[wexman]

I have bought a Hyundai i30 1.6TD Active 5dr blue drive 5 weeks ago and prior to going on holiday to Scotland i had clocked up just over 700 miles, so off i went to the highlands of Scotland where the roads are great for driving and possible best economy out of a car. I clocked up 2100 miles on top of the 700. on returning home i calculated the fuel economy i got for the 2100 and all it gave me was 53 mpg and was shocked, I went to the dealer to ask why i got bad fuel economy and he said the car needs to be run in, a couple of the guys at the garage have been giving me conflicting messages of how much miles one should do before it is run in and start to get good economy.
Can you guys give me your opinions please?

[eye30]

Hi and welcome wexman



There are many posts on the site about this very subject and they all have the same message running thro' them in that as the car's mileage increases you should see an improvement in the MPG.


ps So it doesn't get "lost" I've moved it to the diesel fuel economy section.

[Shambles]

Hi wexman, welcome to the club.

A lot of our members would agree with what eye30 stated. I got my best economy from (wait for it) around the 10,000 miles mark which is still within the "running in" period for our smashing little turbo diesels

Around 15,000 my economy settled to what it is today, around 62.5 mpg.

PS, I've got over 92,000 miles clocked up now.

[Dazzler]

Welcome Wexman...

Unfortunately, unlike us Aussies you do get a DPF (Diesel particulate filter) which has to regenerate (clean itself) every few 100 kilometres and this does effect you fuel economy... I still don't see 53 MPG as terrible for a new car though 

You are unlikely to ever get the rated economy as these are set in idea conditions.

[Phil №❶]

idea conditions.

   

Welcome Wexman too,

Diesel engines by design are long life / long distance motor's this is why they use them commercially for haulage, so running in takes much longer then a petrol engine. This is a good thing, because wearing out takes a long time too. 

[Dazzler]

idea conditions.

   

Welcome Wexman too,

Diesel engines by design are long life / long distance motor's this is why they use them commercially for haulage, so running in takes much longer then a petrol engine. This is a good thing, because wearing out takes a long time too. 

Touche' with the spelling mistake Phil.. I'd only been up a minutes 

Very good point made about the run in time too ...

[Lakes]

Welcome Waxman, is you new TD manual or Auto?
ps I've never run an i30 CRDi in, i just drive them the same as always.
But if i build a motor myself & do first start up i'll give it some heat cycles. but these motors have had that done from factory i think.
when people talk about runing in, i just say " once they are run in.... from then on they are wearing out "
 
enjoy your new car they are very reliable!

[Doggie 1]

Welcome to the forum.
My previous i30 diesel took quite a while to be properly run in and to give its best. I sold it recently at 136,000 kms at which time it aws consistently giving its best economy compared to when it was younger.

[wexman]

Many thanks for all your welcomes and answers.
If one does not know much about cars as i do and always believed that to run a car in is approx 1000 miles and then one finds out you have to do such high mileage to achieve such figures then i think it is false advertising if not told on the advert.
I did go up to the dealer where i bought the car from to complain and one stated oh yes it is a 1000 miles then i get another telling me 10.000.
I have just had a message from a relative who i did not know, knew someone high up in the Hyundai company itself and this guy said it is be between 10,000 to 15,000 to run in, so now i have had 3 variations on running in + it's a pity i did not know of this guy as i might have got a good deal on the purchase
Many thanks to all you guys

[Doggie 1]

Just drive it normally and you'll be fine.

[Shambles]

Take it from us mate. We've done the time miles - Hyundai tech haven't

[peon2t]

Unfortunately I can't really calculate in mpg because in civilised parts of the world we consider neither miles nor gallons as serious units ;-)
But I can tell you, that my economy figures (I drove my i30 diesel about 600 km) aren't even close to what the manufacturer specifies so far.
Right now I'm using between 5.5 and 6 litres per 100 km while the official specification says 3.7 ... so it seems to me that this is even worse than your figures.
But I also have to say, that I mostly drove in urban and suburban areas. During some dozen kilometres when I drove to the countryside, the comnsumption went down to about 4.5 l / 100km.

Wexman, it's as simple as this: When the engine is first assembled all the bits that rub together are tight. From that point to the end of its life the bits loosen up due to wear. When tight the friction uses some fuel to produce heat and reduce economy. When (really) loose the gaps waste fuel by not sealing high pressure areas from low pressure areas.

Somewhere between these two situations (i.e., most of the engine's life) the efficiency and economy is good. This is where we want to be and where we should bother to measure and be happy its all going well.

"Running-in" is just a term to mean the period between "brand-new" and "starting to loosen-up". What we do and how we drive during this period is open to discussion but whatever we do unless stupid, the engine will get through that period and the economy will improve to "normal".

Patience is paramount and reward is inevitable.

[Dazzler]

Thanks, nice explanation Phil 

[Phil №❶]

Thanks, nice explanation Phil 

Another early morning I see, I think you mean Pip 

[Dazzler]

Thanks, nice explanation Phil 

Another early morning I see, I think you mean Pip 

Pip is also a Phil (he told me so only the other day) 

[Phil №❶]

 

[Doggie 1]

Harking back to my policing days, the mechanics we used told us that police cars always performed better than equivalent private cars presumably because they were driven hard from day 1.
It is not unusual for a pursuit car to have a high speed pursuit on day one of its service life.
Plus they generally have an almost unlimited amount of drivers too (in the city, anyway).
So I've always been of the opinion that driving a car hard from day one will increase performance, but at the expense of long engine life.
With my own cars I start off gently then become firm and later spirited, if that makes sense, but I never thrash them as I want good performance (eventually, when run-in) coupled with long life.