I will be taking delivery of my new Civc this week and I would like to know how Honda recommends driving when new? The reason I ask is I am planning a trip of which will consist of 600 miles which about ninety percent will be freeway miles. Do you think this is not the right way to break the car in, almost immediately taking it on a small journey even though I can still baby it and not speed tooooo much! I will only have the car 3 or 4 days before taking off. Should I just leave the Brand New car in my garage and take the Bimmer instead?

 

I believe the only thing you have to do is vary the speed periodically. You don't want to drive at the same speed for long periods. I suggest you contact your dealership to find out what they recommend. My salesman told me about 10-15 minutes max at any constant speed, and then to vary it slower or faster by 5mph for 10-15 minutes. I assume this applies to use of the cruise control.

 

Vary both your speed and your RPM. Do NOT brake hard for the first 200 miles (the pads need to wear in).

Do not rev too hard (don't floor it).

The good news, with the CVT transmission, you won't have much to worry about with varying the RPM-it will do it for you.

Drive it-it's a fun car-different fun than the Bimmer, but fun never the less!

Learn your blind spots early (not too many) and know you have a seat height adjustment and tilt & telescopic steering wheel. It makes a huge difference on a long ride.

To keep the Fuel Efficiency up, use your accelerator to drive the car, not the brakes-the accelerator is drive-by-wire so it will take some getting used to if the Bimmer is a straight throttle.

Remember, it's a Honda-by the time you complete your trip-it will be broken in!

Best and have a safe drive,

Michael

 

According to the owners manual for the break-in period:

Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration for 600 miles.
Do not change the oil until the scheduled maintenance time.
Avoid hard braking for the first 200 miles.

There is nothing in the owner's manual about varying speed or rpms.

 

Drive at different speeds and you should be fine.

 

Varying speeds helps break in the engine smoothly in most cars; but with this low-friction engine and CVT, it probably doesn't matter.