My 2016 CX-9 Review
#1
07-30-2016, 02:38 PM
My 2016 CX-9 Review
Now that we have had the CX-9 for about a month I feel I am qualified to provide a detailed review. We have a 2016 in the Signature trim. We also have a 2015 BMW 328i X and we traded in a 2011 Honda Odyssey. Believe it or not, I was looking at the new Audi Q7 and the Volvo XC90 and chose the CX-9 over both of them (and not just because the Mazda is $20k less).
In short, we love the Mazda and I feel it is the best car we have ever owned (I have owned about 7 cars). We needed the utility of an SUV/Van that fits 7, but wanted better driving dynamics than the Odyssey. While we lost some of the utility of the van, the Mazda is almost as fun to drive as our BMW. For $45k, the overall level of refinement and luxury is amazing. The car is by far the quietest car I have ever had and almost everything has been well thought and executed. With every car I have owned I frequently thought to myself, why did they do it that way – did they ever drive the car after they designed it? With the Mazda I thought yes, that makes perfect sense (with very few exceptions).
Both the interior and exterior styling are great and the car feels so much lighter and smaller than it actually is. The 4 cylinder engine provides more than enough power and I have never felt I needed more. All seats are comfortable and the access to the third row and space in the third row is fine for our needs – occassional car pooling for short rides with pre-teen kids (we have two kids). The ride is a great combination of compliant and sporty. It is far more forgiving over broken pavement than either my BMW or the Odyssey, but it is still fairly fun to throw into a curve.
I think Mazda has a real winner here and they could compete directly with Audi and Volvo if they just added the option for a few more features: front parking sensors, heated steering wheel, birds eye overhead view, real time traffic on the nav, vented seats, Apple Car Play, and a 10 way driver’s seat. For the $20k difference in price, I was willing to go without these, but if they could make them an option for $5-$10k, that would the decision a no brainer. The Audi and Volvo have a few more available features, but they were not important to me.
Further, I just don’t like the styling of the Q7. While it is a great to drive and loaded with tech, who wants a homely car? To me it looks like a bloated station wagon. The Volvo looks nice, but does not ride well. It has that typical truck/SUV bouncy ride. The Audi and Mazda drive more like a car. Further, the Volvo appears to have big quality problems in this, its first model year. I read the owner’s forums whenever I am considering a new car and there are many, many owners complaining about problems they have with the Volvo. Both the Audi and Mazda don’t have nearly the number of complaints.
In summary, highly recommended.
In short, we love the Mazda and I feel it is the best car we have ever owned (I have owned about 7 cars). We needed the utility of an SUV/Van that fits 7, but wanted better driving dynamics than the Odyssey. While we lost some of the utility of the van, the Mazda is almost as fun to drive as our BMW. For $45k, the overall level of refinement and luxury is amazing. The car is by far the quietest car I have ever had and almost everything has been well thought and executed. With every car I have owned I frequently thought to myself, why did they do it that way – did they ever drive the car after they designed it? With the Mazda I thought yes, that makes perfect sense (with very few exceptions).
Both the interior and exterior styling are great and the car feels so much lighter and smaller than it actually is. The 4 cylinder engine provides more than enough power and I have never felt I needed more. All seats are comfortable and the access to the third row and space in the third row is fine for our needs – occassional car pooling for short rides with pre-teen kids (we have two kids). The ride is a great combination of compliant and sporty. It is far more forgiving over broken pavement than either my BMW or the Odyssey, but it is still fairly fun to throw into a curve.
I think Mazda has a real winner here and they could compete directly with Audi and Volvo if they just added the option for a few more features: front parking sensors, heated steering wheel, birds eye overhead view, real time traffic on the nav, vented seats, Apple Car Play, and a 10 way driver’s seat. For the $20k difference in price, I was willing to go without these, but if they could make them an option for $5-$10k, that would the decision a no brainer. The Audi and Volvo have a few more available features, but they were not important to me.
Further, I just don’t like the styling of the Q7. While it is a great to drive and loaded with tech, who wants a homely car? To me it looks like a bloated station wagon. The Volvo looks nice, but does not ride well. It has that typical truck/SUV bouncy ride. The Audi and Mazda drive more like a car. Further, the Volvo appears to have big quality problems in this, its first model year. I read the owner’s forums whenever I am considering a new car and there are many, many owners complaining about problems they have with the Volvo. Both the Audi and Mazda don’t have nearly the number of complaints.
In summary, highly recommended.
#2
07-30-2016, 09:54 PM
Now that we have had the CX-9 for about a month I feel I am qualified to provide a detailed review. We have a 2016 in the Signature trim. We also have a 2015 BMW 328i X and we traded in a 2011 Honda Odyssey. Believe it or not, I was looking at the new Audi Q7 and the Volvo XC90 and chose the CX-9 over both of them (and not just because the Mazda is $20k less).
In short, we love the Mazda and I feel it is the best car we have ever owned (I have owned about 7 cars). We needed the utility of an SUV/Van that fits 7, but wanted better driving dynamics than the Odyssey. While we lost some of the utility of the van, the Mazda is almost as fun to drive as our BMW. For $45k, the overall level of refinement and luxury is amazing. The car is by far the quietest car I have ever had and almost everything has been well thought and executed. With every car I have owned I frequently thought to myself, why did they do it that way – did they ever drive the car after they designed it? With the Mazda I thought yes, that makes perfect sense (with very few exceptions).
Both the interior and exterior styling are great and the car feels so much lighter and smaller than it actually is. The 4 cylinder engine provides more than enough power and I have never felt I needed more. All seats are comfortable and the access to the third row and space in the third row is fine for our needs – occassional car pooling for short rides with pre-teen kids (we have two kids). The ride is a great combination of compliant and sporty. It is far more forgiving over broken pavement than either my BMW or the Odyssey, but it is still fairly fun to throw into a curve.
I think Mazda has a real winner here and they could compete directly with Audi and Volvo if they just added the option for a few more features: front parking sensors, heated steering wheel, birds eye overhead view, real time traffic on the nav, vented seats, Apple Car Play, and a 10 way driver’s seat. For the $20k difference in price, I was willing to go without these, but if they could make them an option for $5-$10k, that would the decision a no brainer. The Audi and Volvo have a few more available features, but they were not important to me.
Further, I just don’t like the styling of the Q7. While it is a great to drive and loaded with tech, who wants a homely car? To me it looks like a bloated station wagon. The Volvo looks nice, but does not ride well. It has that typical truck/SUV bouncy ride. The Audi and Mazda drive more like a car. Further, the Volvo appears to have big quality problems in this, its first model year. I read the owner’s forums whenever I am considering a new car and there are many, many owners complaining about problems they have with the Volvo. Both the Audi and Mazda don’t have nearly the number of complaints.
In summary, highly recommended.
In short, we love the Mazda and I feel it is the best car we have ever owned (I have owned about 7 cars). We needed the utility of an SUV/Van that fits 7, but wanted better driving dynamics than the Odyssey. While we lost some of the utility of the van, the Mazda is almost as fun to drive as our BMW. For $45k, the overall level of refinement and luxury is amazing. The car is by far the quietest car I have ever had and almost everything has been well thought and executed. With every car I have owned I frequently thought to myself, why did they do it that way – did they ever drive the car after they designed it? With the Mazda I thought yes, that makes perfect sense (with very few exceptions).
Both the interior and exterior styling are great and the car feels so much lighter and smaller than it actually is. The 4 cylinder engine provides more than enough power and I have never felt I needed more. All seats are comfortable and the access to the third row and space in the third row is fine for our needs – occassional car pooling for short rides with pre-teen kids (we have two kids). The ride is a great combination of compliant and sporty. It is far more forgiving over broken pavement than either my BMW or the Odyssey, but it is still fairly fun to throw into a curve.
I think Mazda has a real winner here and they could compete directly with Audi and Volvo if they just added the option for a few more features: front parking sensors, heated steering wheel, birds eye overhead view, real time traffic on the nav, vented seats, Apple Car Play, and a 10 way driver’s seat. For the $20k difference in price, I was willing to go without these, but if they could make them an option for $5-$10k, that would the decision a no brainer. The Audi and Volvo have a few more available features, but they were not important to me.
Further, I just don’t like the styling of the Q7. While it is a great to drive and loaded with tech, who wants a homely car? To me it looks like a bloated station wagon. The Volvo looks nice, but does not ride well. It has that typical truck/SUV bouncy ride. The Audi and Mazda drive more like a car. Further, the Volvo appears to have big quality problems in this, its first model year. I read the owner’s forums whenever I am considering a new car and there are many, many owners complaining about problems they have with the Volvo. Both the Audi and Mazda don’t have nearly the number of complaints.
In summary, highly recommended.
I never ever will purchase a volvo car or SUV again. I had two major problems with my old volvo: unreliable like crazy (I need to changed my battery every 1.5 years), a couple of minor engine parts (supports) every year and the transmission goes in kaput mode after 2 years and 3 months. Unfortunately, the car had only 2 years of warranty so I need to pay for the repair.
The manager in the volvo dealer was my friend at that time so he recommend me a good transmision technician. To fix the transmission I pay 1500 USD and I get a real good work. For my surprise, when I goes to pick up the Volvo, I see the mechanic was working in 2 jaguars, 1 land rover and 8 volvos!!. This is where I see the volvo was unreliable and sell it asap in december 2010 (a volvo is really hard to sell, some people told me: why you think the slogan says "volvo for life"??... because you will have your volvo all your life and you will still try to sell it! no one wants it! I even call the volvo dealer and offer them to purchase the more expensive volvo S80 and offer my 3 year old volvo and they was very clear for me: we don't take your volvo, we don't take volvos at any price!!". I sell it at good price because I just want to have another car/SUV and thanks God we go for our new Mazda.
In january 2011 I purchased my mazda cx9 2011. A great machine, never ever a single problem. Brakes last until I sell it, I just changed the battery once (at 4 1/5 years) and made lot of trips with our family without a single issue. Maintenance prices are very cheap.
I was about to purchase the Nissan Pathfinder few months ago, but decided to wait for the new cx9. I want to test it. I test drive the new unit as soon as arrived and like it a lot. I Read a lot on the Internet about the new model, made my home work checking all other comparable models (pathfinder, pilot, highlander, explorer and even the QX60) and Mazda wins. I like the exterior, the new design, the MPG, the new turbo, the technology, the internal materials and the fun! This SUV drives like a car for sure!
I don't get the Signature because is not available here, but I was able to get the GT AWD and I'm about 1 month with this beauty now and me and all our family are really happy with this SUV.
Mazda have a winner here, no doubt.
Glad to hear you selected a Mazda instead of more expensive Audi. Great money saver. Mazda hit a home run with this!
Congratulations!
#4
12-30-2016, 06:48 AM
Just thought I would put my input on the CX9. 6 months ago after testing the other 7 passenger SUV's I decided the CX9 was the best out there. We then went to the dealer not only did they not want to make any deals but was told that I would have to wait at least 4 months to get what we wanted (GT in red) and we better hurry in our decision as there is a long waiting list. Then I find out the wife did not like the CX9 (too small in the 3rd. row) so we then went back to the Honda dealer and bought a Pilot touring her first choice. Its a real nice SUV but not my choice too big but the wife loves it (happy wife happy life). To end this story I do not like SUV's period I really had my heart set on a Mazda 6 GT oh well I still have my sport car & Harley
#6
12-30-2016, 07:26 AM
My sport car is a 2010 Corvette Grand Sport convertible and I have always had Corvettes since I have been driving I am now 68. I do not need a SUV at my age that is why I love the Mazda 6 GT sporty. My daily driver is a Toyota Camry (the wife's old car) during the winter here in Canada. It gets parked during the warmer driving season.
#7
12-31-2016, 05:07 PM
Nice, I love the C6 GS. It will be my next vette. My last one was a 2001 "GS" tribute. A rescued garage queen with 57K. A bit of a mix-up when I got it, was a coupe with Z06 wheels and GS stripes?? I decided to go the GS route along with some go-fast goodies; LT's, CAI, dyno-tune, upgraded brakes and suspension. It was a good one for sure.
Here in Arizona, it is always the "warmer driving season"
That car and my truck were 15+ years old each and I was always working on them, the vette for fun, the truck not so much. Sold them both, payed off the Mazda 6 and bought the wife the CX-9.
Here in Arizona, it is always the "warmer driving season"
That car and my truck were 15+ years old each and I was always working on them, the vette for fun, the truck not so much. Sold them both, payed off the Mazda 6 and bought the wife the CX-9.
#8
12-31-2016, 05:16 PM
They are still hard to find, I wanted the GT in red also and the wife wanted the light interior, there was only 1 in the whole state of Arizona. I was fortunate tho, got $2500 off MSRP, no BS dealer add on's. Didn't even go to the dealer, did the deal over email and they delivered the car to my house. They were ~50 miles away and we had already test drove another one while also looking at others so we knew what we wanted already.
#10
03-05-2017, 11:13 PM
Thanks Matrix. It's great to hear stories like yours. We are researching between getting a 2016 MDX and the Mazda CX nine signature. It looks like Mazda has made a great product. So much so that is competing with the likes of Volvo, Audi and Acura.