Jason says "I believe that you "shape" the personality of your car during the initial break-in and that the engine needs to be worked out appropriately."

As I have just picked up my new 99.5 TQMS how should I break it in?

I have been extra careful with it, any advise?

I have been wondering if I should baby my A4 through the break-in period or if I should be driving it the way I will expect it to perform in the future?

Also, I have heard others on the Performance forum talk about 'drifting' as in drifting their A4. I assume they are referring to slowing down a little as you aproach a turn, then just as you begin to turn, you accelerate hard as to use the force of torque to propell you instead of braking to impead deveation from the intended path. Is this right?

Since I'm a Canuk I'll be using Kilometers (.625 miles per KM).

First 1000km: Take it real easy. don't redline it..yet. Its best to keep it below 4500 rpm.

1000-2000km: Start exploring but on a real limited basis. You can now approach redline for a brief instance but still take it easy.

2000-8000km: You can now gradually work your way up to the way you plan on driving but if you're real agressive, keep that until after your first oil change @ 8000 km, then go nuts.

I have 11000km on my 99.5 and it still seems to be breaking in (improved fuel economy and performance). Also, I honestly believe that you must break the motor in in that same manner as you are going to drive it but that doesn't mean hammering the hell out of it during the first 2000 km. One other thing that probobly doesn't need mentioning, don't drive it hard until the engine and oil are at operating temp.

One more thing, on my first oil change I supplied the dealer with Castrol Syntec 5w50 synthetic. My mechanic thinks this is the best grade for the turbo because of the heat generated.

Good luck and welcome to the Audi family

Break in - follow Audi's advice, BUT don't baby the car. This may sound contradictory, but look at the guidelines in the manual. For the 1.8T I believe it's do not exceed 2/3 engine (about 4000 rpm) for the first 600 miles and then gradually build up to using full engine range by 1000 miles. Also, vary engine speed. I would say stick to this, keep high revving to a minimum for the first 600 miles. Also, vary the revs...ie. try to spend more time driving on twisties than highways (more fun too).

Drifting is allowing the car to drift through a turn. It is a balanced maneuver in which all four wheels (well in a four wheel drift at least) have lost grip and allow the car to drift a bit. For example, as a long sweeping turn is executed the driver maintains a speed a little too high for to hold the tightest line. To maintain control, he/she allows the car to drift (skid) from the inside lane to the outside lane. Drift can be stopped either by lifting off the throttle a little (not too much or the back wheels will become unweighted and the car will soon be sideways) or unwinding the wheel a bit (taking a wider line through the turn and allowing the tires to maintain grip).

If you have not drifted a car before, do not attempt it on public roads, go to a drivers ed. track event or autocross and learn how in a controlled environment.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

I'd vary the engine speed as much as I can. Don't use the cruise control or stay at a constant cruising speed, on long drives, down shift often. Then from time to time, I'd take it up to 5000 - 5500 RPM and let it slowly go back down to about 3000 RPM and then shift.

Many enthusiast (sp?) believe that by working the engine hard during break in, it will work hard later. If you drive your car at 3000 rpm during break in, the car will drive great up to 3000 rpm later. And if you drive it hard across the RPM band, then the engine will perform great across the band. It's suppose to be better for your engine too, something about something seating better (?). Don't baby the engine.

Of course, before any hard driving, warm up the car first. And after hard driving, cool down for a few minutes.

All this IMHO ofcourse.

Mark
99.5 1.8T qms

otherwise some of our A4 brothers and sisters might wind up drifting head-on into a school bus. These cars handle superbly but to steal someone's line from a few weeks ago concerning cornering limits, traction, and quarttro...
2 wheel drive x 0 = 0... All wheel drive x 0 still equals 0... Quattro is a handling enhancer but it won't beat the laws of physics... leave the drifting to closed courses, auto crosses or better yet Dan Gurney (yeah, he's a geezer but a great geezer...)

A break-in is just getting the metal parts to seat together. That's all, it's just a machine. There is no engine gestalt that needs to be met. It has no kinesthetic memory of how you drove it. If you thrash it you will pay forever. If you treat it as the engineers advise, you will get good compression and a longer life span.

avoid WOT, but I did go to redline (on a well warmed up engine). The idea is you need to stretch the connecting rods. A ring ridge builds up at the top of the piston travel, if you don't stretch the engine that ridge will limit the piston travel later. My brother blew up an engine that had been babied it's whole life, broke a connecting rod the first time he wrapped it up.

if your out there drifting and someone has come by and dropped gravel for the last snow storm things can become exciting in a hurry (a very real problem in the Colorado high country).