A look at the short history of the Mazda CX-7.

A brief historical guide to the Mazda CX-7 and how it came into being.

Classed as a four door crossover SUV but more commonly known as a 4×4 in the UK, the Mazda CX-7 is a relatively young vehicle, having only been designed and unveiled in 2007. Built entirely on one plant in Hiroshima in Japan, the CX-7 was the first mid-range SUV launched since the discontinuation of the Navajo in the mid 1990s.

The car is available as a four wheel drive or front engine front wheeled drive and comes with either a diesel engine or a MZR engine, which can also be turbocharged. The transmission available for the vehicle comes as a six speed F21 automatic or manual as well as a five speed automatic drive.

What the CX-7 has done well is in the area of safety control, which have helped the car to become a reliable choice for customers to buy. Four wheel ventilated disc brakes in the vehicle offer anti-brake locking, stability control and traction control, whilst the half of the engine’s torque is fed to the rear wheels via two computer-controlled magnetic clutches.

The suspension is independently fitted, meaning that although it shares some external characteristics with the Mazda CX-9, internally the cars are quite different. In 2010 the Mazda CX-7 had some alterations carried out to its exterior, which saw the fitting of remodelled front and rear fascias whilst a bigger five point design system was also added to the car.

While not the first car which is often thought of when motorists conjure up the image of a Mazda in their heads, the CX-7 is potentially one of the most exciting to drive. Whether it is revamped or is re-released as part of a second generation launch will remain to be seen though, as so far there are no plans in the pipeline.