The new, thinner U
THANKS to our excellent friends in the oil industry, the American market is in the midst of a general, and long overdue, right-sizing. Sales of full-size SUVs are diving off a cliff like tan, muscular men in Acapulco -- down 20% in two years. Meanwhile, sales of smaller, lighter crossover SUVs, or CUVs, are up 7.5% (456,947 units) in the first quarter of 2006, on pace to eclipse the annual sales of conventional SUVs for the first time.
The good news, as consumers shed the vain excess capacity of big SUVs, is that for once the market has the right vehicles in the showroom. Examples include the bestselling Ford Escape, the Honda CR-V and the Chevrolet Equinox. The trouble is these vehicles can be ugly, squarish and boring, with their feigned truck-ishness writ small, as it were. Examples include the bestselling Ford Escape, the Honda CR-V, etc.
What’s needed then is right-shaping, which brings us to -- next slide, please -- the new Mazda CX-7, a leggy and athletic crossover with something of the pelagic sleekness of a sport wagon by Alfa Romeo. With its focused aerodynamics, low and tapering greenhouse, and on-your-marks stance emphasized by the pronounced wheel arches, the CX-7 shares the flex and modernity of some of Mazda’s most aggressive products, such as the RX-8.
The trick, of course, is not drawing swoon-able lines but making such a vehicle space efficient and family friendly, and in this respect the CX-7 is even more glamorous on the inside than on the outside.
For comparison, consider the Subaru Forester XT Limited. Both vehicles are in the high $20,000 range; both are powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged engine with all-wheel drive (optional on the Mazda), with comparable horsepower and fuel economy (244 hp and 18/24 city/highway mileage in the CX-7).
The Subaru is slightly smaller than the CX-7, but it has the packaging advantage of its resolutely square lines. And yet, the CX-7 outpoints the Forester XT in interior space (max luggage capacity, 29.9 versus 29.6 cubic feet, respectively; rear headroom, 39.3 versus 36.9 inches).
The CX-7 is shaped like a Prada slipper, the other like the box it came in. It would require a highly contrarian form of cube-ophilia to prefer the Subaru over the Mazda.
Mazda has kept the design supercomputers grinding through the night for the CX-7, stealing precious millimeters here and there to maximize interior space. The result is a vehicle with strikingly thin exterior cross-sections, particularly in the doors, door pillars and rear quarter panels. This gives the CX-7 a slightly hollow and insubstantial feeling -- not to say tinny -- that you notice upon opening the doors, but since everything fits tight and closes securely, the feeling goes away. However, in our pre-production test model there was considerable wind noise around the A-pillars at highway speeds. Mazda engineers assured me the production vehicle’s thicker windshield gasket would cure that ill.
Situated in the well-bolstered sport seat, you start to feel the love. Because of the huge and steeply raked windshield, with the A-pillars based nearly at the crests of the front fenders, the space in front of you is open and friendly. Visibility is excellent.
The cockpit is pretty straightforward, with instrumentation and switches borrowed from other Mazda family members: The steering wheel is the same as in the up-level MX-5, the rotary climate knobs from the Mazda6 and the lurid orange-red dash lights and cobalt-blue accent lighting from Vito’s Pussycat Lounge in Ontario, where it’s Hot Wings Night on Tuesdays.
Mazda’s third-generation DVD navigation system (included in the $4,005 technology package) has been vastly improved, saving my bacon more times than I could count in a 250-mile test drive through New York and the Tri-State area.
The rear bank of seats (60/40 split fold down) is reasonably spacious and easy to clamor to and from, but because the seat cushioning is relatively thin (packaging again) the rear seats may not be comfortable for long hauls.
The seat backs can be flipped down effortlessly by way of door-like latches in the cargo compartment that release spring-loaded mechanisms.
THE biggest trade-off in vehicle packaging comes in the suspension department. Because the rear multi-link suspension pickup points (the points at which the suspension attaches to the body) had to be pushed outward to preserve cargo space, the rear suspension travel is limited (think of the rear wheels on short lever arms). The rear linkages, direct from the Mazda5 small van, work frantically on rough pavement while the front MacPherson struts of the Mazda6 sail along smoothly.
Not to go all “Car and Driver” on you, but this oddity of suspension geometry gives the car a rather curious, two-men-in-a-horse-suit ride quality, and when you put the CX-7 into a hard corner on uneven pavement the rear-end dances around more than you would like. I would like to see the rear suspension better sorted out in future models.
This is a fairly significant flaw in what Mazda wants to present as a sports-handling CUV. In other respects, it’s definitely got the goods, starting with big and grippy 18-inch wheels and tires, as well as four-wheel ventilated discs (ABS, traction and stability control systems are all standard on the Grand Touring package), torque-spitting all-wheel drive and dual exhausts.
Under the sloping hood is a version of the Mazdaspeed6’s 2.3-liter, turbocharged and intercooled, direct-injection inline four whose 258 pound-feet of torque is channeled through a six-speed automatic transmission. Step-off thrust is eager and ample, even as this small-displacement engine contends with nearly 2 tons of CUV. There’s very little of a turbocharger’s typical spastic character, as torque goes on smoothly and seamlessly, if a little noisily. This is a raucous little piece of reciprocation capable of a full-throated and wanton snarl. Again, Mazda engineers told me they wanted the car to have a little bit of aural attitude, so mission accomplished.
In my test drive through the five boroughs, New Jersey and Connecticut, I got terrific gas mileage, about 24 mpg combined, which is outstanding considering the seventh-circle-of-Hell traffic conditions.
Punchy, quick and curvaceous, but pulling at the seams a little, the CX-7 is an easy car to like but a little tougher to love. However, in the higher price register, it’s a veritable cornucopia of auto tech.
Our Grand Touring AWD model with the Technology Package retailed for $32,005 and included such features as a surround-sound Bose stereo, voice and touch-screen navigation, rearview camera and moon roof, as well as the standard features such as Xenon lights and heated seats.
Thus proving the old adage, or something like it: Small things come in good packages.
Automotive critic Dan Neil can be reached at dan.neil@latimes.com.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
2007 Mazda CX-7
Grand Touring with all-wheel drive
Base price: $28,560
Price, as tested: $32,005
Powertrain: Intercooled and turbocharged 2.3-liter, DOHC inline four-cylinder engine with direct injection, six-speed automatic transmission, all-wheel drive with viscous center coupling.
Horsepower: 244 at 5,000 rpm
Torque: 258 at 2,500 rpm
Curb weight: 3,929 pounds (with AWD)
0-60 mph: 8 seconds
Wheelbase: 108.3 inches
Overall length: 184.1 inches
EPA fuel economy: 18 miles per gallon city, 24 mph highway
Final thoughts: CUV thinking outside the box
