Boston.com's view

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sales of crossover vehicles have exploded, making the segment the fastest-growing one — and posing a question about new each entry: Is it mostly an SUV, a station wagon, a minivan, or a blend?

Mazda, with its 2007 CX-7 crossover, prompts another query: How much of it is sports car?

The BMW X3 I just tested has similar handling to the Mazda’s, but it is clearly a small SUV, at least from the outside. This Mazda is something different.

Its exterior reveals a car that had to ”look like it was moving while standing still,” David Matthew, line manager for the CX-7, said during the car’s introduction in Washington.

Shunsuke Kawasaki, CX-7 program manager, said the model was envisioned as a ”metropolitan hawk,” able to soar gracefully over mountains and through city canyons.

With a roofline at about 5 1/2 feet, a sharply raked hood and windshield, and side glass panels that taper front to rear to meet a rising hip line, the vehicle maintains a ready-to-pounce stance.

And pounce it can, with power generated by the engine from the sporty MazdaSpeed6 sedan to the tune of 244 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque.

What’s impressive is that the power comes from a four-cylinder engine — a 2.3-liter, turbocharged, direct-injection power plant. In effect, direct injection forces fuel and air deep into the cylinders for more explosive and powerful burns.

And considering how it played the CX-7’s automatic transmission — with manual mode — so smoothly up through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and how effortlessly it hauled the vehicle’s 3,929 pounds through dark hollows and over sunny crests, it was a remarkable performance for an engine that will probably deliver overall fuel economy that tops 20 miles per gallon. That’s not bad for a five-passenger rig whose rear seat folds 60/40, swapping seats for ample cargo space.

The inside is well-appointed, with a three-spoke wheel, a two-tiered dash that features a protruding dome over the instrument cluster, and nicely supportive front bucket seats. Even the rear three-passenger seat will hold three adults in relative comfort. Bits of leather and slashes of silver trim add to the tight cockpit feel.

Yet that tight feeling of control belies the expansive field of vision that the wraparound glass of the car’s upper third gives to the driver and passengers.

Leaving Washington and heading for the hills faster than Tom DeLay on his way back to Texas proved a variable and revealing test for the CX-7. Through the crawling traffic over the 14th Street Bridge, up the Potomac, and into the Virginia mountains, we sampled all possible types of driving.

It zoom-zoomed, as Mazda would have it, on a rapid two-lane thoroughfare. It climbed steep winding roads with little effort. And even with its weight lurching forward on steep and twisting descents, it held corners firmly and had only the slightest hint of body roll.

When it came time to stop, even brakes heated by descent were sure in their grab, with 11.2-inch discs up front and 11.6-inch discs in the rear.

The CX-7 comes in either front- or all-wheel drive, with the all-wheel-drive system operating as 100 percent front-wheel drive under normal conditions, but able to send 50 percent of the power aft when needed.

The CX-7 comes in three model levels, Sport, Touring, and Grand Touring. Key standard safety features include dual front, side and side-curtain air bags, ABS, and traction and stability controls. Also standard are power windows, power door locks, and cruise control.

The touring model adds leather for seats, steering wheel, and shift knob; power driver’s seats; heated front seats; and a retractable cargo cover. Grand touring adds trimmed leather, HID headlamps, fog lamps, body-color mirrors, chrome door handles, and automatic interior climate control.

Base prices, by model level, are $23,750, $25,500, and $26,300. The all-wheel-drive option adds about $1,800 to each base price.

The CX-7 will be available by the end of the month.

Royal Ford can be reached at ford@globe.com.

THE BASICS
Base price/as tested: $23,750/$28,785
Fuel economy: 22 m.p.g. (est.)
Annual fuel cost: $1,722 ($2.914 per gallon, regular, 13,000 miles per year)

THE SPECIFICS
Drivetrain: front- or all-wheel drive
Seating: five
Horsepower: 244 | Torque: 258 lb.-ft.
Overall length: 184 inches
Wheelbase: 108.3 inches
Height: 64.8″ | Width: 73.7″
Curb weight: 3,929 pounds