Added thoughts (CX-7 and Tribute) as an on/off car shopper;
First, I was drawn to this as nice looking upscale vehicle for my wife who has preferred the taller-than-car advantage of seeing other traffic better as she drives. This started when we got our first van and the 'SUV' segment has better fit our wants/needs. We came to the CX-7 in 2012 after driving a Tribute for 7 years.
The most exciting thing about the CX-7 to me at the time was the lack of the Ford CD4E transmission. Simply put, I'd have not owned another one as it gave us some trouble and I later learned the Escape/Trib trans was way too common for an expensive 'glitch'. Also learned later and mentioned in the article linked above; Most transmisson info for rebuild or fix includes information on why and how they fail and how the kits to rebulid or fix them actually design the flaws out of the original system. You will actually read this information specific to the transmission if you buy the kit or parts yourself.
The CX-7 has been okay thus far and rides/drives nicer (more car-like) than the Tribute. To be fair, the CX is a crossover and the Trib had the towing package so this is not apples to apples.
Two things I really liked about our Tribute was the color, a two-tone titanium (maybe?) with lighter contrasting shade on the lower body clad-panels. Got lots of complements on the color and it was just dark enough to show off a nice gloss / shine when waxed. It didn't show dirt as bad as most colors though.
Secondly, the headlamps did a great job of lighting the road ahead. I do a fair amount of night driving and the Trib was far ahead of many other vehicles in my experience for ability to light the road with the headlamp/reflector design, factory type bulb and not considering the fog lamp use.
As for the CX-7, I thought it good news at the time of shopping that the Asin trans was used in lots of other vehicles and well tested by others as Volvo, Range Rover, Audi among other brands. I was wanting to be confident in Mazda but the CD4E had me waffling a bit. I did not learn anything of the MZR turbo timing chain issues and oil migration-sludge situation until later. Not sure if I'd have stepped over or not but I'm darn happy I got the ext warranty and will dot the I's and cross the T's in the maint book and scheduled services. We have a year more warranty taking us to mid June of 2015 and will not over shoot the 36,000 added mile limitation.
