I do remember fighting long and hard over this crackpot theory a long time ago on another board... I don't really remember what we decided about it though...

Just one observation: There's a reason media test-drive units drive like crap compared to privately owned cars after the first ten thousand kilometers have gone by.

Still, with delivery mileage on test units already in, those first twenty miles he's talking about are often used up before you get home!

Many manufacturers don't require an "easy" break in any more, as part tolerances are tighter, but it's cultural inertia, I guess, or habit that we don't like running engines hard for the first 1000 km/