BasicSlvr

During my initial A7 test drive two years ago, I got a bit aggressive with the accelerator. I turned and apologized (tongue in cheek) to the salesperson. He said not to worry, the car won't allow itself to be over-driven during break in. Curious, I discussed the issue with my tech after purchasing the car. According to him, it's impossible to abuse the engine beyond its limits during break in and beyond as the ECU is pre programmed to limit revs and shift points for a certain time period. This is also meant to prevent abuse while the car is in transport, being demo'd, and broken in.

snagitseven

It's more than just the engine. The manf. is recommending conservative driving as the entire car is brand new. By gradually building up to full performance, there are many parts, including the brake pads, that need to be fully bedded, seated, etc.. and any initial issue from the factory is best discovered at reasonable speeds.

Finally, it's not a matter of "blowing" the engine - the rev limiter prevents that from happening. There is arguably a reason for the break-in relating to long term engine life and oil consumption. And then there's the transmission....

For break-in, the manual actually states 2/3rds of of max rpm (3700 rpm on a 3.0T) for 600 miles and gradually increasing to max permissible road or engine speed from 600 to 1K miles.