290 black - running in? fuel?

[Das Chin]

morning all

just got the 290 black Cupra. I was told by the dealer to run it in for 600 miles.

have others been told this and done it? feels natural to me to do this on a new car.

also will it be ok to run on normal UL as pottering around under 4k?

once run in will switch to SUL. especially if its gets a tuning box.

ta, Nick

 

[CupraRobX]

I personally kept it easy for a few hundred miles or so then unleashed hell! I'm an Applications Engineer for a major German manufacturer of diesel engines and we don't recommend any running in period at all. I'm of the opinion that it just isn't necessary any more.
As for fuel, I wouldn't put in anything less than 98/99 (the filler cap label says the same) - why put 95 in at all for the sake of a few pence?

 

[surrealjam]

The above post makes good sense to me. There's no harm avoiding the red line for a few hundred miles - though most people seem to agree it's more important not to keep the engine at the same RPM for too long (i.e. a 100 mile run on the motorway at 70mph is bad). For fuel, go with whatever it says on the fuel filler cap and you can't go wrong.

 

[Ronnie Bagel]

I just kept it to the 4K revs for the 600, but it still shifts. I was just concerned that any warranty claims could be rejected if they plug it in and see it's been redlined in Cupra. Didn't want to take the risk, but respect anyone who did and just went 'balls to the wall' from Day 1.

Agree with Evoke in that you will save less than a tenner in 600 miles.


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[Das Chin]

ok thanks Chaps. will stick Tesco 99 in this time. I was a bit stuck with fuel options when I came out of the pdi, got a bit excited with new car and toys then realised I was nearly bang out of fuel ;-)

I will keep it to 4k for the 600 miles as that feels right and I hear what you say Ronnie about any potential comebacks etc.

looking forward to getting through the 600 miles, a bit warmer weather and burying that throttle.

 

[CupraRobX]

Our engines (and engines in general) when built are run up to max rpm straight away, so if you're going to get a 'zero hours' engine failure (anything less than 20 hours) it was going to do it with or without you babying it along.
My friend races F3's and when he rebuilds his engines, he runs them straight up to max rpm on the dyno as you need to see if you've any fuelling issues or if the AFR's are up the **** (amongst other things).
Right now, you'll struggle to get much grip in 2nd, 3rd or even 4th so it probably isn't a worry anyway!

 

[Das Chin]

very true. in the cold wet areas 2nd spins up even in low revs so not a bad thing.

 

[Ronnie Bagel]

You'll love it when you get there. Properly quick by any standards. I've had litre sports bikes in the past and sold my last one when my second nipper came along. Cars used to bore the pants off me, but the Cupra has managed to properly fill the gap. I still get the adrenaline hit, but in safer ways!


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[motty225]

i've thrashed mine from 7 miles, over 1k now and all is fine

 

[Perfect_g]

The manual states something like not to apply full throttle and more than 2/3 of maximum rpm for the first 1.000 km (600 miles) and then gradually increase load to you hit 1.500 km.
I did that on my Cupra 290 and then beated it repeatedly for hours on the Autobahn going through Germany for the summer holiday. At 18k km it has had the oil changed twice but has not used any oil at all in between those changes (apart from the first few hundred km).
I did more or less the same to the wife's polo blue gt - only difference being that I was not in Germany with it so found an empty stretch of highway on a week night and did a few hundred km's going back and forth on a 15 km section increasing speed up to max and decreasing speed again in gear. It is at 7k km and has had the oil changed once - it had not used any oil at all.
Have always more or less babied or cars in and taken mechanical care of them by changing oils more often and letting them get up to temperature before trashing them. Only mechanical problem we have had was a turbo on the wife's mk5 Jetta that clogged up at 130k km. half a year after we got our first child - the reason being that she had been driving like a granny all the time given the new precious cargo onboard..
Your car so up to you


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[ukoldschool]

Our engines (and engines in general) when built are run up to max rpm straight away, so if you're going to get a 'zero hours' engine failure (anything less than 20 hours) it was going to do it with or without you babying it along.
My friend races F3's and when he rebuilds his engines, he runs them straight up to max rpm on the dyno as you need to see if you've any fuelling issues or if the AFR's are up the **** (amongst other things).
Right now, you'll struggle to get much grip in 2nd, 3rd or even 4th so it probably isn't a worry anyway!

To be fair, your friend probably has his engine rebuilt regularly, it only has to last for a race weekend....

 

[martin j.]

To be fair, your friend probably has his engine rebuilt regularly, it only has to last for a race weekend....

And probably to smaller tolerances using matched parts, meaning it's less likely to need high spots etc gently wearing in, does Seat fit a " running in " oil to help with the early miles as some others do?

 

[dw911]

And probably to smaller tolerances using matched parts, meaning it's less likely to need high spots etc gently wearing in, does Seat fit a " running in " oil to help with the early miles as some others do?

I think some manufacturers do require a running in period , certainly Honda seam to require it, often get stuck behind dodery old people in them doing 20 mph on a 60 mph road with a long que of cars behind them, obviously running them in still.
Must be a very long run in period though, the last one I was stuck behind was on an 06 plate

 

[kazand]

Never bothered. Driven as intended from day 1.

 

[strell]

Have driven mine as you always should from day one. Once warm feel free to open it up

 

[Clifftoff]

Mine was delivered with 400 on the clock as I purchased from a dealer I'm the other end of the country and gave it a boot from then on. With regards to fuel I am still not convinced '99 offers me anything over '95 but am still fairly new to the car. Maybe psychologically It feels better with '99 in the tank but who knows....I am sure this is very individual.

 

[dw911]

Mine was delivered with 400 on the clock as I purchased from a dealer I'm the other end of the country and gave it a boot from then on. With regards to fuel I am still not convinced '99 offers me anything over '95 but am still fairly new to the car. Maybe psychologically It feels better with '99 in the tank but who knows....I am sure this is very individual.

It probably won't offer much to you in how the car drives, The octane rating on the fuel is a measure of its anti-knock properties.
A littlr bit more extra power is just a nice by product but only really on an engine that's designed to make use of it, otherwise it's a pointless extra expenses, although possibly a placebo for some in their 1.2 Citroën saxo or similar
It's a high performance car designed around running on a higher octane fuel and that's why seat put a sticker on the fuel flap saying 98.
I imagine most run on it more because that's what Seat say, rather than for the slight performance gains.
That's why I do, but your opinion may vary

 

[Ronnie Bagel]

For less than a fiver a tank more, I'm not sure why it's not worth doing it if that's what Seat recommend.


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[AndrewJB]

Interesting to note that the earlier cars (like mine) with the weak turbo. the cars that were run in for 500-1000 miles generally suffered turbo failure.

Where as mine, driven like it was stolen from the start, now has nearly 20k on it with 18k of that being stage 2 and still has a really good original turbo.

 

[Das Chin]

The normal ul run out. I put in some Tesco sul.

Got bored driving like miss daisy so buried the loud pedal. In cupra mode it makes a lovely growl and goes like a scolded rat.

Much pleasure and smiles ;-)