2007 Mazda CX-7

Vehicles once had well-defined missions and personalities. Cars transported people in comfort and style. Trucks hauled big, heavy cargo. Minivans sacrificed car dynamics for big-space utility. Sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) built on truck frames carried people and a fair amount of their stuff to off-road adventures—or at least looked like they could.

Design

Then came car-based "crossover" utilities (CUVs), attempting to marry the best attributes of cars and SUVs without sacrificing much of either. CUVs are the current trend, and some are succeeding better than others. Most have stuck with a rugged SUV appearance, while an adventurous few have moved to a sporty design. Some have boldly tried the CUV trifecta—blends of 3-row minivan utility with truck-like toughness AND car-like driving character.


Most recently, some sport-minded makers are moving into truly sporty CUVs. This intriguing concept is a tough-to-achieve mix of sport-sedan and SUV that corners and carries equally well, that are truly fun to drive, yet truly useful on a major shopping trip or family vacation. A few new entries pull this of surprisingly well, but Mazda's new CX-7 is the sportiest and most affordable among them.


"My idea," says CX-7 Chief Designer Iwao Koizumi, "was to combine dynamic movement, speedy shapes and a bold presence in one passionate statement." Looking like a bigger brother of Mazda's hot-looking RX-8 rotary-powered sports car, its windshield is a sleek 66 degrees, its beltline rises sharply with a prominent hump over the rear wheels, and its flared fenders bulge aggressively like football shoulder pads. Twin, tapered, blacked-out grille wings flank a bold Mazda badge over a large, blacked-out trapezoidal lower air intake, while clear-lens, wrap-around taillamps and large, dual exhausts bring up the rear.

Interior

The instrument panel is a creative 2-tiered design with a small "roof" over the 3-dial instrument cluster in front of a full-width ledge across the panel. The 3-spoke steering wheel and contoured front bucket seats speak "sports car," not "CUV," and the 2-tone trim harmonizes nicely with the kicked up exterior. While some base trim plastic parts seem a trifle inexpensive, their textures and tight gaps give an overall quality look.