Mazda CX-7 2009 review

Ten bucks says the penny-pincher inside you is balking at the very prospect of a Mazda CX-7. It's a five-seat crossover whose turbocharged engine recommends premium fuel and returns subpar gas mileage, and its cargo area is as small as its price tag is large. It is not, as Spock might say, a particularly logical choice — but is it ever a fun one. Fire up the engine, take a drive and consider some of the CX-7's strengths that are less apparent on paper, and those left-brained sensibilities eventually will come around.

The CX-7 is a smallish crossover that shares its turbo four-cylinder with the hot-rodded Mazdaspeed3. Changes for the 2009 model, which you can compare to the '08 CX-7 here, include a handful of minor cabin and styling tweaks. In ascending order, trim levels comprise the Sport, Touring and Grand Touring, with all-wheel drive optional on all three. I tested an all-wheel-drive CX-7 Grand Touring.

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Features
Mazda offers Sport, Touring and Grand Touring trim levels for both four-cylinder and V-6 sedans, with increasing levels of equipment in each. There's also a budget-minded SV four-cylinder trim lev ...

Service Publications
Factory-authorized Mazda service publications are available for owners who wish to do some of their own maintenance and repair. When requesting any of our publications through an Authorized Mazda ...

Seat Belt Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems
For optimum protection, the driver and passenger seat belts are equipped with pretensioner and load limiting systems. For both these systems to work properly you must wear the seat belt properly. ...