Mazda CX7

[101RRS]

A friend on mine recently bought a Mazda CX7 as his familiy car - the guy is not into 4wding at all.

He drove up to Perisher last week and saw a nice paddock with fresh snow so the goose decided to have a drive across to see how his "4wd" would work in the snow.

Of course the obvious happened - only 5m off the road the car came to a stop - I indicated to him that even with his road tyres he should have still been able to back out, after all the track would have been compacted and with "4wd" he should have been able to back out. He said that his front wheels would spin but his back wheels would not turn - I indicated that might have been because his traction control would stop the front wheels spinning too much and not transfer power to the back but he said he had read the handbook which indicated the TC was to be turned off in that situation which he had done - still no drive to the rear so he was still in front wheel drive and stuck in the snow with every one going past laughing at him.

It would seem that it was only with about 3000rpm and the front wheels spinning and digging themselves deeper that the rears decided to kick in - and then with little drive but the front digging deeper.

It wasn't until a nice old guy in a defender came along that he was able to get winched out. It would seem that the softroader will only go into 4wd with the front wheels spinning and the engine screaming.

This is why landrover is leader in its class in all categories including softroaders - a Freelander,though not the best offroad, is the best in class, even my 10yo hippo would not have bogged in that situation and would have been able to back out.

Well done the Fender with the winch.

My mate declined and offer to follow my Freelander to the top of Mt Coree this afternoon to play in the snow - he didn't want to get it dirty - more like didn't want to get shown up by a 10yo Hippo.:D

The CX7 is a nice towncar and nively kitted out - it is in the same market as the new Freelander but is about $10K cheaper - the Freelander will not be able to compete with the Murano, Kluger, RAV, etc because it is so much more expensive for not much car. I know Landrover want up to think it is competeing with the BMW X3 but it is not - the F2 is just too expensive.

Garry

Gazzz

[Captain_Rightfoot]

All I could find on the Mazda website was this...

"Active Torque Split (ATS) AWD system automatically adjusts front/rear wheel torque distribution between 100:0 and 50:50"

I presume it's com kind of viscous coupling? The wheels have to spin to froth the fluid to lock the coupling to send the power back.

Why wasn't this a problem for the rangies that had these fitted?

[mcrover]

A friend on mine recently bought a Mazda CX7 as his familiy car - the guy is not into 4wding at all.

He drove up to Perisher last week and saw a nice paddock with fresh snow so the goose decided to have a drive across to see how his "4wd" would work in the snow.

Of course the obvious happened - only 5m off the road the car came to a stop - I indicated to him that even with his road tyres he should have still been able to back out, after all the track would have been compacted and with "4wd" he should have been able to back out. He said that his front wheels would spin but his back wheels would not turn - I indicated that might have been because his traction control would stop the front wheels spinning too much and not transfer power to the back but he said he had read the handbook which indicated the TC was to be turned off in that situation which he had done - still no drive to the rear so he was still in front wheel drive and stuck in the snow with every one going past laughing at him.

It would seem that it was only with about 3000rpm and the front wheels spinning and digging themselves deeper that the rears decided to kick in - and then with little drive but the front digging deeper.

It wasn't until a nice old guy in a defender came along that he was able to get winched out. It would seem that the softroader will only go into 4wd with the front wheels spinning and the engine screaming.

This is why landrover is leader in its class in all categories including softroaders - a Freelander,though not the best offroad, is the best in class, even my 10yo hippo would not have bogged in that situation and would have been able to back out.

Well done the Fender with the winch.

My mate declined and offer to follow my Freelander to the top of Mt Coree this afternoon to play in the snow - he didn't want to get it dirty - more like didn't want to get shown up by a 10yo Hippo.:D

The CX7 is a nice towncar and nively kitted out - it is in the same market as the new Freelander but is about $10K cheaper - the Freelander will not be able to compete with the Murano, Kluger, RAV, etc because it is so much more expensive for not much car. I know Landrover want up to think it is competeing with the BMW X3 but it is not - the F2 is just too expensive.

Garry

Gazzz

Again Garry, you forgot about the Subaru Forester, Just as capable if not more than a freo but with no reliability problems.

[Quiggers]

I read the somewhere,
the CX7 has a serious drinking problem,
like 19l/100kms!

Funny how cars with 4wd??? tempts owners
to do things they probably wouldn't in a Falcon wagon....

GQ

[adm333]

Whilst I've never bothered to try it, my wife's CRV supposedly has a viscous unit which sends drive to the rear if the front spins too much.

There is no way to manually engage 4WD, just have to sit and wait for it to kick in.

That's why we have a Rangie, and yes it does have a viscous coupling but it is different. It does not control the 4WD aspect, just the centre "diff lock". TC is also a lot more robust.

[scrambler]

Viscous coupling = LSD. You need to spin a wheel to get it in effect, and then it limits the loss of torque.

For the Rangie - 50/50 split until wheel spin and then (assuming no TC) VC limits the losses.

While with the CRV type setup - there is NO torque at the rear unless the front spins, and then you still lose 50% to the spinning wheel. It's a system almost guaranteed to result in bogging - wait until wheelspin, then give only 1/2 the drive to another pair of wheels. If the front DOES get traction again, it takes back the full torque load, increasing the chance it will spin once more. It's probably only any good if you lose steering in icy conditions.

[haggisbasher]

hehehe...reminded me of the convo with my neighbour over the fence. hubby prattling on about the "tough" four wheel drive track they need to take to get to the place they have rented for a holiday.
Wife (who is a story unto herself) says "it is fine i have my new 4wd (a Captiva none the less) we wont get stuck."

i said..."no worries... we can all go 4wd in the hills one day with mate who has (i know ) a patrol. We have wanted a 3rd person to come along."

She very quickly shot back inside her house...with her hubby grinning at me from ear to ear. Wonder what he was thinking.

And i'd be fair to her...i'd leave the road tyres on the 'Fender......

:wasntme:

[Quiggers]

I think many of these types of 'softroaders' should come with a large sticker:

"DO NOT USE OFF ROAD"

However, judging by the number of Captivas floating around here, Holden must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Haven't seen any on the beach yet, fortunately.:D

GQ

[Captain_Rightfoot]

I think many of these types of 'softroaders' should come with a large sticker:

"DO NOT USE OFF ROAD"

However, judging by the number of Captivas floating around here, Holden must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Haven't seen any on the beach yet, fortunately.:D

GQ
What's the problem...It's usually no trouble to drive around them :)

[djhampson]

My sister just bought a CX7 and I think its going to be a good car for what she needs. She had her heart set on the 6 but after test driving it I talked her out of it due to its extreme lack of power.

The poor little 2.2l engine is doing a lot of work for very little result.

The CX7 is the same engine but has a turbo which make a huge difference. The interesting thing that I wanted to add is the sales people told us that this is not an offroad car (probably cause we rocked up in the Disco). Holden also told us the same thing when we looked in at the Captiva.

I believe the CX7 has an electonric clutch which sends power to the back wheels rather than a viscous coupling. I know the captiva has a similar system.

Both the Holden and Mazda are good cars for soft roading but I wouldn't go on the beach (unless the Disco ws on hand to get it out of trouble - but then why go in the Mazda)

[Sandtoyz]

I think many of these types of 'softroaders' should come with a large sticker:

"DO NOT USE OFF ROAD"

However, judging by the number of Captivas floating around here, Holden must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Haven't seen any on the beach yet, fortunately.:D

GQ

They should have washed away pretty quick :)
.. or dissolved :angel:

[100I]

There was a Territory sitting on it's belly at Rainbow on the weekend, some patient soul was reversed up to it to give a hand when I went past. Maybe I'm just a ***** (I'm still not smoking so I'm allowed to be) but I just can't be arsed with them anymore unless they're blocking my way:D.

[haggisbasher]

hehehehe

"The interesting thing that I wanted to add is the sales people told us that this is not an offroad car (probably cause we rocked up in the Disco). Holden also told us the same thing when we looked in at the Captiva. "

So the advertising is not depicting the truth?

hmmmmm

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Maybe they are trying to limit warranty claims and liability?

[cartm58]

it hasn't stopped people from being subaru awd vehicles, xtrails, awd, then attempting to go off road or on beach, people assume because 4 wheels get some sort of power they can go anywhere and do anything.

same with territory selling it with a diff lock as optional extra for go anywhere capability

what people want is a soft car for around town and something that can travel in the bush, if they're intending to stick to gravel roads and well used graded fire trials no problems generally, it's where the adventure blood lust hits them that they get themselves into trouble.

rescuing them is a pain but generally its the safest thing to do

[101RRS]

it hasn't stopped people from being subaru awd vehicles, xtrails, awd, then attempting to go off road or on beach, people assume because 4 wheels get some sort of power they can go anywhere and do anything.

same with territory selling it with a diff lock as optional extra for go anywhere capability

what people want is a soft car for around town and something that can travel in the bush, if they're intending to stick to gravel roads and well used graded fire trials no problems generally, it's where the adventure blood lust hits them that they get themselves into trouble.

rescuing them is a pain but generally its the safest thing to do

The problem is that these sort of people would also get stuck in a defender - it is more driver mentality and abillity rather than vehicle. It is more about knowing the limitations of your vehicles.

[adm333]

The problem is that these sort of people would also get stuck in a defender - it is more driver mentality and abillity rather than vehicle. It is more about knowing the limitations of your vehicles.


I agree with this statement. The most experienced off road driver would get further in a Subaru or CRV than the most ignorant driver would get in a Defender.

There is so much to learn about your vehicle's capability and limitations.

[Quiggers]

I agree with this statement. The most experienced off road driver would get further in a Subaru or CRV than the most ignorant driver would get in a Defender.

There is so much to learn about your vehicle's capability and limitations.

He he he:D, who was that guy who used to carve up the Kurnell sandunes in a '70s Celica? nice rear tyres, and 2wd....nothing stopped him.....

GQ