http://www.topgear.com/blogs/drives/086-mazda-cx7/
Alright, I'll come clean - I was ready to hate this car, just as I hate most so-called 'sporty' SUV crossover things.
Well, not 'hate' as much as 'dislike quite a lot', in a way that would completely preclude me from recommending or owning one. Too tall, too floaty, not in the least bit sporty, not in the least bit off-roady, just fat lozengy high-mounted nothings clogging our roads.
The advantage of one over a normal hatch or estate? Not much, unless you call blocking the vision of motorbike riders and advantage, or putting your wing mirrors at their face level.
The CX-7 surprised me. It handles well by any standards and is proper fun.
It looks good, too, with a steeply raked windscreen (very close to the rake of the RX-8, in fact) and no nod to interior space. That means a sloping rear and a low roofline.Then there's the engine, which is excellent, a tuned-down version of the 2.3-litre turbo unit in the Mazda 3 and 6 MPS. It's fast for this type of car, torquey and quiet, and the interior is more interesting to look at than other Mazdas.
How SUVs could get more sporty than this is beyond me - any lower and it'd be an estate, any higher and it wouldn't handle. If you're looking at a CRV, RAV4 or the like, the CX-7 should be on your list.