Mazda's new SUV, the CX-7, has style enough to get noticed. The modern lines and neat use of chrome gives the car a fast and fresh look. Can it compete in a packed market that's just reeling from the effects of VRT changes? Michael Moroney drove the new Mazda CX-7 to find out.

The new Mazda CX-7 is a crossover SUV, achieving great performance from a petrol engine that is a shade thirsty. This is an impressive SUV to drive, huge on comfort and the list price of ?49,995 before delivery charges, is competitive.

Mazda has introduced an SUV with a difference. The new CX-7 combines real style with car like-driving ability to fulfil the term of crossover vehicle very well. The CX-7 is a new departure for Mazda; it brings the brand right up with the competition in terms of range of cars now on offer.

The first impression is good, a stylish looking vehicle that has modern design lines to make it very appealing. The styling also doubles to give lower drag, which is designed to give smooth driving and help with fuel economy. And you'll see later why as much of that as possible is needed with the CX-7.

The CX-7 is not a seven-seater as the name somewhat implies, but a five seat Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) that has good space and has the emphasis on sport. It's big relative to a saloon car but modest in size relative to many 4x4s, which are currently on the market here.

That's why it fits the bill as a crossover vehicle; it's not as big and bulky looking as most 4x4s while it has the height to give good road visibility in the same way as many off-road vehicles.

Mazda sold this SUV first in the US, where its reasonable size (relative to the American counterparts) meant that it was considered efficient ? by US standards. It comes with a 2.3 litre petrol engine, which in Ireland can be an immediate turnoff, with our petrol prices.

Mazda uses a petrol turbocharged engine in the CX-7. This engine is different to many other petrol turbo engines, according to Mazda, as this high-tech DISI turbo injects fuel directly into the combustion chamber. This system is claimed to form a highly homogeneous air/fuel mix very close to the spark plug before it is combusted.

This system is claimed to improve load efficiency at an early stage in acceleration, resulting in a quicker supercharge making torque available at lower engine speeds from the 260bhp engine. This lower temperature is also claimed to prevent engine mis-fire and allows the use of a relatively high compression ratio of 9.5:1.

And Mazda claims that a higher compression ratio helps keep fuel consumption at acceptable levels. The Mazda CX-7 uses 10.2 litres of fuel per 100 km/h (27mpg) in the combined driving cycle. The positive effect of this is that the CX-7 does deliver high torque at low engine speeds, normally a feature of diesel engines and comes with a lively acceleration.

These features convert to an almost instant pedal response with a 0-100 km/hr acceleration time of 8.0 seconds, one of the segment's best. The CX-7 is rated at a top speed of 210 km/hr, so it's far from shy in terms of performance, even if you have to pay dearly for it at the pumps.

There are not many petrol-powered vehicles in the class. Lexus offers the RX350, while Nissan has a similar Murano model. Other possible competitors in this league, such as the Audi A6 Allroad and the Volvo XC90, come with more attractive and economical diesel engine options but they are more expensive.