Taking delivery of car 400 miles away--advice
 

Just got news that my car touched ground today, but won't be taking delivery of the car until 9/3 for after my vacation..and the dealership is 400 miles away :eyebulge:

Any advice for those who taken delivery of their cars far away?

-Break in engine driving back home
-What to look out for test-driving/inspecting the car etc.

- vary rpms, don't keep it at a constant rpm for longer than 5 mins or as often as you can remember to vary it. Probably the most important thing you can do is to keep varying speeds and rpm.

- rattles, squeaks, funny noises, smells. Hell, check the oil before you even start it up if you really want to be paranoid.

I'm in a similar situation. Flying from Tampa to Jacksonville to pick up my BRZ, and then doing a 300 mile road trip to get home (this weekend, actually WOOHOO). I'm going to go out on the limb and say don't worry too much about the break in. Let's put things in perspective. You purchased a $30K vehicle from a manufacture that makes some of the most reliable vehicles on the market. You also have a 3 year bumper to bumper and 5 year drive train warranty. During development an army of quality engineers were involved to make sure people like you and me can't screw up this car. And a variety of components are put under maximum load right in the factory. No manufacture wants to build a vehicle that requires the owner to follow specific break in instructions to ensure reliability and longevity. That would be a nightmare from a warranty perspective. If the customer was truly required to drive a certain way to ensure long-term reliability, warranty costs would be astronomical, because the average consumer doesn't follow break in guidelines. Break in periods are a legacy born from the days when manufactures could not achieve exacting tolerances and the first few hundred miles were needed to set machined parts better. These days don't exist any more. My plan is to enjoy the car, and do nothing differently on my drive home that I would do with my current car or post-1000 mile break in.

Im picking up my BRZ from a city about 2.5 hours away from my home town. Right now I dont plan on driving it home, but instead putting it on a trailer and towing it home. The only reason for this is that I wont have a clear bra or opti-coat installed untill I get back to my home town. If I can find an installer in the city Im buying it from I will most likely drive it home.

Vary your RPM's, go easy on it - no flooring it or excessive breaking, keep RPM's under 4K except when absolutely necessary.

If you're getting the car opti-coated or detailed back home, tell the dealer not to wash/polish it. Your detailer will thank you later. Just have them remove the shipping tape and rinse it.

Remember to take some breaks. Not just for the car, but for you - 400 miles isn't an excessive amount, but it's easy to get lulled into a steady state and you'll soon forget to vary the RPM. Stop at rest stops, go grab lunch/dinner, refuel, stretch your legs, go use the facilities, and check the vehicle to make sure everything still looks/smells right.

Oh, and make sure you set your GPS route before you start moving. Damned thing won't let you change your route if you're moving. Might get lucky with voice recognition, but good luck with that.

I took mine from New Hampshire to Long Island, NY. That was only about 280 miles, 5 and a half hours. It was a blast to drive - wasn't fatigued, felt pretty confident for a new vehicle, and I had fun even without going past 4K on the tach.

Sounds like you could do better by using painter's tape to cover up the hood and fenders, way cheaper.

The 2.5 hour drive shouldn't be a problem anyway. I think the local detailer would have more of a challenge undoing the dealer's detail job than having to wash away any bug splat from the drive, but yeah - if it's a real worry, just tape up the front with some low-tack tape and call it a day.

Yeah never let the dealer 'detail' or 'wash' your car. Don't even tell them to take the stickers off, do it yourself and drive away ASAP.

Will this prevent damage from road debris. Like chips in the paint from rocks or anything like that? That's my main concern with driving it home. I want the paint to be in perfect shape for when i get the opti-coat installed

Considering this is my first car buy, how would the dealer wash interfere with a professional detailer?

If the dealer uses improper washing techniques (which they probably will), they will damage the fresh paint, leaving swirls and scratches. Your professional detailer will then need to repolish the vehicle (costing you more for prep work.)

Not many car dealerships will use the two bucket method, or clean wash cloths during washes.

From my experience, its usually the guys lowest on the food chain that get stuck washing the cars, meaning they don't really give a crap about your brand new car.

I did a 1000+ mile drive back home this weekend after picking up my BRZ. My advice would be to remember that it is just a car and enjoy it. If the dealership washed it, enjoy that at least it looks clean. If you kill lots of bugs or get a few rock chips on your drive home, remind yourself that it is just a car. That is what I did. I did the entire drive constantly varying RPM in 5th and 6th gear. I never used cruise control and never maintained a speed more for than 30 seconds or so. The engine braking/coasting is what really sets the rings in a car. Keeping the car at a steady RPM can cause a wear pattern to develop and not getting good ring sealing is what leads to excessive oil consumption that you sometimes see in new cars. The bottom line is don't worry too much or you will forget to enjoy the experience.