CROSSING OVER; Mazda's CX-7 fills niches we didn't even know we had.(News)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

At first glance your brain is likely to slot the CX-7 into the "OMG, not another crossover/SUV/minivan/wagony thing'' file and be done with it. That would be a big mistake by your brain.

Firstly, the CX-7 is none of the above. Though Mazda claims CX-7 is an SUV, it's really not because, well, now we're going to start sounding like marketing numero-linguists, trying to define what each vehicular classification might or might not be, based on all previous assumptions. But we would say an SUV, even a sedan-based SUV, has a little more ground clearance and maybe a roof rack.

Based on similarly outdated parameters still used by everybody in the world, CX-7 is not a minivan, either, because the roof is too low and there's not enough room in the back behind the second row of seats. There is no third row, which also limits its minivan-ness, and at the same time reminds us there will be a CX-9 later this year. CX-7 is too flat and agile-looking to be a minivan, and it clearly is not the new MPV for the same reasons.

And it's not a wagon, since this thing is too tall.

Which leaves crossover, a term so ill- defined that it could mean almost anything. So CX-7 fills a bunch of empty space in between what used to be our well-defined niches. How about that?

On to the thing itself. While Mazda has gone to some lengths to assure us the CX-7 is not just a MazdaSpeed 6 with a larger body, the vehicle has more in common with the MazdaSpeed 6 than it does with other Mazdas or Fords. It has the same powertrain, available in fwd or awd, and it has much of the same suspension, though much of that is tuned specifically to this application.