Hi all, I’m picking up my new ND2025 this weekend (2.0 Homura). Very excited!
So my question is this: Does the SkyActiveG engine need running in, and if so is there any specific behaviour to avoid during the running-in period?
I know some cars recommend not driving over certain speeds for the first so many miles, but I’ve heard there’s no specific requirement with the MX-5. Just want to be sure I do the right thing for the best possible outcome and longevity of the car.
Thanks
Depends on whether the car is ‘yours’, or one which is to be dumped back in 3-4 years.
I got mine from 3 miles on it, and I babied it for the first 1K miles, sub 3K revs with the odd 4 or so K blip. No constant miles at the same revs etc. The first drive home after buying it was 45-50 miles in stop start traffic, then motorway, but with it backing up at times. The revs were varied a lot, but not too high of course.
If it were a PCP car or similar, I would just drive it like I wanted. After all, it would be ‘handed back’ soon enough.
https://share.google/6NGbcf5RjpMTOJjSV
A sound approach, which I apply whether the car is bought outright, leased, PCP’d or a company car.
Mechanical sympathy is mechanical sympathy. It matters not how it’s been procured!!
It’s both technically. Bought it on PCP but I fully intend to keep it at the end and pay off the balloon payment. In my heart it’s a forever purchase.
Modern engines are amazingly well designed and durable and can go full power from the beginning - if well maintained.
However as with all new things, a gentle settling-in interval can help any of us learn how the car feels and the normal noises it should be making; all the better to help us know when an unexpected noise is an odd one.
Regarding the engine,
I wouldn’t so much call it mechanical sympathy, more a case I was totally on the money with the non-high revs, non same revs for long periods, as I had/have in mind it could be mine for ages.
If it had been PCP or likewise, I doubt not adhering to that mantra would show up anything at all negative in the first 3 years of a PCP. Whether at 8 years and 72K miles, higher revving in the car’s infancy comes back to haunt is another story, but I doubt it’s something the legions of PCPers by me, bottoming out over speed bumps and closing doors with their feet as they navigate the phone with their hands, would worry too much about.
If I remember correctly, this section isn’t in the physical owner’s manual for European supplied ND1 and ND2s whereas it is for North American equivalents.
I followed those tips when I got my ND2 from new. Perhaps I went overboard beforehand asking the dealer not to fill the tank with whatever fuel they put in since I brought a jerry can of Shell V-Power with me on collection day 
Like that one lol
I thought I was bad- when I had a test drive it was on fumes, I knew I was going to buy it, so as we got going we went straight to the Shell Garage, and given I didn’t want them lobbing 95 in it, I paid for some V power myself lol
I just looked it up, £26.18 worth 
It’s not just the engine that needs running-in over the first few hundred miles. All friction surfaces require bedding in, clutch, brake pad transfer to discs, and tyres too.
I just follow the factory recommendation, drive it normally, not hard, not slow, no low revs nor massively high. Then after 600 miles I started taking it beyond 6k over the next 300 miles.
Warm it up carefully , then don’t over load the engine for the first 600 miles and don’t let it sit at high revs for too long.
BUT be carful running it in too softly will cause big problems, the bores will never bed in and it will always use oil.
I had a 911 that was badly run it (1st owner never let it rev, and drove it very softly). I brought it with 4000miles and it always used oil, Porsche told me the boars had glazed up from not being used through rev range when new.
Pig of an engine?
Lots of advice but surely just speak to the dealership and do as the owners handbook tells you. Thats the only advice I would follow
Recently it took days for a dealership to find out what grade of oil was in one of my cars- you know, even though they put it in themselves. Another time on another car I couldn’t find the dipstick to check the oil after a service, to find it was rammed under the engine cover. Another time and another dealership they told me, concerning condensation in headlights of a particular car, that me using a ‘normal’ garden hose is ‘more focused’ than using a pressure washer (I kid you not, and I’m also into car detailing lol). Another time another place I booked a test drive in advance. Checked in the morning of the test drive, you know, ‘just in case’ a ‘trusty’ dealership might not have got that ‘hard’ task correct. Guess what, no record of the booking even though I read it back to them. Another time another place I argued with a dealership concerning the then new KONA N that it is auto only. Nope, it’s manual too. No it isn’t. Yes it is. Guess what, it’s auto only… so I’m
wondering if ‘speaking to the dealership’ is the wisest move.
Handbook, yes
Get what you are saying but as well meaning as everyones intentions are If I was investing a lot of Money in a new Car I wouldnt be asking advice on how to or not run it in on a forum
I agree with that too. But even less a dealership.
The handbook, like you said, says it all.
I think you are misunderstanding my intentions here. I’m not completely without some common sense and generally know and understand how to treat a new car and what is best practice in running in a new engine. I’m not casting a net on Facebook for random opinions, but rather tapping the well of knowledge on a forum of dedicated enthusiasts for the specific car. I don’t believe you are contributing anything tangible to the conversation here except perhaps being somewhat pompous.
And thanks to everyone who has offered their advice.
I think you’ve replied to the wrong poster mate.
I think you could be right My apologies 
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