This is the first car I've owned that is a true sportscar, and I've been given the advice that if I want it to drive like a sportscar, then I have to drive it hard all the time. I've been told by some guys whose opinions I trust that if I drive it too easily the majority of the time, it won't respond as aggressively when I want it to. Can someone explain why this is so?

Living in a highly populated area, I drive somewhat conservatively (especially in relation to what the car CAN do) about 75% of the time, partially due to traffic and partially as a safety measure since there are so many small children in my neighborhood. Am I conditioning my car to be "soft"? What can I do to counter-act that? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I have a really nice bridge that I want to sell you cheap. But you have to act NOW! How about it "O"?

 

Do a search (you will get this a lot) on break-ins.

Basically, treating your car like a baby could affect how the piston rings seat against the cylinder walls and in theory the computer might adjust to your driving habits.

 

Read the manual.

Follow what the manual tells you.

This is a no-brainer.

 

Actually, reading your post again, it sounds like you are a good, safe driver. Don't let the numnuts change you.

Conditioning your car to be "soft" is unmitigated BS.

 

It's NOT BS. Two reasons:

1) The ECU will learn your driving style and adapt to it. It will alter the fuel and timing based on how you drive and you will teach it good gas mileage and not necessarily best performance. The ECU, however, can be reset and taught agressiveness.

2) The other reason, and much more serious, is the cams. The piston rings will wear in either way. The camshafts, however, will wear into the RPM range you keep them in. If you wear them into a set range, or low RPM range, you will not have the same power up in the higher RPMs as the guy who lets the engine wind every so often during break in. This is why it is necessary to vary your RPMs often throughout the breakin period. However, it is not necessary to get to high RPMs by way of full throttle all at once. Slowly and easily get up there. Don't romp on your car for at least 500 miles, but make sure it sees 6K once in a while and never keep the RPMs in the same area. No cruise control or extended highway trips during break in! Easy on the throttle for the rings, vary the RPMs for the cams, including high RPMs.

 

ok, so what your saying is that during break in period it is best to vary the rpms, does this mean go all the way to the redline every gear, i dont think you mean that, but just clarifying, or to keep it low and varied but every so often take it up to the top to keep it fresh

only clarifying

 

actually from what my friend's father told me(mechanic and has his shop and been running for around 15 years), that once in awhile you should push your car to the limits. if you want to have the power and torwue in the long run.

 

Actually, I do agree with varying the RPMs but this can be done within (1) the manuals breakin procedure ( go over 4000 RPMs toward the end of the 1200 miles or shortly thereafter), and (2) sound, safe (safe does not mean slow) driving habits.

 

no, it means dont stay around the same rpm for more than 5 mins. if you've been cruising at 3000 rpm for a few mins, downshift and let the motor see 4000 rpms for a while, then upshift a couple gears and show it 2000. simple as that.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the sincere replies. I'm actually comfortably past the break-in period. A trusted friend (who has driven high-performance cars longer than I've been alive) took a ride with me, noticed that I wasn't pushing the car in-town, and advised me to be a little more "athletic" with the car. Among other things, I shift largely by the sound of the engine, and he advised me to let the engine rev a little higher before shifting. It made sense to me that I was trying to make my Z sound more like the cars I used to own. He also encouraged me to (along the lines of what 350zWhite04 wrote) "push it to the extent that it was intended to be driven, or else you'll lose some of the top-end performance."

FLY BY Z: Thanks, I appreciate the explanation.