Taking delivery of an Octavia vRS

[gadget007a]

I am going to make my own delivery check list, I will base it upon the check sheet you get when you hire a car and then go over it thoroughly to check everything, from tyre pressures, wheel nut tightness, fluid levels, any paint blemishes, operation of all components etc.

[brad]

At 1500km im taking it in for an oil and oil filter change.

Your dealer probably won't allow it as VW say to leave the first fill in for 15,000km.

Of course, if you take it to an independent garage & use a genuine filter then they will never know.

To the OP: I'm in the "firm but not thrashing" school. I have no idea about "S" but on my manual I didn't use 5th or 6th for a few weeks and tried to gradually increase revs until it felt tight.

[sillyboy]

Your dealer probably won't allow it as VW say to leave the first fill in for 15,000km.

Of course, if you take it to an independent garage & use a genuine filter then they will never know.

To the OP: I'm in the "firm but not thrashing" school. I have no idea about "S" but on my manual I didn't use 5th or 6th for a few weeks and tried to gradually increase revs until it felt tight.

On my 4x4 Yeti TDI, the S will maintain a higher rev, often choose a lower gear than D, more rev happy, more likely to engine brake going down hill, and far less likely to slip the clutch on 2nd gear(it will slip on 2nd alot to maintain a smooth ride if in D).

That why I thought maybe using S more often can encourage different revs, and put more loads on the engine.

I don't know if that was the correct thinking though, please correct if I was wrong.

[Reichter]

I called the service department and they had no issues with me bringing it in and doing it at 1500km. Ill also be doing it every 6 months. Just old habits from owning highly strung 4 bangers. 5000km oil and filter changes and before and after track days.

[brad]

That why I thought maybe using S more often can encourage different revs, and put more loads on the engine.

I don't know if that was the correct thinking though, please correct if I was wrong.

It sounds logical to me.

My wife just got a new Honda Odyssey. I drive that in S to try & get it bedded-in and spinning nicely. I told the wife to do the same but she just puts it in D. As I always say to her "Take my advice & do what you like". You can apply that almost anywhere.

[vEnOm_oz]

Hear hear!!!

"Take my advice & do what you like". You can apply that almost anywhere.

[Lucas_R]

Not necessary to use sport mode unless you really want to - but the first 100-200km in particular are important to running in a new engine. You want to put pressure on those piston rings to seal them well in the cylinders - so use plenty of throttle and revs (no redlining but up to 4,500-5,000 rpm or so) during this period to load up the engine.

Accelerating quite hard up a hill for instance is a good way to do this (eg in 3rd or 4th gear from a low speed and just give it a nice chunk of throttle).

Worst thing you can do with a brand new engine is set the cruise control on the freeway and let it sit at a constant speed for hours on end.

Try and avoid letting the car go into higher gears (5th and 6th) unless you are at speed. If you override the DSG by downshifting with the steering wheel paddles, the engine braking will be beneficial too.

Although the first 100-200km is the most important, the next 1,000km or so is also important to continue to load up the engine as much as you can. After this time, the engine will "wear in" or "loosen up" meaning that it will be more willing to rev out and pull to redline, and you will also notice your fuel consumption start to drop and then settle over the next few thousand km's.

[sillyboy]

Not necessary to use sport mode unless you really want to - but the first 100-200km in particular are important to running in a new engine. You want to put pressure on those piston rings to seal them well in the cylinders - so use plenty of throttle and revs (no redlining but up to 4,500-5,000 rpm or so) during this period to load up the engine.

Accelerating quite hard up a hill for instance is a good way to do this (eg in 3rd or 4th gear from a low speed and just give it a nice chunk of throttle).

Worst thing you can do with a brand new engine is set the cruise control on the freeway and let it sit at a constant speed for hours on end.

Try and avoid letting the car go into higher gears (5th and 6th) unless you are at speed. If you override the DSG by downshifting with the steering wheel paddles, the engine braking will be beneficial too.

Although the first 100-200km is the most important, the next 1,000km or so is also important to continue to load up the engine as much as you can. After this time, the engine will "wear in" or "loosen up" meaning that it will be more willing to rev out and pull to redline, and you will also notice your fuel consumption start to drop and then settle over the next few thousand km's.

That is making lots of sense, especially the going uphill with hard throttle part, good way to rev it hard without speeding I guess.
Thank you.

[bobski]

Checklist = great idea. Don't get too stressed though, dealers fall over themselves to introduce you to their service department for minor issues. Cars rarely make it into customer hands with major problems and its not in a dealers interest to try to hide things from customers. Though I've read about two poor souls being delivered a DSG instead of a manual, so that seems like an obvious thing to check haha.

Run in = sideways out of the dealership. Bapbapbapbap!!!!

Nah - what the other guys have said. Hard but fair, avoid the redline and long periods of cruise. I've had brand new cars and a few company cars, all run in driving normally. All have left purring like kittens even at well over 100000k. Modern engines aren't the exercise in mild precision that they used to be.

[afterdarker]

Thank you for the tip, is there important information on the pre-delivery check list that might concern the buyer(me)?
I will ask for one anyway.

There are a lot of boxes to be ticked on the pre-delivery check list. About 60.
But all worth double checking.
Options in particular.
Also look under the bonnet!
You tend to drool over a new car and not check the detail. This is what happened to me, over excited,, and I should have checked it more thoroughly on delivery.