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.
See also:
Design: inheriting the Mazda 3's established identity while making it more
expressive
The design concept for the new Mazda 3 was "remaining faithful to an
inherited identity while evolving the design to make it more expressive." While
retaining some of the original model' ...
Seat Belt Precautions
Seat belts help to decrease the possibility of severe injury during accidents
and sudden
stops. Mazda recommends that the driver and all passengers always wear seat
belts.
All of the seat belt r ...
CX-7 in the Market
The CX-7 isn't the first crossover on the market by a long shot, and there
are a slew of others that will join it shortly. The Ford Edge borrows a lot of
Mazda technology and will be out this fall ...