gavriil

Mazda Motor Corp.'s North American unit offered to buy back all its 2001 Miata sports cars or give owners free factory-scheduled maintenance and $500 because the automaker overstated the engine horsepower.

About 3,500 Miatas are affected, said the Japanese automaker, in which Ford Motor Co. holds a controlling stake. Mazda said it overstated the horsepower of the 2001 model, which began sales in September, by about 8 percent. The engine, expected to generate 155 horsepower, wasn't revalidated in final testing, Mazda said.

``We made a mistake, and we apologize,'' said Charlie Hughes, chief executive of the Irvine, California-based unit, in a statement. The mistake increased the time the Miata takes to go from 0 to 60 miles an hour less than a half-second, Mazda said.

Mazda added horsepower to the Miata last year as part of an effort to boost its U.S. sales, which have been growing slower than those of other Japanese automakers. In this year's first two months, U.S. sales of the Miata rose 13 percent from the year- earlier period to 2,035. Mazda's total U.S. sales rose 25 percent through February to 41,188.

The automaker will buy back the affected cars for the purchase price or give owners free maintenance for the rest of the warranty and a $500 debit card. Mazda expects most owners will take the maintenance and card, said spokesman Fred Aikins.

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Gabriel
CL Type S

GoldTypeS_RENAMED

Interesting. I was wondering why the new Miata with a supposed extra 15hp was still barely breaking 8 seconds in the 0-60 test. If they could only get that car to do 0-60 in the low to mid 7s and sell them for $22K loaded I would forget about the S2000 completely. As it stands, the S2000 is just so much better of a value that I wouldn't even consider buying a Miata.

typeR

whispering..."zoom zoom!" i think the class action lawsuit started because of the ass whopin i gave a miata LOL

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'01 3.2 CL typeS
satin silver metalic
Llumar platinum plus
tint 20% all around

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'98 ACCORD V-6 sedan
16" coupe wheels
215/55/16 nitto's
20% smoke titanium
black chrome kit

bc01cls

Ha ha ha ha ha.........do I see a pattern here?? Ford does it again after a class action suit regarding my former 99 Cobra (not making the boasted 320hp) it seems they haven't learned much!

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CL-S PDG, TR Typhoon Wheels, Solaris 9005, guards, nose mask, V-1 & remote.
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