Dealing with the Mazda CX-7 requires a bit of education about semantics, right off the bat. First, it isn't capable of seating 7 people, as its alphanumeric code implies. Rather, it is based on Mazda 3 architecture; so go figure.
Additionally, it is part of that what's been an emerging genre called "crossover" vehicles. It seems that a crossover is nothing more – or less – than a four-door van, with a hatchback. Upon reflection, maybe a new moniker was required, since that crosses a couple of categories, right there.
What crossovers were conceived to do was provide the same sort of utilitarian versatility that sport-utilities were once capable of, before they became four-wheeled dinosaurs striding the earth, while offering much more reasonable fuel economy than sport-utes.
These are both things the Mazda CX-7 does pretty well. It sips gasoline to the tune of 18 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA; and observed mileage seems to bear that out.
The exterior design of this vehicle seems better suited to a boat with the surface development of the body panels over the wheels looking more than a bit like pontoons. The cowl comes from the Mazda 5; and the windshield has a 66-degree angle to it, allowing a fair amount of rainwater to fly off, even before engaging the wipers. There's no word from Mazda on what the coefficient of drag is; but a hunch on the lack of wind noise is that the CX-7's highway mileage is partly the result of good airflow. 
The interior is filled with easy-to-read instrumentation, seats with good lumbar support and an automatic that allows shifting without a clutch. On the vehicle dynamics side of the equation, the steering is quick and the throttle response can only be called "non-linear."
The turbocharged (Hitachi) 138 cubic-inch four-cylinder engine is shared with the MazdaSpeed6. It's a bit on the raspy side as it chortles out its siren song of 244 horsepower at 5,000 RPM. There's a direct injection system at work in the engine of the CX-7 that pressures the gasoline at 430 to 1,600 pounds-per-inch (versus a normal port injection system's 40-to-65 pounds-per-square inch) and ensures a 9.5:1 compression ratio. The turbocharger begins to work at low revs and when combined with that compression ratio, essentially eliminates any sense of turbocharger lag.
Additionally, the handling benefits from having just a four up front rather than a V6; it's a near neutral experience going in-and-out of a turn, rather than having the nose plough into a turn.
Torque is a very respectable 258 lb.-ft at 2,500 RPM and would certainly allow you to tow a Ski-Doo or two behind this rig. The CX-7 itself tips the scales at 3,920 pounds.
The suspension set-up consists of independent struts located by control arms up front; coupled with a one trailing link and two lateral links in the rear. Driven hard, this set-up assures little body roll and the controlled motion of a ballerina. Mazda's goal has been to put a bit of MX-5 DNA in each of its vehicles and that seems to have been well achieved with the CX-7.
So what about the storage space for this tricky new kind of van? The cargo area with the seats up is 30 cubic feet; 
and with the seats down it is 59 cubic feet; figure this is good for carrying some decent sized bookcases home from IKEA.
and with the seats down it is 59 cubic feet; figure this is good for carrying some decent sized bookcases home from IKEA. Mazda may sell some of the CX-7s to fleets, according to Jeremy Barnes, director of product communications for Mazda North America, but "it's a very small percentage of our business and our intention is to keep it quite low."
And while Mazda will be offering a hybrid version of the Tribute in the near future (late summer) the only concession to the Greens being made with the CX-7 is allowing E15 fuel.
The MSRP on the CX-7 is $28,000 and the tested vehicle listed at $33,000 thanks to options such as a Sirius satellite radio, a DVD navigation system, a Bose 240 watt wrap around sound system and a rear back-up camera.
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