Welcome to Page No. 3, which is going to be dedicated to the performance aspect of my CX-7. It will be a work in progress until it's completed, so bear with me as I add to it until it's done! The 1st thing that you should all know is that I had the CX-7's true WHP & Torque (Wheel HorsePower and Torque) assessed recently by a trip to HK Motorsports Dyno Shop for a 3-pulls run on a DynoJet 248X Dynamometer, the newest and best, state-of-the-art 2WD chassis dyno that exists!

First up, I have some basic graphics of each run, giving WHP and Torque curves, with absolute values for peak RPM's, A/F Ratio, WHP and Torque per run. We picked run No. 1 to also graph at speed, so the CX-7's actual MPH speed in 4th gear (the nearest gear to 1 to 1 ratio in the transmission) is charted in the 4th WinPep picture graphic.

Finally, I have a link to a video of the dyno runs as they happened, although it's at another web site because the CarDomain.com web site couldn't display the movie like I wanted it, so I picked another, better site for the video to be hosted.

Two things to note: putting your vehicle on a passive chassis dyno does not harm it! A dyno run puts less stress and strain on a car's engine, transmission, and chassis components than trying to go up to 120MPH on the freeway, which is not only illegal, it's dangerous! Second, a dyno run is always 3 "pulls", so you can get an average or statistically valid sample of a vehicle's power output. We never exceeded 6100 RPM's with the runs, and the Mazda CX-7 also has a 'Speed Limiting Device' built into the PCM so it won't go faster than 117MPH to 118MPH. We don't know *why* Mazda limits the CX-7 to sub 120MPH top speed, but they do!

It's my guess, and it's only a guess at this point, but I think that a properly tuned CX-7 like mine would be able to hit a top speed of at least 145MPH, maybe 155MPH, in 5th and 6th gears, which are overdrive gears (less than 1 to 1 ratio), if it didn't have a speed limiter built into it. If you watch the video of the runs, you can see how easily and quickly my CX-7 hits the limiter, at about 6100RPM's in 4th gear, and at that point the CX-7 just won't go any faster because the PCM is controlling things, not your right foot! The motor's redline is 6700RPM's...so even in 4th gear there's room for another 10 MPH or so, without a speed limiter.

So here you go! Here's run No. 1:

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Here's run No. 2:

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Here's run No. 3:

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Here's run No. 1 with MPH speed charted:

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Here's base run RPM Parameter Values, 1-3, at 500RPM breaks:

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The video is here, so click to view the runs as they happened!

Dyno Run

I hope you enjoy the video and the statistics on the runs.

Notes: the best individual run was No. 2, @ 183WHP and 204 Foot Pounds of Torque. Run No. 1 was 182WHP and 212 Foot Pounds of Torque. The peak values were 183WHP and 212 Foot Pounds of Torque. Don't be fooled by the "Stats" in the last picture, as those are simply "snapshots" that the dyno takes at specific RPM's in 500RPM increments. Peak values are not noted here, but hopefully you could clearly see those on the other graphs!

Mazda rates the stock CX-7 configuration at 244 SAE HP and 258 Ft. Pounds of Torque, at least our USA version is rated there, at the flywheel. The Euro-version CX-7, the one with a 6-speed stick shift transmission(!) is rated slightly higher at about 260 SAE HP at the flywheel. That motor is tuned with a different PCM curve and has the Speed3/6 turbo unit, from my sources in the press that I've read, to gain the extra HP over the USA version. With that bigger turbo system the Speed3 for the USA gets 263 SAE HP and even more torque, I believe it's 270 Ft. Pounds of Torque. Finally, "The King" of the 2.3L Mazda MZR DISI Turbo Motors is the (now out of production) Speed6, which gets a whopping 280 SAE HP and as I recall 290 Ft. Pounds of Torque...all those numbers at the flywheel under ideal conditions, probably measured out of the car on an engine dynamometer with optimum variables.

There's been a big ongoing discussion about how much power my CX-7 is putting out at the flywheel...and much talk about it between myself and my Mazda Dealer's service personnel including my adviser, the shop foreman, and our very sharp service manager, plus my private mechanics Chris and Tim. And you know what? All of us can really only guess about it at this point. If I had to put numbers on it, after talking to all my sources and driving it every day I'd believe I'm getting 280+ SAE HP and 295+ Ft. Pounds of Torque out of my CX-7 with the Mods I have installed. It could be a little more, it could be a bit less, but those are the numbers I feel comfortable with.

My CX-7 is really strong, in all the gears, compared to a stock USA-version vehicle, that I AM sure of...there's no question the motor performs fantastic with my Mods installed vs. stock. However, I do not have any electronic tuning aids, no boost controller, my PCM is stock (with all the latest updates), the turbo is stock...in short, all I've really done is make my CX-7 breathe better, be more efficient than the stock motor is, ie my "plumbing" is better than a stock motor's is. The ETS 3" TMIC, CP-E CAI unit, the TurboSmart BOV, the HD boost tubes, and 3" CP-E QuickPipe™ system and CP-E SS Dual Cat-Back Exhaust System™ are huge improvements over a stock setup.

I think as time goes on and more folks get their CX-7's on the dyno their results will be similar to mine if they do the same Mods...that's the bottom line as I see it.

As a comparison, just for discussion's sake, another totally stock CX-7 was dyno'd in my Mazda CX-7 forum the same day mine got done, and it had peak values of about 148WHP and 155 Ft. Pounds of Torque...so if we use those numbers to compare, I'm getting roughly 40 more WHP and 50+ Ft. Pounds of Torque more than a stock CX-7--just as a rough comparison, remembering that those values were taken from 2 different dynos with different atmospheric conditions and temperatures on the same day. I'm just mentioning it, that's all I have to say about it.

Any way you look at it though, my CX-7 is running strong, and puts out a BIT MORE POWER than a stock CX-7 does!