I drive my car like I stole it. Every Day. In New York City. At every stoplight I gun it to 3500 rpm. I dip into the 4500-5k rpm powerband at least 2-3 times every day. Of course my gas mileage is merde, but I was wondering on my engine life. Will pushing the car hard every time kill the engine life? (i do let it properly warm up of course, as well do all maintenence changes in timely fashion and baby it in every other way imaginable)

I'm sure some of you should say, you have a car so you can drive it, so don't worry about it, but I would like to keep my car for at least 7-10 years (thats 150k+ miles in my book). If I do all the maintenence stuff, but I push the car every day, am I killing the longevity of our engines? Any recommendations to help elongate the engine life?

 

these phrases have me confused:

"i drive it like i stole it" (Everyday)
"i gun it" (Every Light)
"i only go to WOT maybe once a week" (What? didn't you just say you drive it like you stole it and gunned it at every light?)

 

<-- also confused "scratches head like monkey"

 

im confused about how you drive like that in the city....any time i take my car there im on my toes looking for dips, holes and other goodies that the city has to offer

 

mm....monkey...so sexy. Anyway, sorry for any confusion, I reedited my post. I always thought that WOT stood for slamming the pedal down all the way and nearly redlining the car through every gear, which I don't currently do. But anyway, if anyone can go back to the originial issue of engine wear & tear, i'd be greatly appreciative.

 

Once my car is warmed up, I normally shift around 3.5k to 4.5k. I don't think you're harming your car at all.

 

Also confused.

“Gun it” to 3500 and dipping into the 4500-5000 range at least 2-3 times a day is NOT driving it like you stole it. Actually, you are driving it like granny. You are not being hard on the car.

Why don’t you redline it on every shift and gun it into the 5-6K rpm before you pop the clutch at every stop light? Keep it the RPMs over 4K at ALL times. That is driving it like you stole it.

As long as you keep it under the redline, change your oil regularly, & do all the regular maintenance timely you have nothing to worry about. Relax. Oh, why don’t you open it up and enjoy your car a little.

 

i agree with marhot. if you are not consistently in the 4500+ range, you are not really "pushing it"

 

and never mind the traffic....

 

Redline on every shift is driving like you stole it...and believe me it is INTENSE...

 

Agree... in order to drive it like you stole it, you've gotta redline all the gears

 

First, I don't think you can redline in 6th (not enough power )

2nd, going to 3500 or 4500 is barely scratching the surface of the car's capability. We make our peak torque @ what, 4800 RPM?

So that's 276 * 4800 / 5250 = 252 HP. You're still wasting 30 HP man!

3rd, WOT = Wide Open Throttle = pedal to the metal (or carpet) even for very brief periods.

4th, your engine should last for a very long time as long as you keep the oil and air filter clean and don't let it overheat.

-D'oh!

 

Your explaination of how you abuse your car is clear..

Actually you are not exceeding the limitation of the Car.

Yes you Can drive your car like a NY cabbie.

I have driven a rental car in N.Y. and I know how To Dip and Quit if I'm not agressive enough..

That won't hurt this car... It's when you take the car up 95.. And get to "SPEED" 120 to 145 that you understand what you own..

When you get to the Conn Border, and come back.... You will know you need to go as far south as North Carolina to really open it up.. If in Charlotte - say hello to GQ_626... The Twin Turbo Guy....

Cheers Amy -

P.S. Don't be an *** and Street race in the City or Queens...