GT/C192/R192: Drive it or ship it- what would you do?
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jul 2024
Posts: 13
Likes: 5
From: North Carolina, USA
AMG GT 55
Drive it or ship it- what would you do?
I have a new GT 63 coming in to a dealer that's 760 miles from home. I won't have chance to get PPF on it until it reaches home base. The cost of shipping is not an issue, it's the unpredictability in terms of scheduling, pickup, how the car is handled, and not honoring promised delivery dates. OTOH, I'm not sure I want the break in to be 760 miles of highway driving. And, I'm concerned about rock chips on the unprotected paint. What would you do and why?
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 2,139
Likes: 944
From: Costco
2023 S500
I’ve heard that you should avoid constant, monotonous RPMs for the break-in period, like what you typically see on extended freeway driving, and that it’s better if the car experiences a more variable engine load. Maybe it’s an old wive’s tale and it doesn’t matter as much anymore for modern engines.
Member
Joined: Feb 2025
Posts: 166
Likes: 31
From: Rome, Italy
AMG GTR 2021 (Euro version)
Basically the same dilemma I faced... both options have their pros and cons...In the end, I decided to drive it home myself (about 650 miles, almost all on the highway), trying to keep a safe distance from the vehicles ahead of me at all times, to minimize the risk of getting hit by gravel and the like....
In hindsight, considering the costs of gas, tolls, food, and hotel for one night, I would have been better off shipping it by truck, but the chance to drive 200 miles on the highway in the only place in the world with no speed limit certainly carried some influence...
In hindsight, considering the costs of gas, tolls, food, and hotel for one night, I would have been better off shipping it by truck, but the chance to drive 200 miles on the highway in the only place in the world with no speed limit certainly carried some influence...
Last edited by Kevin#34; Today at 11:51 AM.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,373
Likes: 6,323
I recommend driving it to really enjoy the drive and experience the car for the first time. I seen many forum members taking flights to out of state/province to drive it home, it is a great experience whether it is a completely new vehicle or a CPO.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,432
Likes: 5,342
From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
When buying an AMG, you don't just buy an A to B car. You buy an experience, and grand touring is probably the ultimate experience with these cars. I did European Delivery to pick up my current car. Flew 6000 miles to Germany and then drove around for almost 7000 miles over 2 months and didn't put PPF on until it arrived in the US afterwards. Avoiding constant rpm is still a thing, and specifically stated in the break-in instructions. So I told Google Maps to avoid highways and I discovered some awesome backroads. My first trip was 200 miles all on backroads. Took twice as long, but well worth it, and after that I kept avoiding highways until I hit the break-in mileage. All in order to vary speed and rpm as one is supposed to. I could have done the Autobahn as well, as given the no speed limit in many parts of Germany, varying speed and rpm wouldn't have been a real issue, but I was driving down to Switzerland where speed limits are strictly enforced. In the US, though, highway driving such long distances is a pretty monotone experience and pretty much the worst way to break-in these engines. Stop&go traffic is also not recommended during the break-in. Also, as opposed to Europe where you can pretty much get anywhere on B roads and drive over awesome mountain passes in the Alps, in the US there aren't really continues B roads between cities and often the only way is a straight boring highway.
One option you might consider is downloading the Porsche ROADS app. With this app, you can plot fun routes between points. You can tell it what you want such as curvy, elevation changes etc. and it plots a route that's off the beaten path you'd never knew about.
One option you might consider is downloading the Porsche ROADS app. With this app, you can plot fun routes between points. You can tell it what you want such as curvy, elevation changes etc. and it plots a route that's off the beaten path you'd never knew about.
Last edited by superswiss; Today at 03:06 PM.
