 I've enjoyed my first month of owning my new CX-7.  It is a beautiful vehicle and it has carried me through 6" of snow and a blinding rainstorm already.  I test drove many other vehicles in this category but the Mazda was, by far, the most fun to drive.  That consideration was not at the top of my priority list, but it's superiority there outshined some of the smaller disadvantages.  One thing I wish I had known was just how poor the gas mileage is.  My vehicle is returning 13mpg in the city and about 19 mpg on the highway.  I'm not even sure how a 4 cyl engine can possibly return such poor numbers.  I recommend the vehicle with the caveat that you must be willing to accept poor gas mileage.