000miles then after this run through the power slowly and don't use cruise control for a while, but others will say differently maybe, it's the way I have done it and I've been driving 30 yrs so may have learnt something over the years, I've never had a engine go pop on me

i drove like a fanny for the first few 100 miles, more for the brakes and tyres than anything else and since then ive just drove it how i like

lets face it, we've all bought second hand cars yet i bet nobody's asked how it was run in from the first owner. what about demo cars? i drove the thing like i stole it yet i bet the new owner cant tell.

just make sure its warmed up before you do anything daft

Worst thing you can do is to keep the revs too low. The DSG will try to get in as high a gear as possible. I switched to manual changing for a large portion of the 1st 1000 or so miles to keep the revs above 2000.

Let the engine fully warm - 80C plus on the oil temp then run it through almost to the redline in as many gears as you can.

This will bed the piston rings in resulting in more power and less oil used.

The coolant will be warm at 90° but the oil will take a few more miles to get up to temperature, so don't think 'oh it's warm now, time to give it some beans'!!

Use the oil temprature feature on the maxi dot to look at the oil temp rather than the water temp.

Hence why I said oil temp...

But oil at 80° is still not up to full working temperature, mine is (from memory) just under 100° when fully warm (it is a diesel though), but oil still has a much warmer operating temperature than the coolant, anything up to 120° is acceptable.

I was replying to gizmo not you sorry for the confussion

The Mk2 VRS won't generate over 90C untill its under load and the turbo is spooling

But oil at 80° is still not up to full working temperature, mine is (from memory) just under 100° when fully warm (it is a diesel though), but oil still has a much warmer operating temperature than the coolant, anything up to 120° is acceptable.

I remember seeing 104* in my diesel, I thought the engine was melting

I was replying to gizmo not you sorry for the confussion

The Mk2 VRS won't generate over 90C untill its under load and the turbo is spooling

I took jrw's reply to be to me as I had quoted him, not to disagree, but just to add more into.

Many people still think that because the temp gauge is showing 90° (in the middle) that the engine is fully warm, I was just pointing out that this may not be the case, but yes if you have an oil temp gauge then this is a much better indication of when the engine is fully warm (but only if you know what the oil temp should be)

My advice is to run the car in as it says in the handbook, iv had some big issues with my vrs. Resulting in a new engine and turbo at 2000miles and issues been present from 1100miles. Iv done 1300miles so far on new engine so far and all is well and i kept religiously to what stated in the handbook. Things to look for which i had with mine was firstly high oil consumption, id recomend checking your oil every 2-3days depending on usage, mine used 700ml of oil in 300miles ln the first engine, also at night you could see smoke when setting off in the headlights of cars behind. Hope this as helped as id hate you to be without your vrs for 2 weeks like i was (Y)

Also im currently used about 200ml of oil to 5-600miles to give you a rough idea but the handbook states 0.5l to 1000km so dont be worried if its uses abit of oil

Drive it normally

Drive it normally

Id agree with this just dont drive it likes it stolen fron day one haha

Every time I start a journey I take my time for the first few miles with it until the oil is at about 80 degrees and then drive how I need to. If I drive it hard I change using the paddles at just over 6k. It has hit the limiter once or twice when playing about with Sport. I always take it easy the last mile too just to be safe. My driving mix is fine as it's normally an eco run into work and a fast blast on the way home. I've used just over 1l of oil in 2600 miles or so. I have noticed the vapour coming out of the exhaust but it's not excessive and less than my old vRS. It's more noticeable on cold mornings and when the nob behind isn't observing a decent distance and reflects off their lights.

As always, follow the manufacturers instructions.

Tony

I always drive around in sport mode... even from cold Only joking

Drive normally for first 500 miles then do what you like. I been driving hard for 5000 miles and nothings gone wrong yet (touch wood)

80+ is warm enough for the oil. Mine only goes about 100C after a high speed run in the summer or sitting in traffic.

Run in as per the instructions if you wish but be prepared to put a litre of oil in every 1k (like my dad had to do on his old Polo which has never been about about 3k RPM all its life). His 1.4 TSI (140bhp) has been run in the same as mine (as i stated earlier) and hasn't used a drop of oil...the same as mine hasn't used a drop of oil.

Run in as per the instructions if you wish but be prepared to put a litre of oil in every 1k (like my dad had to do on his old Polo which has never been about about 3k RPM all its life). His 1.4 TSI (140bhp) has been run in the same as mine (as i stated earlier) and hasn't used a drop of oil...the same as mine hasn't used a drop of oil.

That's a bit of a sweeping statement though!

Mine is always warmed up fully (oil at 95° +) before it gets 'used hard' and always cooled down in the last mile or so before switching off. Most of my miles are driven for economy as it is used for travelling to work and back and I go to work to earn the money and not to waste it by getting there, yet in 15.5k miles it has barely come off the maximum mark on the dipstick.

There is no point at all in using a diesel up to the rev limiter as the peak power starts to falls off just after 4k RPM, so keep it in the power band and most importantly do not labour the engine, and you will be fine.

A petrol engine will obviously hold onto it's power band a little longer, but will tail off before the limiter, so keep it in the power by using the gears.