Hi Marc –

I did about the same with my ’05 FEH 4WD. We purchased it on a Thursday and that Saturday we left Atlanta to Williamsburg, Washington, New York City and back. Just about all expressway driving on cruise (65 – 75 MPH) and the FEH now has over 22K on it now, getting 32.1 MPG – without any problems.

I think the ‘Old School’, thinking with initial ‘Break-In’, and not holding a constant speed (RPM), has to do with getting even wear on all parts of the engine and drive train. In other words pressing on the gas puts pressure (wearing/smoothing down) say on one side of the cam, crankshaft, piston rings etc and letting off the gas has the same effect on the opposite side of all these components, therefore your entire system is balanced.

This theory doesn’t hold true for the FEH or MMH, so your salesman and the manual are wrong. The reason is because the PCM is constantly changing the RPMs to keep the speed constant going up and down hills even with the cruise control on - so you are getting that change of engine speeds without doing a thing. So I would say let her rip – not literally. I would keep the speeds down for the first 500 miles or so but after that - - - . Yes there is a Break-In of the total vehicle as far as getting everything 'losened up' so to speak. I guess it is just a case of all the parts having less friction etc and as far as I can tell - it just keeps getting better and better the more miles you put on it.

The 'Main' thing is - Enjoy - you have a wonderful machine.