BUT - Have you, or anybody else, ever heard of anybody having a problem because they didn't follow break in procedures?

Break in procedures are merely manufacturer recommendations . It certainly won't hurt the car ,plus it gives the driver a chance to adapt to a new vehicle . With long oil change intervals and pampered break in it's easy to speculate that the manufacturer had its own savings plan when they wrote the book --but I can't confirm nor deny this .

My feeling is never to "abuse" any car at any mileage . A Porsche can be driven hard but it's certainly in the drivers best interest to learn his car first and be sure that a sudden mechanical failure risk is minimized by testing the car at first in a more cautious manner .

In short --dip your toes before jumping in the ocean .

Lots of people don't keep cars that long....you don't break in any race engine that way be it bikes or cars. I've had friends that race supercross in the AMA, tight, new motors consisted of 1 lap of practice not at race pace. My salesman told me the same thing...no break in...he also races every weekend,is on his 19th Porsche & has owned other exotics. Just b/c you have had no problems, neither have I.

Nope! Not one.

Take it easy for 2k and you turbo will eat oil. Drive it normally from day one, car will be fine. Dont be afraid of excercising the car at all the minute you drive off the lot.

Somewhere in the middle is where you should be exactly.

0-500 take it easy, break in engine but brakes too.

500+ oil warmed up, go for it not to the limiter though

2kmi you should be ready with a broken in engine

just as a personal note I notice Porsche engines don't start to run freely before 4-5k miles but this is just a personal note... perhaps well wrong, anyone else?

Unless you created an over-rev situation, how're a dealer or PCNA ever going to know you didn't follow proper break-in procedures??

I've often wondered how much info the black boxes really record. Anyone have a clue?

like I always says......
you dont have to break in your engine......but yes your brakes...pads....clutch...gear box....

think of going 300 km/h with 10kms on the odometer and break hard....thats not good for your new pads and brakes!!!!!!

500kms for me its ok......

Porsche breaks the engine in for you and puts 500 miles on it before it gets installed in the car. With that being said, common sense says to warm up any car before you pound on it. A Turbo car should be warmed up before beaten on and allowed to cool down before you put her back in the stable.

I've heard that Porsche runs the engine for a while but where did you come up with 500 miles? At 4,000 rpm that's maybe 7 or 8 hours - I don't think they run them that long.

Several Porsche mechanics have told me this. I questioned it because I was tossed the keys to a brand new TT cab for a test drive it was getting delivered that afternoon and I didn't think it was right to floor it out of the dealership. The car was warm before I punched it everyone at the dealership told me not to worry it was already broken in.....

classic...

During the torturous 2,000 break in period I did warm the oil up to 200 degs,, then tried to stay within 4,000 rpms but a number of times redlined it in each gear just cause it felt good.

But I didnt want to abuse it because I heard of the Black Box and it tells all.

But my cars runs like a charm even with a harder then normal break in.

Down a quart of oil in 3,000 miles, not bad to me.

My 996 drank oil compared to the TT.


Cabman

I worked for Porsche for a about a year when I first graduated college. They told us at the dealership that each car had the engine ran redline for 30 seconds(I think thats the amount of time) in every gear before they were put in the car. Every car also hits its top speed before leaving for delivery. Again thats what we were told...I still think following the "hints" is a good idea but a few full blown runs shouldn't hurt it to bad.