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ElantraClub - For Elantra Owners and Enthusiasts _ Elantra AD/MD/UD General _ Question on breaking in new Elantra

Posted by: hello28 Sep 4 2011, 10:30 AM

Hello everyone,
Just bought my first Elantra yesterday. I had a few questions. I know before when I purchased a car they always said I should break it in slowly during the first 1000 miles: meaning not going faster than 55 or 60 MPH on the freeway, starting slowly, etc. Does that still hold true for today's cars like my new Elantra? If I go 70 on the freeway during the first 1000 miles is that detrimental to the car in some way?

Also, how is the MPG determined that's shown on the dashboard. Is this calculated between fill-ups, so the Avg MPG that displays is since the last time you filled up? Or is it based on just the last few miles or so?

Finally, on my Limited (automatic) I bought, they said to keep the eco button on (or whatever it's called, it's on the far left side on the driver's side). Has anyone noticed if this is helping with gas mileage or if having it on has any negative effects on the car?

thanks for your help! smile.gif

Posted by: Roydjt Sep 4 2011, 11:27 AM

On breaking in the car, they're just telling you not to thrash it. If you get on the highway and look down and you're doing 80, you're not harming the car at all. Just don't redline it and drive it like you stole it, at least until you roll over 1k or so. That said, there are varying opinions on the best way to break in a car, and surely you will hear some here.

My car (an 04) keeps a rolling MPG average since the last time I reset that value on my trip computer. I think the MDs reset with each fill-up.

-Roy

Posted by: Alex2004GT Sep 4 2011, 10:52 PM

As far as the MPG on the tripometer, that is the average since your last fill up. I know on my Sonata if I fill up and start to drive away, the MPG resets automatically, and I believe it does it on the new Elantras too (as Roy mentioned).

Regarding the "ECO" button all it does is light up "Eco" on your dashboard when you are driving in an economical fashion. So for instance if you are acccelerating rapidly, the ECO light will go off, but once you lay off the throttle it will come back on. I leave mine on though I don't know it alters my driving habits very much.

Regarding breaking in the car, many will say you don't need to do anything in particular and to drive it as you plan to drive it for the life of the car. Others have very specific methods of breaking it in. For myself, I just try not to drive too aggressively for the first 1000 or so miles. I also know that some say that if you're driving on a highway for long distances to alternate the RPM's and the speed of the car. I never had to worry about spending much time on a highway when first breaking in a car so that never really affected me.

Posted by: hello28 Sep 4 2011, 11:22 PM

thanks for the answers Roy and Alex. The car only has a few miles on it so far and the MPG says 26.7 but I believe a few people were test driving this before I received it and I've yet to fill up a tank of gas. thanks for your help.

Posted by: hyundave Sep 5 2011, 12:21 AM

Regarding the MPG - I have and HD and it goes by your average during your trip calculator. So if you reset your trip, your mpg resets. (kind of nice when you go on a long road trip and want to see how you did). Not sure how it works for MD's or XD's though

Posted by: benman Sep 5 2011, 01:32 PM

QUOTE (Alex2004GT @ Sep 4 2011, 11:52 PM) *
Regarding the "ECO" button all it does is light up "Eco" on your dashboard when you are driving in an economical fashion. So for instance if you are acccelerating rapidly, the ECO light will go off, but once you lay off the throttle it will come back on. I leave mine on though I don't know it alters my driving habits very much.


The 2011 Elantra "ECO" works this way, but the 2012 has active Eco, which actually modeifies engine and transmission performance.

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