By Michael Karesh
August 4, 2006 -
If any mainstream brand can build an SUV that handles like a sports car, it’s Mazda. The Japanese automaker has a proven track record of developing vehicles with superior agility and dynamic appeal. Little wonder that ads for Mazda’s new CX-7 imply that it drives like a sports car, and that most junket-based reviews of the new “crossover” verify the claim. Well, I’ve driven the CX-7 and I’ve driven sports cars and the CX-7 is no sports car.
Looking at Mazda’s new crossover, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The CX-7 combines the MazdaSpeed6’s big-grilled nose, the RX-8’s protruding fenders, a laid-back windshield and a complete absence of straight lines. While the sporty-looking result distances the CX-7 from the mainstream of SUV design, the relentless surface effects deployed to disguise the machine’s fundamental portliness don’t meld into a coherent whole. More to the point, aerodynamics do not driving dynamics make.
The CX-7’s cabin comes closer to realizing the intended car-like gestalt. While a liberal application of hard, ungrained plastic risks placing passengers in econobox Hell, artful styling and metal-effect trim yield an intriguingly ultra-modern atmosphere (at least in the black interior). The Grand Touring model even adds a nifty strip of faux alligator hide down the center of each seat. The CX-7’s instrument cowl signals the machine’s sporting intent, while the heavily stylized dash does an admirable job of hiding the raked windscreen’s acres o’ dash effect.
Thanks to its relatively low driving position and prominent center console, the CX-7’s cockpit feels more athletically honed than the more open cabins of competing crossovers. (Some will simply find it tight.) But the CX-7’s front seats provide a clue that the model’s pistonhead proclivities may be less than advertised; the comfortable chairs don’t provide much lateral support. In back, there's about as much legroom as you'll find in the average midsize sedan, but shoulder room is a bit tight for three across. Buyers drawn to SUVs in search of elbow room won’t be happy. The CX-7’s 58-cube cargo bay is about 20 shy of the class average, but still sufficient for lifestyle schlepping or a weekend away.
The CX-7’s direct-injected, turbocharged DOHC four (borrowed from the MazdaSpeed6) stumps up 244 horses. While the output is generally sufficient for everyday progress, the powerplant fails to kick those fillies out of the stable with any alacrity. A firm press on the CX-7’s go pedal from a dead stop yields… nothing much. (Think boost lag combined with old school DOHC behavior; the 3,000 rpm torque peak is high for a turbo.) Buzz the four over 3500 rpm, where your ears definitely won’t mistake it for a six, and the CX-7 finally starts to get a move on. But even then the crossover’s two-ton curb weight and power-sapping, slow-reacting six-speed slushbox deny enthusiastic drivers sufficient thrust to justify opting into the new genre. The manual shift mode takes off some of the wait, but not enough.
In casual driving, the CX-7’s handling lives up to its billing. In gentle turns, body lean is well controlled. The steering is quick with a hint of tactile feedback. Unfortunately, tall 60-series sidewalls muffle communication from the contact patches and slow transitional responses, hobbling this sports car wannabe’s dynamic feedback. Shod the beast in lower profile tires and it might actually feel agile.
Press on and the whole fast driving thing falls apart. The crossover’s nose drifts wide, its steering feel goes AWOL and the chassis’ limited composure becomes apparent. The best vehicles seem to shrink and shed pounds when driven hard. The harder you push the CX-7, the heavier and clumsier it feels. But you won’t want to push it very hard, anyway, as the Goodyear Eagle RS-A’s on the outside front corner howl in protest at the slightest provocation. Ignore the complaining and you’ll find that there’s still plenty of grip available. But the noise! The noise! The noise! You’ll suffer less squealing at a children’s book reading.
Once calm is restored, the CX-7’s ride is moderately supple and quieter than that of other Mazdas. Credit those generous sidewalls. The CX-7’s softcore suspension tuning should make highway trips a breeze and back country roads with sweeping curves a joy. But caning the crossover around the tightly wound two-laners that feature prominently in the Japanese company’s ads? Forgeddaboutit.
Let’s face it: it doesn’t matter who makes an SUV or how they tune the chassis. A sports car is a low-slung, properly balanced vehicle with razor-sharp reflexes. SUVs are too high and too heavy to provide even a remotely similar driving experience. Mazda ought to know better. As the progenitors of the superb MX-5 and tightly focused RX-8, they should know that there’s only one sort of vehicle that drives like a sports car: a sports car.
[Michael Karesh operates www.truedelta.com, a vehicle reliability and price comparison website.]
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POWERED
August 4th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Beautiful design.
Too bad Ford will ****up the CX-7’s image with their ugly ass clones. I already think less of the Mazda 6. Can’t they just leave Mazda alone?
Is there a discount for the models that survive offloading from the near capsized Cougar Ace off Alaska?
August 4th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Ah, but the folks at Mazda don’t care whether their car handles like a sports car or is in any other way physically like a sports car.
They care whether their car is perceived by the buying public as a sports car. Because if a buyer thinks the car is perceived as a sports car, then s/he can buy it feeling that they’ve bought a practical vehicle, but will still get the ego gratification of owning a sports car (in other people’s eyes).
There are so many cars on the market which are not at all what they claim, but marketing makes others view them a certain way.
One of the great things about TTAC is that you poke through the marketing and tell it like it is. Mazda may not like it (nor Ford, nor GM :) but we do!
August 4th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Hmmm, the CX-7 seems to ask a question that I shouldn’t to ask about an automobile—— What is it? It’s not a sports car (no low end torque, so-so handling) and it’s not a SUV (although it weighs two tons - I guess the lack of interior space disqualifies it). Better yet - Why would I want one?
August 4th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Mazda NEVER said the CX-7 is a sports car, but rather it possesses what is referred to in their advertising as “The Soul Of A Sports Car”. All this implies is that all the vehicles in the Mazda line caters to the driver, driver control, sharp handling, responsiveness, etc. In years gone by, Mazda tried to be all things to all people and sales suffered. Their cars were at the same time compared to Toyota and Hyundai, a sorry situation for them. Their niche is and except for those days, DRIVER’S cars.
Funny how Ford relies so heavily on Mazda engineering in their new line of cars. When Ford “allowed ” Mazda to sell a Explorer Sport as a Mazda Navaho, you’d be shocked at the low quality and problems this vehicle wrought on our longtime Mazda customers. Add to that the Ranger/B-Series trucks, the infamous ‘94-’02 Mazda 626 4-cylinder automatic transmissions and you KNOW where the quality engineering lies.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Another Mazda with a turbo and a TMIC with NO HOOD SCOOP? How bad was the heat soak? And the CX-7 weighs 400 lbs. more than the already heat-soak-plagued Mazdaspeed6. Power must be totaly sapped whenever this thing is driven in warm weather. Why does Mazda refuse to put a hood scoop on their MS6, MS3 and now this one? It looks fine on the Forester XT.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Because the scoops are unnecessary. At the Master Tech Ride & Drive for the Mazdaspeed6, their position was that while the Subaru STi is the kid’s racer with all the scoop and spoiler effects, the Mazdaspeed 6 is the Dad’s stealth bomber.
As for how these vehicles run while hot, the engine changes to compliment the Direct Injection System have shown nothing but perfect driveability in our customer’s cars regardless of of ambient air temperatures.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
I think the scoop on the Subie feeds the intercooler. Not sure if that’s better than Mazda’s design (more drag for sure) but it looks the part.
Usually the soul of a sports car lies within a sports car, but hey, who am I to question the zoom-zoominess of the ad’s underlying theme.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Ugly vehicle, that is for sure.
Are crossovers going to pollute the roads with styling like this one?
August 4th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Test drove one with the wife. She loved it, I hated it. I guess Mazda knows who is buying their cars. I could feel my testosterone slipping away with every click of the odometer… I had to jump over to the Hummer dealer to recharge.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Using hood scoops is mainly for looks, unless you really want to get every last drop of power out of the engine, because cooling the hot (and I mean several hundred degrees hot) compressed air between the time it leaves the compressor and enters the engine with air that’s maybe 100 degrees cooler or not does not make that big of a difference