driving from illinois to east coast-new car - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

brainblade · 18th July 2007, 12:32

picking my new car up Friday morning..it currently has 47 miles miles on it and is an 07 smg...i know there are many threads as to the proper break in procedure but does anyone have tips or advice for me? the trip is over 900 miles and while the temptation already exists, i am confident i can hold off.

unfoundhorsepower · 18th July 2007, 13:45

yup, just have fun, nothing over 100mph and no "M" button.Read your manual ...TWICE" before you go !!!!
.
I picked mine up at the performance center in Spartonburg SC. and drove 1150 miles home.....alll broken in !!!
.
IMPORTANT: READ THE MANUAL--------FIRST.

brainblade · 18th July 2007, 13:47

how should i alternate gears? at what time intervals?

unfoundhorsepower · 18th July 2007, 13:49

Just drive it....doesnt matter 5,000 rpm max. is what the book says , i think...put it in auto for the trip...

Groovdog · 18th July 2007, 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by unfoundhorsepower

Just drive it....doesnt matter 5,000 rpm max. is what the book says , i think...put it in auto for the trip...

And stay in 1-3, if you go to shift program 5 it will likely rev above 5K pretty easy (I assume the computer doesnt limit anything). With decent acceleration (but not "hard") in P400 program 5 you will hit 5K at 20-25 or so MPH and it wont shift into 2nd till over 7K

My comment would be do auto and dont play with the settings, drive it out, add a couple more miles and take it in so you can play

unfoundhorsepower · 18th July 2007, 14:14

Twist it till the engine mounts screem !!!!!!!!!!!!!

andrewsherman · 18th July 2007, 14:18

Since Greg read the manual twice, I am surprised he missed the fact about varying the engine speeds. I would NOT use the drive mode or cruise. Flip between 5th, 6th and 7th gears ever so often. You can run 70-80 mph easily in any of those three gears below the 5500 mark.

unfoundhorsepower · 18th July 2007, 14:21

Andrew, this is why I love you so....your always seeing that I don't do silly stuff.......

andrewsherman · 18th July 2007, 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by unfoundhorsepower

Andrew, this is why I love you so....your always seeing that I don't do silly stuff.......

Well, it IS time to change you signature since the meet has passed.

ttaillon · 18th July 2007, 15:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by brainblade

picking my new car up Friday morning..it currently has 47 miles miles on it and is an 07 smg...i know there are many threads as to the proper break in procedure but does anyone have tips or advice for me? the trip is over 900 miles and while the temptation already exists, i am confident i can hold off.

Just sent you a PM. Didn't realized you were driving it back (thought you meant shipping). But great choice to drive in my opinion. As I mentioned, I found a way to put 1,200 miles on in a week and a nice ride back home is the perfect way to get familiar with the car.

I believe you should vary the rpms, which is easy to do if you play around with the 'S' programs instead of just throwing it into 'D'. D bored me, but that's just me. It put it in 7 when I wanted to be in 4. I didn't buy this thing for gas mileage (which has averaged about 13 since I got it, including 1,000 highway miles).

Watch out for the lower gears. Real easy to wind out 1st before you can blink and also easy to over rev if you're not careful on downshifts in lower gears (going from 3-2 and 2-1 especially). Maybe I'm backwards on this lower gear higher gear thing, but you know what I mean - the low numbers.

And I also don't think there is anything wrong with using your M button, as long as you don't program your M button to do anything that violates the break-in procedure. What I've read on this forum, what I read in the book, and what I read on that nice little sticker they put in your face on the windshield are 3 different things.

The sticker says (first 1,200) no revs over 5,500 and top speed of 106mph and (1,200-3,something) top speed of 137mph and only stay at top speed for brief periods.

The book adds a few things about shift programs 5 and 6 and this forum has a bunch of other advice. My advice would be to follow the book.

I set a little 'top speed warning' on mine for 80 because I was driving up and down 95 from NJ to VA where the limit is usually 55-65. My wife was trying to take a little nap and started yelling at me saying "for the love of god, would you either please shut that stupid beeping off or SLOW DOWN". It is REAL easy to hit triple digits practically by accident. Well, maybe it wasn't by accident.

Have fun and safe travels!

brainblade · 18th July 2007, 15:43

thank you for all your help

trol · 18th July 2007, 17:53

I drove mine right after pickup in joesey all the way to phoenix. I didn't have to change the gears because every 2 hours it needs fuel, and process of pulling into the gas station, stopping and heading back out essentyially goes through all the gears. I kept it in D3, with S6 after 1200 mile service in kentucky.