franka2000

In early may i'm taking my first long trip with my 2008 c350, we are going to disney world, it's about 220 miles from my house.

tell me what you think, i have about 2300 miles in my car, is my car ready for a 3 hour non-stop drive.

e1000

no problem

itcrashed

most definitely

MB_FTW

It should be fine, I think.

I bought my car the same day it arrived at the lot of the dealer's. (I didn't order it, it just happened to have everything I wanted except for iPod) The dealer was 2.75 hrs away in Wash. DC. I live in Richmond Va, and both of the MB dealers have about 8 w204s combined.

When I bought my car it only had 7 miles on it from the testing in Germany and I drove it about 150 miles back to Richmond the day after. I spent the night at a hotel. It was a fun weekend.

But is that going to have any effects on the car in the future? I wasn't even aware that it even mattered if I drove it for that long when it was new.

itcrashed

i don't think its that big of a deal as long as you varied your speed and rpms throughout the drive (obviously without revving too high, and keeping it in "C" mode.)

franka2000

Should i drive the car in C mode or S mode, when I take my 220 miles trip to disney world, please reply.

rs1985

how do u like the seatings ?
how about your passenger?

itcrashed

you're well beyond break-in period...you should be good in either mode.

jherbias

I might just be naive, but I thought you don't need to break in German cars?

Anyway for a commuter car, most break in-mileage is around 1000-1200 miles; I know mine is 1200. Hopefully you varied your RPMs during that time. I know my car is different, but I drove to Vegas in the middle of last summer (around 400 miles one way) and had no problems then or now.

franka2000

I need to know, im in love with mu c

hyukki

Cars were meant to be driven.

I took my car on the freeway for a hundred mile drive the first day I got it. I had to get home somehow. lol.

Most likely, you will not drive your car more than 100k miles (Average people drive 15k a year, which is around 6-7 years. I'm sure the engine should be able to handle 100k miles even without break in. If it can't, well I wouldn't buy it.

My car is barely 11 months old but I'm due for an oil change for 40k miles. I redline at least 5 times a day on the freeway. (Passing/just wanting to redline)

I drive for work, which is for my parents and they pay for gas/payment/insurance. The only downside is that I only get 500 a month because I already got a nice car.

e1000

IMO, modern cars don't need break in.

mac911

Yeah it's not even a question that you can feel free to drive and enjoy your car on the trip. Enjoy WDW!

I'd go in S unless it was rainy conditions.

ColoradoDriver

I thought you were going to be going on a 2000+ mile trip. You even consider 220 miles a long trip?

This was our first weekend with the new C300 4matic Sport, and we already put over 600 miles on it just enjoying driving around the Colorado mountains.

ayeh8

enjoy

jrct9454

Got to admit, I can barely understand the question....

We took delivery of our C300 on August 9, and left for a 5000 mile roadtrip 10 days later. Isn't that what these cars are for???

narky

I have a friend who majored in Mechanical Engineering, and specialized in combustion engines. His dream was to go work for BMW after graduation. He instead went to work on designing fighter jets for a supplier to the US Navy, and now works for Boeing. He and I both love cars, so that's all we talked about during college. Here I collect and paraphrase what he's told me over the years :

An engine is a machine with many mechanical parts. Since different parts of the same engine are made by different people (sometimes even different companies/factories!), not everything fits so perfectly together. So while the engine is new (car is new), there may be some excessive friction between the moving parts (pistons and rods and everything else). So typically, a new car should be driven a little more gently until all the minor imperfections have been ground away from usage. This is the same reasoning he gave for recommending an early 1st oil change at ~1500 miles (the shaved filings end up in the oil, and if not drained out, they'll cycle back into the engine to cause damage).

After saying all this, he told me that modern cars are so precisely designed and manufactured with the assistance of computers and robots that the above point is all but moot. He "claimed" also that especially in the case of Lexus, there is really no need for a break-in. "Go Lexus!" he said. Then he went and bought a 335ci.

POINT: You buy what you like, and you drive how you like. Go enjoy yourself. I took a 984 mile round trip when my odometer read 934 miles. I didn't want to, but had to, so I tried to vary RPMs here and there, but you can only put in so much variance when you are traveling at speed limit+ on the I-5 (long, long, boring, straight, no-curves-at-all freeway for miles on end). If that's going to kill my car, then I bought the wrong one.

He also gave me a long technical reasoning behind the need to vary the RPMs in a baby car, but I my fingers are tired. Can't type.

e1000

I've looked into it quite a bit and to me, break in is a carry over from older engines and older engine technology. Modern engines are manufactured to MUCH tighter tolerances and with vastly different materials. Oils and lubricants have also changed quite a bit, especially since our engines come with, and use sythetic oil. I'm not sure if MB does this but a lot of manufacturers Dyno each and every car before it leaves the factory. We're talking about a full throttle run right up to red-line.

MB-JIM

On a trip to the factory, I asked about the break-in since I was heading out on the autobahn the next day. The technician said I should not be concerned about speed but shouldn't lug the engine or downshift to help in braking. Also, he said I shouldn't floor it where the revs would go to maximum. Speeds of 100 mph would be no problem.

narky

Please clarify/explain. Thanks.

MB-JIM

Lugging applies if you have a manual transmission and don't downshift when you are in too high a gear for the grade. With an automatic transmission that should be a non-issue.

blastit

ok guy question about breaking in the car. i have read numerous posts about this on here some people say 1000 miles before the car is broken in some people say it doesnt matter.

Whats the deal? when i get my car (hopefully today) am i expected to drive at varied speeds at various rpm's in c mode? what happens to the car if you drive it in s mode before the 1000 miles? i dont think that i have ever really broken in the cars i have owned in the past. most of the driving that i do is commuter driving. i travel about 30 km to work and 30km to the house in rush hour. so i dont see how i can properly break this car in considering that i am stuck in bumper to bumper. any advice???

KmanianC

Sup man? I drove my C350 from MIA to Tampa and back with 800 miles on it. It was all good!

DannyM383

a little off topic but does anyone know when dealers are going to switch from the old C as loaner car to the new c?

schvamf

Owners manual says 1000 miles to break it in and keep it in "C" mode. That's exactly what I did, but now that I'm past the 1000 mile mark I keep it in "S"