I had a 2003 Mazda6i for three years followed by a 2006 Honda Civic Si for nearly two years before I got my CX-7 last summer. I bought the Si as a last hurrah before we decided to have kids, I figured my one last chance to drive a really fun, slightly impractical car before junior arrived. As my wife neared her due date last year I knew that I needed a more sensible "Daddy mobile" and started looking at four doors including Mazdaspeed3, Civic Si 4dr, Mazdaspeed6, and lastly the CX-7. I loved the 3 but the lower crash ratings kind of turned me off. To make a long story short I thought that CX-7 AWD was slightly out of my price range but my local dealer was offering huge discounts and I ended up with a CX-7 sport AWD for $4K off MSRP!
My impressions are that the CX-7 is just as fun to drive as the 6 was, maybe more fun with the turbo power on tap whenever I want to push the car a bit. The 6 handled very well but so does the CX-7, suprisingly well for a car this big, it doesn't feel like a SUV inside once you get used to the higher driving position. It doesn't handle like the Si did but few cars do in that price range. I love having the extra room in the CX-7, with the seats down you can haul all kinds of stuff and with the seats up you can put a large stroller and all your baby gear back there with plenty of room left over. This is my first bigger car/SUV and I really enjoy it. I missed my little sports car Si for awhile but the CX-7 is still very sporty and feels different than any other SUV/CUV out there I think...it is very comparable to the Acura RDX for thousands less. The one thing that could make the CX-7 more fun to drive would be a 6 speed manual rather than the auto but I'm a manual guy. In conclusion I think you'll actually find that you like the CX-7 more than the 6 and probably won't ever look back.
