Hi all
Just hit 5000 miles and it seems like the engine revs a bit freer and develops some more power.
Running stock, no mods. 93 octane Sunoco.
Anyone else notice this?

 

I found that my mpg's stayed about 30 on the highway but the motor seemed smoother after the 10k oil change

 

In general, you'll find a bit better gas mileage and a bit more power once the engine and drivetrain are broken in - around 10k miles or so.

Most magazines also report a slightly faster 0-60 time upon completing their long-term tests of a car.

 

I've been fortunate enough to have owned 30+ new vehicles in the last 21 years. (mostly US and European makes).

I've found fuel efficiency and engine/driveline smoothness peaks around 10k to 15k miles. Then around 50k to 60k miles they start to degrade slowly.

It doesn't seem to matter how they were driven during "break-in" or the initial few thousand miles. I've had vehicles I babied for the first 10k miles, others I've absolutely hammered during the first 10k miles. all of them achieved peak efficiency around that magical 10k to 15k mile mark.

Also I've noticed engine longevity doesn't correlate to how you break it in. I've had engines that were babied start to have issues around 20k, to engines that were hammered during break-in last well into 200k mile range without issue. (small sample size I know).

so I've gone from being really obsessed to how an engine should be broken in, to not really care anymore for the last handful of cars. Just drive it like I would normally drive it and not worry too much about how to break it in.
Modern engines can last easily 100k+ miles with proper maintenance (mostly just timely oil changes these days).