Originally posted by LX4CYL
It's been 5 days since I've been in front of a computer, but I remember reading something somewhere that the RX-8's ECU is set to run rich for a certain number of miles, so the engine can't be abused too much during break-in? 
probably BS :dunno:
it's the theory because that was true for all the previous turbo rotaries (turbo II's and i'm told 3rd gens are the same), the engine is running very rich i've seen a fuel map in conjuction with the dyno graph and it supports the theory
also the theory about why the power is down is that was the reason the cars were in port for so long, the japanese cars currently don't have any kind of recall on them for a power shortage and they've been released and worked on a bit longer, so either way we know that the RX-EVOLV was capable of 280hp, with the exact same engine, so the fuel maps are very open to some more aggressive tuning (as the cost of emissions though)