Test drive Mazda CX-7 2007-2009 SUV

SUV with Roadster's habits: Review of A/M Mazda CX-7 Cruing Package,

On December 19 last year, a new car from the category of SUV Mazda CX-7 was on sale. Its creators tried to make from the new car something between an ordinary athlete and a car such as Sport Crossover SUV (for active travel and movement along various kinds of roads). The concept seems to be clear, it remains only to find out what the driver who will be driving this car will receive from such a merger. This is reflected by our expert, who made a trial sortie on a new car.
 
Sports appearance excellent quality
What can I say, there are many cars included in the SUV group. But among them, perhaps, there is not one who could boast of such a sports form as the new CX-7. Maybe I'm not quite right, who knows. However, it was such a thought that flashed through me at the moment when I first saw near this new brainchild of Mazda! Sometimes you can hear the stylish SUV. And what does this mean? Well, it seems, the Nissan Murano model is considered to be a typical dudes among Japanese machines of this type. However, no one will argue that it is stylish - then it is stylish, but the main emphasis in its design is still not on sports, but for elegance. But in the appearance of the new Mazda CX-7 car, if anything can hit, it is its sports posture. And even if you compare it with a car of any prestigious European brand, I don’t know how it is relative to everything else, but in dynamics the CX-7 car will give any, if not one hundred, then at least ten points forward.
The shape of the front wings clearly resembles another Mazda RX-8 brand machine. The windshield is at an acute angle, behind the rear doors follow the side rear windows, which are sharply narrowed in the rear. Such a combination of windshield covered back and side windows tapping behind the side windows are a long -known design technique, which is used when you need to give the machine a more energetic appearance. In addition, when selecting flowers for coloring the body, preference was given not to screaming, but quite calm tones, so that the car looks more solid. Incidentally, the same rear side glasses have a chrome edging, which gives the appearance an additional gloss.
With such a design, it is not at all surprising if the new CX -7 cars begin to disperse, as they say, with a bang - they are very good outwardly!
We look further: the floor of the cabin is not located too high above the road, the driver's chair is attached to the floor. Such an underestimated position of the chair, if you look through the open door, further emphasizes the slope of the windshield and, therefore, immediately sets up the driver who only gets behind the wheel, in an active, energetic way. However, it is impossible to say that glass on the driver is called, when he was driving, he himself checked. No, nothing that would act on the nerves, I did not notice - in the cabin a completely normal, business atmosphere. The design of the front panel of the cabin is designed in the style of primitivism, the steering wheel is such as everywhere, and as for the switches, they are located so as to always be at hand. Mazda, by the way, has models that are supposed to have salons, equipped in sports, for example, the same Mazda Roadster convertible or already mentioned above RX-8. So, the front panels in the salons of these cars would not hurt to correct a little, I would even say, to simplify the CX-7 salon to give them more sports.
 
In the cabin like in a isolation ward ...
The backs of the front seats in the CX-7 cabin seem not high enough, but otherwise their size satisfied me. Seats in the Cruising Package cabin are leather, in the basic configuration are covered with woolen material. However, both in the first and second cases, thanks to the sequences, they look truly sports.
The driver’s back frame, as, in fact, the back of the front passenger chair is made in such a way that this is more reminiscent of the chair of the North American assembly: the upper body is covered by side calipers not so tightly as not to constrain the driver’s freedom too much. Because of this, sometimes the body, especially in corners, can fidget, and in order to avoid this, it is better to opt for a woolen, and not on the leather coating, it is not so slippery.
As for the rear seat, I would like to immediately notice: because of the sitting in the back of the side windows, the passenger sitting from behind feels in perfect isolation from the outside world. Such isolation is felt ahead, but taking into account the fact that in conceptual terms this car is from the category of Sport Crossover SUV, this is a completely normal phenomenon. The seat itself does not differ in relief, but in size there is no difference between it and the front seats. There is also no shortage in the height of the back, although, I repeat, the front seats in this regard are not made too well. The seat is somewhat harsh, although at the same time quite chubby to slightly bend under the weight of the passenger sitting in it. At first I sat forward, as expected, then went out and sat behind on the same side. So, my height is 170 cm, and when I sat on the back seat, the distance between my knees and the back of the front chair was about 15 cm. So consider it yourself.
I want to note this: cladding of the front doors of an extremely simplified look, you no aluminum or, there, panels from a dark wood - just black plastic and nothing more.
The designers who worked on the interior of the CX-7 interior, meanwhile, admitted that they sought to arrange the back of the cabin in such a way that the rear seat there is not constant, but temporary. For them, if I understood them correctly, the main thing is that if the rear seat is composed, the released passenger part of the cabin would be perceived as one with the luggage compartment. Well, I don’t know how to react to this abroad, but as for Japanese drivers, for them any encroachment on the status of a quota of the rear seat is a completely unacceptable trick, for which, figuratively speaking, you can get hands!
I go to the trunk. The height of his floor does not stand out against the background of other SUV machines. Its capacity is 455 liters plus an increase at the expense of the passenger part of the cabin, in the case of a rear seat transformation. For the rear seats, only one layout of the back leans forward and is laid on top of the seat. You can do this quite easily - just use a special lever that is located on the side wall of the luggage compartment.
 
 
Comfort for Mazda is a tradition
Everyone knows that all SUV cars of such a class as the Mazda CX-7 are equipped with engines that, firstly, have 6 cylinders located V-shaped, and, secondly, their total working volume is 3 liters or more. Therefore, the fact that Mazda engineers decided to dwell on an option with a 4-cylinder engine of a vertically in order to be a cubature in only 2.3 liters is perceived with undisguised surprise. In the light of this, it is pleased that it is equipped with a turbocharged.
I must say that this engine with direct injection is the same thing that is placed on the MPV car and on Mazda Speed \u200b\u200bAxela. He only passed a special refinement, and that’s it. The motor is able to develop a power of 238 horses, and has the largest torque of 35.7 kg/m. For comparison: the car-the competitor Nissan Murano is equipped with a 6-cylinder V-shaped engine, which has a working volume of 3.5 liters. As for the transmission, the developers decided that only one option will be enough with a 6-speed automatic gearbox.
When it came to a practical ride, it became clear to me that when a turbocharger actively starts to work, the intensity of acceleration increases repeatedly. In fact, at such moments, I felt as if under my hood I had no less than 3 liters in my cubat. On the one hand, it seemed that the high -speed characteristics of this motor were too large for such a machine, but on the other hand, the very fact that the torque reached a very decent value already at 2500 rpm, speaks for itself. The machine is able to accelerate sharply, starting from the average engine speed and up to 3500 rpm. True, I also noted to myself that around the same time, that is, approximately from the moment when the engine was gaining momentum over 2500 per minute, its character, so to speak, of sound accompaniment began to change. And only then it became clear that the car had not a 6-cylinder, but only a 4-cylinder engine. Moreover, as the revolution grew, figuratively speaking, the treacherous and annoying noise became more and more strong.
The suspension can be called hard, however, what do you want from a car with a pronounced sports character? So you have to constantly feel albeit not too strong, but still shaking. And, it would seem, the weight of the car is not so small - 1.6 ~ 1.7 tons, and the body still throws it on bumps! The body is not that it was very durable, no, there is enough rigidity in it, but when the wheels take the next push, running into uneven, it is immediately transferred to the body. Well, there is nothing left for him, as soon as it reacted accordingly. And in the end, I sometimes had a very strange feeling of some disproportion i’m not afraid of this word, the exquisite appearance of the car, and the rough behavior of the body on the road. But the cost of this machine exceeds 3 million yen. And this figure is 3 million - somehow does not quite fit with how you feel when you sit at the wheel.
I think that the Mazda CX-7 car is most fully revealed when you take it to a road with a large number of turns. Naturally, in such places you have to actively work as a steering wheel, the action of which can be called fast. I drew attention to the following: even if the car quickly changed the direction, following the bend of the road, no signs that it has a relatively large weight, and that it was not so low, it appeared so evenly and evenly the body held. And this uniformity made itself felt all the time until the moment when the car reaches a straightforward trajectory. Here, thanks to the developers, they should say that they were not afraid to give preference to a more easy 4-cylinder-like motor, since otherwise it could hardly have been expected from a car of such stability. And even when the car was with only front-wheel drive (the CX-7 Cruing Package model), she still perfectly withstood the given trajectory. And if so, then it was possible to perform a turn without reducing speed, thus using the potential of a turbocharged engine one hundred percent. So say after that that the turbine is an extra burden! Of course, some signs of lateral departure still took place, not without it, but he made himself felt somehow slurred and could not cause me serious anxiety. So I could confidently twist the steering wheel and not really worry about the speed.
In general, it seemed to me that in its running qualities, the CX-7 car is very reminiscent of another work of Mazda Roadster. And in this sense, it can be argued that the new machine is made in a traditional spirit for Mazda. Yes, of course, the price of a car, it cannot be said that it was very low as well, it exceeds 3 million yen. Although, judging only by external data, the car is stylish. So think now if he is worth this money, or not. Leaving for each of the potential buyers the right to solve this issue itself, I will say only one thing: the nature of the noise engine produced by the engine, as well as excessive shaking on a relatively flat road - these are the moments that, apparently, the engineers have yet to work. In order not to be unfounded and not seem too picky, I will give an example the already mentioned Mazda RX-8 model. After all, this car also has a pronounced sports character, and see what a bewitching bass he has, how smoothly his body is kept! I wish the CX-7 car is the same!
Technical characteristics of the Mazda CX-7 Cruising Package model:
Length 4680 mm x width 1870 mm x height 1645 mm.
Wheel base: 2750 mm
Car weight: 1640 kg
Drive: on the front wheels
Engine: 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, two upper distribution shafts and a 16-valve gas distribution mechanism with a turbocharged, developed power of 238 hp. at 5000 rpm, the largest torque is 35.7 kg/m at 2500 rpm.
Machine price: 3 million 400 thousand yen.
Technical characteristics of the Mazda CX-7 model:
Length 4680 mm x width 1870 mm x height 1645 mm.
Wheel base: 2750 mm
Car weight: 1740 kg
Drive: all -wheel drive 4wd
Engine: 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, two upper distribution shafts and a 16-valve gas distribution mechanism with a turbocharged, developed power of 238 hp. at 5000 rpm, the largest torque is 35.7 kg/m at 2500 rpm.
Machine price: 3 million 320 thousand yen.
 
 

A source: Webcg.net