And there is a big difference in what Porsche says and what they do. The cars at the Porsche Sport Driving School are driven hard right off the truck, no break in at all. Then they turn around and sell them with a full warranty a year later. I'm not sayin it's right or wrong... just sayin.
For a data point I broke in my 996 by the book in 1999 (1000miles), I broke my 2007 Turbo in
hard, neither car uses oil.

 

Well whether its right or wrong i cant say but the same thing does happen out here Doug and i guess the same applies Globally wherever these P driving schools are offered. These cars all wind up on the shop floor as "demos" but funny there's never any mention that they've done a "tour of duty" . Mind you they are hardly going to send them off to the scrap yard so if they can be kept out the door and recover costs then any profit can be fed into any warranty issues that may arise. It makes for a good business case. This is probably where buying a pre owned is better. At least you kind of know its only had one person flogging the pants off the thing and not 100 different lead foots trying to learn how to drive fast. But for all of that it is testimony to the quality of the product, no question there.

 

I agree, we are nuts. I worry about the littlest things and that detracts from my enjoyment of the car. The cars are all imperfect consumables no matter how you drive them or break them in.

A friend of mine from Greece says everyone takes their brand new cars out to do 140mph as break in. I guess if nothing happens, they assume the manufacturer did a good job. ha

I read all the break in threads and ended up middle of the road.
I've broken in 5 new Porsches in the last five years, various blocks and types, hope I'm doing it right.

Running at 50mph in 6th is not necessarily lugging. (in aviation and boating, defined as high manifold pressure.) Going up a hill in 6th....yikes
The car lugs in 1st if you don't ride the clutch forever.
And the new PDK programming (nonsport) insists on a lug rather than poor fuel economy...lame

I wonder to what extent the break-in guidelines are warranty-related and not at all performance related. All the engines I've used over the years had longevity. Dyno performance and oil consumption, I just don't know. Wish I did.

 

I know that if you buy a 911 that has been used in a winter driving school around here, the P-dealer is obligated to have you sign a full disclosure form acknowledging the car's history. My guess would be that is Porsche's sop for any driving school vehicle they resell. Best,

 

Paul the flip side is the PSDS cars are very well maintained during their tour of duty. All repairs are done on site at the in Birmingham, major and minor. I still wouldn't buy one of the Carreras, but the GT3s and Turbos are not an issue.

 

Porsche will NEVER void a warranty over break-in. Have you ever heard of it happening??? Nope... I've had two motors, two trannys, and several other major parts replaced under warranty, and they never ever questioned it a bit. Now modified cars could result in a different out come.

It's all about liability. If you wrap it around a poll at 1500 miles then they can say it's not their fault. This is why break-in is way less in their neck of the woods, 1200 rather than 2K.

Warm up completely
Vary RPMs constantly
Take it easy for a few hundred miles and then let her rip

 

Yeh im aware of the servicing regime but I also noticed the instructors generally keep any radical behaviour well in check as well so the cars dont cop an all out hammering. I recall one guy was pulled for unecessarily revving in too low a gear and another jumped on for being a jerk going too fast and having an off. They also dont promote 10 10ths driving. Not saying these cars dont get driven hard but would i buy one...nup. Would i buy a GT3 or turbo.....prolly not either. Knowing a hundred butts have seen seat time is phsycologically a bit off putting for me personally. Each to his own though. And whilst it's testimony to the quality of the product who really knows the true level of wear looking from the outside. These things are probably at their golden mile stage (at a very young age)....which would account for why im told these cars usually feel faster than those that have had regular street driving.

Never say never. These cars have a black box that would provide P a fall back position to accept or reject any claim they saw fit. Im sure the evaluation of your cases included a close look at the range counters. I can just imagine them accepting a blown engine claim where the engine had spiked high on the range counters....particularly a new engine within break in period .

 

the engines are assembled on the line (there are 117 stations) and cold tested by hand with every 100 fully assembled engine hot tested with fuel. this is true of every 911.

The last station is engine ignition start and throttle testing.
That's it.

The break-in is performed by YOU the owner and should be conducted as recommended by the manufacturer in the owner's manual.

 

Oh and that black box...records ALL DATA.

 

Not all data, they can't tell how many times a PDK has been launched for instance. I have the 48-page full print out of my ECU/black box on my '11 turbo S and that info doesn't exist. I then asked my tech of 30-years if they can track it and he said no.

Guys, I'm not talking about driving/abusing the crap out of it right out of the box. I'm talking about no babying it, driving it like it's supposed to be reasonably driven. If you think it hurts to occasionally get near red line, or occasionally shift above 5K after it's completely warmed up, then that's nuts. My Porsches that I've broken in have never had a bit of trouble nor burned any oil.

In the US there is no way Porsche will void a warranty based off of break-in procedures, not for the monies they charge up front. Now you intentionally start throwing Stage XX over revs then maybe you'd be denied but that would be at any time during the warranty period not just the break-in period.

It's about liability. I've been told this by someone way up the chain. These cars are dangerous at 550HP if you're not coming from the sport's car world, especially rear engined regardless of PSM, PTV, etc... You can get yourself in trouble if you're not used to it. Porsche doesn't want this coming back on them for obvious reasons. By 2000 miles they assume you have a good idea of how the car is going to handle. If this is wrong then why is it 1200 abroad and 2K in the U.S.? They think we're stupid and careless over here.

 

Thanks for all the info. I've decided to follow the break-in instructions before I track it.