Darmc96

Just wanted to write to introduce. I am the new proud owner of a 2008 RDX with Tech package, that I picked up about three weeks ago.

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on the car, but new noob is a kind of redundant.

mau108

nice, RDX vs CX-7 which one you like better?

Darmc96

Thanks. I was actually being a little bit silly with the new-noob thing.

Darmc96

I would have to say over-all the RDX. I spend most of the time behind the wheel of the RDX, as the CX-7 is my wife's car and I only drive it 4-5 times a month. Being fair to our CX-7, it is a touring so it doesn't have nearly the features that my RDX has. Also, our particular CX-7 has been "injury prone". Several small nit and nat issues (Fuel cap CEL issue x3, intake runner issue x3, air conditioner issue) and one major issue (leaking transfer case casuing 2 longer trips in the shop). All this in the first 15,000 miles of use. I have a colleague who has one that has had ZERO problems with it at all. I have also owned several Mazda products as you can see from my signature and had little to no problems at all, including my last one, the Mazdaspeed 6, which I knew was an R&D car, limited production and actually EXPECTED some issues. Both the RDX and CX-7 have pluses and minuses, but overall the RDX is just a nicer and more comfortable vehicle, as you would expect for the extra expense. One of these days if I have time I could/should write a detailed comparision.

SinCity

Good question. I was cross shopping the two and you can't beat the pricing of the CX-7.

MMike1981

ahh a proud owner of both products...as was I.

the cx-7, as i can see from your post, was the most busted out vehicle i have ever owned. more problems than ive ever seen...even being a new model when i bought mine.....i got mazda to buy it back + any cost/accessories. even being offered s plan pricing and some other percs to get a new one, wasnt enough to keep me from getting the acura.

nice choice, welcome.

MMike1981

price is just about the ONLY thing the cx-7 has going for it. but even at that, a loaded gt pushes 32k (w/o nav)...although they are much more heavily discounted than the RDX...the RDX is worth every penny more than the Mazda.

mau108

mazdas have piss poor QC, I saw a brand new MAzdaspeed 6 leaving the dealer lot burning oil (blue smoke out of the exhaust!)

Darmc96

I don't agree with that. Both vehicles have strenghts and weaknesses. The CX-7 has a lot going for it. I just think the Acura is nicer overall. Then again, it ran $5k more than a discount priced CX-7 would have run me. I belive they are also going for different market segments. Acura being the entry luxury make and the Mazda just being a regular make. I like both vehicles.

Darmc96

As I said, I owned 5 Mazda products including the Mazdaspeed 6 and nad nary peep of a problem from them. QC problems can happen in any brand. Guy in my office bought a TL and it had something loose in the drive train causing it to make some cool noises when the car shifted. I certainly don't want to have this post go the direction of a bash on Mazdas post. I get enough of that in some of the other multi brand boards I belong to. Is their quality as top of the line as the top brands? Probably not, but it certainly isn't that bad from my experience. Our CX-7 should have been lemon law'ed at the beginning but I talked my wife out of it .

MMike1981

why would u talk ur wife out of getting rid of a lemon? that doesnt make sense. you had a lemon cx-7 and ur still defending its quality...

honestly, the CX-7 is a great product in theory, but its shortcomings are numerous, its one of consumer reports lowest ranked in reliability, and if you read the boards its just a mess of a vehicle. I liked it too, its why I bought one...but it was my first mazda and definately my last. It has strong breaks...thats about its only good point after having it for a year....engine is rough, whiny...theres no turbo sound whatsoever, its turbo lag is disgraceful (the ecu updates barely helped it) its 6th gear is its enemy- the tranny just jumps around on the highway.....overall, would have been a great product, just needed way more time in the oven before it went to the showroom.

i know u just said u didnt want bashing to happen.....but lets be realistic about the cx-7

cwepruk

I like the CX-7 and looked at it over and over again, but it didn't quite compare to the RDX in features/performance and it was almost the same price when loaded.

MMike1981

yea when loaded it gets into territory it really cant hang in. it may have the most uncomfortable back seat ever created as well. it would honestly be a good budget minded alternative to the RDX....but its reliability and integrity make it an unwise choice when you have the likes of the RAV V6, or even the CRV, Forester etc.

SinCity

Also, another thing that turned me off of the cheap sound insulation. There is no padding underneath the cheap-thin carpet. I had a 2005 Mazda 3 that had the same issue. But the 3 had been reliable for the 24k miles I owned it.

Darmc96

I talked her out of retruning it as a lemon becase I didn't want to go through the hassle at the time and didn't want to sacrifice the relationship I had with the dealer. My family has bought a bunch of Mazdas from them. I am not defending the reliability of the CX-7, I know where it stands. I am just saying that not ALL of their vehicles are like that. You can read that in any respected publication out there. As far as the turbo lag issue, you apparantly didn't take the time to discuss that one with your dealer. We had our PCM re-flashed with the new programming on our CX-7, and to be honest, you feel less lag than you do in the RDX, now. Not sure what re-flash your dealer did for you. The flash on ours also got rid of the jumping in and out of 6th gear issue. The tranny now holds 5th gear instead of forcing to 6th. Gotta be honest, the way our CX-7 shifts is better than in my RDX... You hear the engine more, but again, different market, different level of refinement. Frankly, the CX-7 simply has less sound dampening material. As far as "being realistic" about the CX-7, maybe I keep the faith too much becasue I still have one, or maybe I don't completely bash it becasue I have a colleague who has one, same year as my wife's, not a single problem.....or becasue I have spoken to owners on boards like this one, who again, not a single probelm. I do agreee on the "more time in the oven" statement. I actually asked my dealership when we were having the problems in the beginning related to the little "bugs", I asked them if the car was built by Microsoft...... This will likely be our last Mazda, when the lease is up. I had 100% positive experiences with 5 Mazda vehicles, but it takes just one bad one to blow up the whole deal.

Darmc96

Yah, Mazda does this on all its cars. Starting with the CX-9 they have gotten the hint. That is a GREAT vehicle. Would have considered that if gas was no object. Overall, the interior in the CX-7 is not Mazda's best effort. The 3 does a good job of being a cheaper car and the interior not feeling or looking cheap. The CX-7's looks and feels cheap all around. From the seat leather, to the head liner being that rat fur stuff, to all of the hard plastic. Never was really a fan. We considered the RAV4 V6 when we bought our CX-7, but opted out of that based on the sentiment from Toyota "we are Toyota, we don't discount our price".... As I said, 5 Mazda's owned between my wife and I (counting 2 Ford Probes), three others in my family, not a peep of an issue on any of them.

MMike1981

Darmc: before assuming what my exact experience was or what you think transpired.....my CX-7 GT was in the shop for a total of over 2 1/2 months. It had gone home with 2 master tech's for the weekend on 3 seperate occasions (better they drive that POS rather than me). It all started when they blamed my problems on "bad gas". So, i had them drain the tank and fill with their choice of 93. Have them enjoy my 7 for however long they wanted to until they decided something was wrong with it. When the car died on the road for them, as it did me (i was on the highway going 65mph, happened TWICE - died) They realized it was more than just "bad gas".

they performed the following TSB's :

01-001/07 (gas cap/engine cell) did not fix my engine light,

09-004/06 (dirt on sills) after having to clean out the inside of my doors every single car wash...they replaced a poorly designed trim/sills with a newer version,

01-053/06 LACK OF POWER / HESITATION...although this tsb was supposed to fix the awful turbo lag in the 7...its a patch, not a fix, and it did not succeed..they wanted to smooth out the tranny, what they did was lower the power band and make the MPG even worse,

01-037/06 LDP sensor erratic (this happened about 4 times and was never a resolved issue),

01-10/07 SWIRL VALVE/shutter valve....this TSB came out after my shutter valve had been repaired on 2 occasions, mazda would not replace but only "fix" this valve...my car had already been processed out by the time the recall was finally issued,

05-12/06 SURGING & VIBRATION..this was supposed to cure the gear hunting at cruising speeds and stop the shutter that went thru the car on the highway....once again, patchwork on a more serious problem.

NOW, by the time my car had underwent almost every single TSB out at the time... (i bought in sept of 2006...problems started a month into ownership) the cx-7 did not function properly. After tsb's, I had 2 fuel pumps replaced (waited a combined month 1/2 due to parts not being available) and 3 cat replacements.

Issues my truck had that weren't identified yet because it was so new: blue smoke from the exhaust (this is now attributed to bad seals on the turbo units) sulfur smell from exhaust (there was a tsb out, but since it was such an odd problem and not that big of deal compared to the rest of this shit box, i never addressed it)

Also, colder weather caused shuttering in the steering column, body vibration, and no heat for around 15-20 mins.

This looks like WOW THIS IS A LEMON and thats why....but further research and ownership survey's reveal that my CX-7 was more normal than not normal. People have been bullshit over problems with this truck, as was I. Its not just me...there are plenty of issues all over the place on the net.

CX-7, POS. Consumer reports realized this, forums have realized this, reviewers have realized this. If it had good reliability, and better engineering, it would be one hell of a truck, but, one cannot own a vehicle with problem after problem and still call it a good truck. Believe me, I loved it, it drove great, great breaks etc...but when I can only drive a car for a few days at a time before all hell breaks lose or an engine light shows up, its a pos.

Poor engineering almost caused 2 accidents, me getting stranded on a ski trip, and months of aggrevation. NO THANK YOU.

In terms of your comments regarding the 7 being smoother than the RDX, having less turbo lag and so forth, im just not even going to get into that. A test drive back to back will solve any consumer's questions about that. RDX lag is almost non existent, a 7 with any/all TSB's performed is still WAY off the mark.

MMike1981

Finding an ower of a problem-free CX-7 is like finding a diamond in the rough...they are out there, but barely.

cwepruk

I'm glad I never went with one now.

I thought they looked good, had a very nice interior, decent options and Micah Black Cherry is the hottest color around. I rented one for a week and was left unimpressed. The engine was quite rough. Lag was typical, but it wasn't peppy and i drove the FWD version which should have had a bit more get up and go. The 6 speed auto was fine, though in manual mode it was very slow to react. A good bit of wind noise as well.

I comapred them in depth many times and the base RDX was simply worth it for a 1-2k more over a loaded CX-7.

MMike1981

Black cherry mica on beige was my car

mzhao84

I remember back when I was shopping SUVs. The first dealership I went to was a Mazda and the first car I sat in was the CX-7. I must have sat there for only 20 Seconds and went straight to sitting in a CX-9 for another 30 seconds. In and out of the dealership in less than 5 minutes.. I dunno about you guys, but I get this "feel" whenever I get into a new car and I usually go with my "feel" when purchasing a car.

Second stop: Nissan/Infiniti. sat in all their SUVs. Only one that gave me a great feel was the FX35 (test drove as well)

Next: Toyota/Lexus. Same situation as Mazda but I actually gave the RX350 a try.

Final stop: Honda/Acura. sat in all their SUVs. Drove MDX and RDX. Returned next week for RDX after debating FX35 vs RDX.

Darmc96

Wow, yours was a REAL piece of crap. I acknowledge that any publication would show that the CX-7 posts poor reliability. As I said, my wife's posted poor reliability. Not as bad as yours. I would be sore too. Hell, I was sore and concerned enough to trade my Mazdaspeed 6 in after my wife's transfer case leak issue. I could just see it happening on my Mazdaspeed, right after the 50k warranty expired. That and other issues caaused me to make the swap. This was despite having had 5 great reliabile Mazda products before it. I know you can find plenty of "issues" with the CX-7 and people with tales of horrible experiences. You will also find many with no problems, as well. I know several folks personally that love theirs. We love ours, except for the trips to the shop. The transfer case leak was the straw that broke the camel's back. That is rediculous to me that at 15k miles, a $30k vehicle is leaking ANYTHING.

As far as your comment on lag, I think it is more, to me, that with the reflash on our CX-7, the tranny reacts quicker and always seems to be in the right gear. The RDX seems to not always do this. Honestly, having both in my garage and driving them side by side regularly, neither one of ours has much for lag off the line. I frankly don't like the tune of the CX-7 version of the 2.3L MZR DISI engine as compared to its set up in the Mazdaspeed 6 or Mazdaspeed 3. The CX just flat out seems to run out of steam in the upper RPM's too abrupt for my tastes. In My Mazdaspeed 6, the tune of that engine, sans that "unsolvable" hesitation issue in the heat that still has yet to be solved, was the best turbo 4 I have ever driven. The folks at Mazda honestly detuned it too much in the CX.

Any rate, I understand where you are at and if I had owned your CX, probably would call it a piece of crap no matter what anyone else said good, as well.

Darmc96

Don't totally agree with this, I know several, but understand based on your experience in particular you might have a tad bit of anxt and bias. Certainly not the most reliable vehicle overall as the publications would show.

Darmc96

When I was shopping to get rid of my Mazdaspeed 6, preliminarily I drove the CX-9 and loved it. However, I just don't need a big honking 7 passenger vehicle, so I passed, despite being offered 3500 off the sticker without even trying. I loved my wife's CX-7 but based on the problems we had had, I just couldn't consider it. Based on similarity, I drove the RDX and fell in love with it. EXACTLY what I was looking for. More practical than my Mazdaspeed 6, certainly not even close on raw performance, but still fun. Frankly I needed to get out of the Mazdaspeed becasue of its sportiness. I was like a monkey with a hand grenade with that car. It went like a bat out of hell, and was fun to drive that way. After my last speeding ticket, I realized, time to grow up. At any rate, its hard not to get a good feel in the RDX when shopping for a small SUV.

Darmc96

More like $5k here in the U.S. I agree though, from my perspective it is worth it.

mzhao84

Totally agree. The RDX (to me) has the best feel when each time I get in. From the showroom till now ( a year and 4 months) I still get the same great feel whenever I get in the car.

I did sit in the CX-9 in the showroom and I thought to myself.. Wow this car's interior is great and I get lose myself in this car!

MMike1981

Dmarc....the problem with the 7 is exactly what you said there are plenty of people with problems and plenty without....a better car would be Mostly everyone problem free and a few horror stories. the 7 tends to lend itself more to horror than good.

god only knows if my 7 had the transfer case leak (i cant believe thats even a problem) ive heard stories about the engine mounts breaking....and then, in my previous post i didnt even touch on all the interior problems like the carpet, the door trim, ac freeze over (i see u dealt with this) my car also had the alignment TSB but i count that as insignificant at the point I was at...

honestly, i loved the 7 if it werent for the problems I would have dealt with its shortcomings becuase the overall driving exerpience was fairly decent.

the engine runs out of total breath near 5k rpms, its like its just completely out of gas. the problem with the DISI's tuning in the 7 is that there is more or less NO power until the tach gets to 2100-2300 rpms...thats pretty unacceptable for an unassuming driver in city traffic. also....how about the engine starts....the 7 revs to 2800 RPM to warm up! thats insane!

in the end tho...i hope urs turns out ok wouldnt want anyone to deal with what i dealt with

Darmc96

I loved the CX-9. You should drive one just for fun. I think Mazda did a great job with it. I drove great. Didn't feel nearly as large as it is on the road, that is for sure. Quiet inside, too. By far the quietest Mazda I have ever driven in.

Darmc96

Oh, I forgot the issue my wife had with the AC. The pressure was low in hers. The AC still kind of sucks compared to my Mazdaspeed and especially my RDX. The engine runs out of steam up top, for sure. There is power down low, but the problem Mazda fixed in the reflash is that the car initially was so eager to get out of first gear and into second, it made it feel like it had no power down low. With the reflash on ours, at least, it feels much more peppy off the line. Granted, as I tell my wife all the time, my RDX would blow its doors off off the line!

The problem I have overall with Mazda these days is they release almost every car and it has bugs that haven't been worked out. You shouldn't have to worry about getting your tranny re-flashed. Tune the darn thing right to begin with. You shouldn't have to get MIL lights over and over for a gas cap and have to go back to the shop three times. Don't they test these cars before the release them? Thus my Microsoft analogy. It seems with every model Mazda releases, Consumer Reports rates them VERY badly in the first model year, and by the time it is ready to be redesigned, it is reccomended becasue all the bugs are worked out. That is unacceptable to the consumer. Mazda has some great ideas in its model line up. All of there cars drive with great personality and performance. However, no one will give a crap about that if they keep on keeping on with releasing models that have bugs. This is why my wife and I have decided to walk away from them. Our lease on the CX-7 expires in April 2010, so keeping my fingers crossed. If I have anywhere near the major issues you have had with your old CX, I will break the lease and be done with it.

MMike1981

couldnt agree more....it would have been a great vehicle...just seems like it was in no way ready for release/production. The consumer shouldnt have to suffer along with the model until they get it right...i always felt like a beta tester with the 7. as with all new designs they encounter some kinks...but ive never come across anything like what mazda did.

lexia

this thread was suprising, 2 people I know have the CX7 and the problem she had was the recall.. and random people i've seen at gas stations, parking lots.. all had good things to say, i did hear about the gas cap twice and that it was fixed with a replacement cap. I would buy one if it had a little more space and bluetooth a must for me, and a big miss for the CX7