I'm considering the purchase of a new Mercedes E 450 wagon. I see very few of these for sale at dealers close to me, at least not in the colors or options I want. However, I did find one that matches my desired specs exactly at a dealer 1,000 miles away. The car could be shipped to me for around $1,000 or I could fly to the dealer and drive the car home. I'm worried about the advisability of breaking in a new car with a 1,000-mile highway drive, as I always thought it was better to vary the speed during a break-in period more than a long turnpike/highway trip would normally involve. Any thoughts or advice?

 

I’m sure that other will have different opinions, but my understanding is that due to the higher tolerances involved in manufacturing today, a break in period is a thing of the past. My wife has bought new for the 3 of her last 5 cars, and at no time has anyone said anything about breaking it in.
I used to be a Jeep owner, and on the forums there was always some debate on this topic. However, a lot of folks would fly and drive it home, you get your vehicle sooner and you get to do a road-trip . I will say that I would prefer the Benz to the Jeep for a road-trip!

I say fly and drive!

 

I flew from Austin to North Caroline to pick up my 2015 S-600 and drove it back.
Other than getting out of Raleigh I spent the first day on non-interstate roads to Chattanooga driving such that the engine went up and down the RPM scale.
From Chattanooga to Little Rock it was ½ non-interstates and ½ interstates. This day I walked the RPMs up and down with the flippy paddles.
From Little Rock to Austin it was interstate all the way.

I detected a lot of loosening up the first day, a bit more the second. And on the 3rd day I was getting 24.5 MPG at 65-70 MPH.
If you keep the radio off, and listen to the engine and driveline, you can hear the car loosening up.

My advice is to fly to pick up the car, and spend the first ½ day off the interstates. And I think after this, it no longer maters.

My motorcycle, after a rebuild, spend 1,000 miles no higher than ½ RedLine, 1,000 miles no higher than 3/4 RedLIne, and then spent 1 tank of gas between 3/4 RedLine and RedLine (for high RPM break in.)

 

Yes' it's advised to vary the speed and not to use cruise control and avoid redlining .Besides , you should not make any hard acceleration from stand still

 

If you finally decide to drive, take note of these recommendations (taken from a W223 manual)

 

About the only thing you have to do a break-in period process these days is on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Don't worry about it. Go get it and drive it like you stole it. BTW, I drive a BMW motorcycle.

 

Funny Line, that I've never heard before (where have I been?). "Drive it like you stole it". Love it!!

 

Due to vastly improved machining processes in the past few decades, engine breakin is a thing of the past, mildly amusing history.

in 2006 I was able to personally witness hand assembly of a 6.3 V8 AMG motor in Germany. At the end of the assembly the motor was placed in a fixture and spun up with an electric motor. It was then broken in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break-in_(mechanical_run-in)

 

Thank-you so much for sharing this break-in image. Perhaps the horribly jerky and/or rough downshifts from 15mph to 0mph are due to the car not having 200 miles on it yet. (2024 GLC 300SUV). I've been shifting to Neutral while slowing for Stop Signs, just to keep the transmission uninvolved, as much as possible.

 

Why anyone would make such a maor investment and decide not to follow the maker's manual is way beyond me, but then, I'm an old fogy who always reads the instructions.

It's your new costly vehicle - do what you wnat - and live with the results.

 

My 2020 only had 3,000 miles on it after 2 years when I bought it. It was a diplomatic car in DC. I figured they didn’t do anything to break it in so that’s what I do now. I doubt you can do any damage in 1,000 miles.