Un texte de top gear très positif sur le CX7. Et si eux n'y trouvent rien à redire, c'est probablement qu'il n'y a rien à trouver...
Fast, good to drive and handsome enough to put the current crop of faux SUVs to shame, the CX is everything a modern softroader should be
(Rapide, plaisant à conduire et suffisament agréable à l'oeil pour mettre la honte à de nombreux faux SUV. Le CX est tout ce qu'un 4x4 routier devrait être)
A couple of issues back in the magazine, Bill Thomas drove the Mazda CX-7 and came back raving about it. In fact, the only tiny thing he could fault about the SUV was that it didn't have a telescopically-adjustable steering wheel.
Fearing Bill had suffered a bit of a soft day, we got a CX-7 in with the full intention of picking holes in it. Metaphorical holes, obviously, in case anyone from Nissan happens to be reading.
But, after spending a couple of evenings driving the CX in full critical mode, I've got to agree with our resident Aussie: it's a bloody brilliant car.
I've got a couple of tiny criticisms to add to the list. That high beltline means that small kids sat in the back won't be able to see much. And the gearbox, while brilliantly short and precise, is slightly stiff, though I'd guess it'll loosen up as the CX-7 gets a few more miles on the clock.
What else? I'd quite like an iPod connector, I suppose. Clutching. Straws. And a folding hard-top for when it gets sunny. And it's never going to squeeze into a Smart ForTwo-sized parking space. OK, I'm getting desperate here.
Because there's almost nothing bad to say about the CX-7. Fast, good to drive and handsome enough to put the current crop of faux SUVs to shame, the CX is everything a modern softroader should be... and mercifully free from the oversize-plastic-bumper disease.
The 2.3-litre turbo engine is a beauty, too - eight seconds to 62mph feels genuinely quick, and a nice wide turbo band makes overtaking a cinch.
Oh, and according to Mazda, a CX-7 just recorded 39mpg in a round-Britain economy challenge. I can't claim to have been quite so frugal, but suffice to say the petrol gauge dropped less precipitously than I was expecting in a car of this size with proper four-wheel drive.
What more could you want? A telescopically-adjustable steering wheel?
