I'm aware of the problem awhile back with Mazda eating their hat regarding falsly stating Miata HP ratings.

From what I understand, the outcome was a choice of "free vehicle sevicing" or a "buyback".

For those who remember the details, I have a few questions.

1. What was Mazda's "official" statement to the owners as to why they misrepresented the HP for the Miata.

2. What was the cause of the discrepency? Mechanicle problem? Simple Typo?

3.If a Mechanicle problem, was there a fix or "recall" to bring the car back to stated HP values?

4. Was this Power loss discovered by the owners (like we may be seeing with the RX8) or by Mazda.

5. Did the Miata FEEL down on power, or simply reflect its power deficiency on the dyno charts.

How Mazda handled the Miata issue might give us a good indicator of what to expect from them if infact there is a HP related problem with the RX8.

On a side note- I'm thrilled with the way the RX8 FEELS and performs.. I would never have questioned the HP values myself. BUT like Romano has mentioned before......IF there is a mechanicle problem with the RENESIS and the low HP values are just a symptom..........wouldn't you want to know about it?

Mazda's error on the Miata was a mistake, nothing more - they did not deliberately or falsely overstate the HP rating.

Early in the development of the VVT version of the BP engine for the 2001 Miata, Mazda intended to have a "49-state" version and a CA version for emissions compliance. The 155 hp rating was for an engine in 49-state emissions tune.

Late in the development program, it was decided that all the North American Miatas should have the CA emissions tune. By then, all the long lead material had been prepared and sent to the advertising agencies and magazines, so the 155 number was out there. Here is where it should have been corrected, but it seems that the engineering departments back in Japan were not aware that the revised number wasn't being used, and the marketing departments for MNAO were not aware that the number should have been changed.

In a nutshell, that was the problem. No deliberate attempt to deceive, it was just a bureacratic screwup. It wasn't a typo, and it wasn't a mechanical problem. There are no fixes to regain the lost 13 hp, they are not available with the CA emissions tune. The Miata ECU can't be flashed - an entire ECU change would be required to substitute the Australia emissions tuning, for example.

The power lack of gain (it didn't lose any, it just didn't increase any) was found by owners who dyno'd their 2001 cars next to 2000 and 99 cars and saw that they weren't making any more power.

Regards,
Gordon

If I remember correctly, the outcome from Mazda was an offer to buy back the car, or a $500 debit card AND free maintenance for the life of the warranty.

I think most guys were pretty happy with the second option since it helped pay for performance upgrades like exhaust 'n stuff.

Gord is absolutely correct above. It was an unintenional error, but Mazda fessed up to it. Apparently several hundred Miata owners decided to opt-out of the cars. So many enjoyed the top-down roadster for several months then got all their money back to purchase something else like a mini-cooper. Mazda didn't have to do anything but issue a public apology, but they went the extra step to snuff the ire of the Miata community(good call, imho). Funny how it wasn't the Miata enthusiast community who turned in their cars, but the short-term novelty-lovers. You couldn't tell by the butt-dyno anyways.

Wow.. now that's class. For a company the size of Mazda, it still shows some heart.

Now, I just hope this HP mystery doesnt come to that.. :(

So what did the owners who turned in their cars do? Just give it back to the dealers? To me, that would seem strange.