When you buy a new car, there are certain procedures you should follow in order to properly break it in. Your owners manual will provide you with the proper techniques to make sure you're breaking in your car correctly. If you don't feel like reading that, you can have a baseline level of tips thanks to this Engineering Explained video from Jason.

For the first 500 to 1,000 miles, you shouldn't be putting the throttle pedal to the floor or racing your engine. You want to properly seat your piston rings, and you can do this by taking it easy for the first bit of travel accumulating on your odometer. There's no real advantage of a "hard break-in" period.

The same reasons dictate that you keep it far from the redline before shifting. Lighter throttle applications under lower revs help break the mechanicals in.

You also shouldn't be using cruise control as the engine needs varying loads during its break-in period. Cruise control keeps your engine at a fairly constant speed, so you should avoid using it initially.

Also, you're going to want to make sure you are driving your car for long enough trips so that the car comes up to proper operating temperature. If you're taking short trips, your car won't warm up enough over the course of that shorter drive.

Finally, don't tow anything. You're adding more strain to your engine and you're going to need full throttle applications, which is also a no-no during break-in.

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