At this point, I think the 8 is a grand candidate for a long-term mainstream car magazine test, along the lines of Road and Track or Car and Driver.

Perhaps something like this would help shed light on what is wrong with the car.

Of course, the test would have to be with an off-the-showroom-floor car -- not a special Mazda-prepared car.

I'm most interested in the 6500+ rpm issue. A 30,000 mile test would pretty much prove or disprove ECU software switching.

The question is -- would Mazda allow this, or would they use typical underhanded business tactics to keep a potentially ill (in the bad sense of the word) car from being long-term'd?

I guess I'm hoping a public, respected long-term test would help and/or shame Mazda into fixing the problem for-real, instead of copping out with a quick-way-out.

And that folks, is why I never buy version 1 of anything :D