2017 Mazda CX-9 is looking pretty good

[Ketchup]

The only thing I see on the interior that I don't like is the HVAC controls in proportion to the shifter. With the shifter in park (which is where you would want to be to adjust such things), it looks like many of the buttons would be quite hard to get to, not to mention their recessed, low location to begin with. Hopefully, that section is only there for emergency-like situations, and all controls are available through the touch screen.

As far as power, the turbo 4 will not win any awards, even if they do throw dual exhaust pipes in the back. Our Mazda 6 doesn't take premium fuel to get fuel power, and you don't have to wait for the turbos to kick in to get it.

But those are my two main gripes so far, and will wait to read some actual road testing to see if they are legit.

 

[vi edit]

I'm guessing the turbos are similar to how Audi tunes theirs. They typically produce a majority of boost at very low RPM's and give a huge push from 0-30 and then start to sputter out. I'm guessing this is going to be tuned similar and work a lot like a diesel. A great initial punch off the line and then start to fizzle as you wind it up. Butt dyno will make it feel quick enough to launch out of a parking lot or a stop light.

As far as the interior. Yeah, I'm just not feeling it. Everything looks squished, yet still hard to reach. Will have to sit in it and see if it's that way in person.

 

[thesmokingman]

I'm guessing the turbos are similar to how Audi tunes theirs. They typically produce a majority of boost at very low RPM's and give a huge push from 0-30 and then start to sputter out. I'm guessing this is going to be tuned similar and work a lot like a diesel. A great initial punch off the line and then start to fizzle as you wind it up. Butt dyno will make it feel quick enough to launch out of a parking lot or a stop light.

As far as the interior. Yeah, I'm just not feeling it. Everything looks squished, yet still hard to reach. Will have to sit in it and see if it's that way in person.

Good tuning for 90% of buyers. They should move to more of a twinscroll setup though ftw.

 

[NutBucket]

That's what Ford is using on the "new" 2.0 ecoboost. Driving one you can't really tell its a forced induction engine.

 

[tsupersonic]

That's what Ford is using on the "new" 2.0 ecoboost. Driving one you can't really tell its a forced induction engine.

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

 

[Ketchup]

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

That is what I have read. Slower than the outgoing v6 and gets worse fuel economy. Now that Mazda is separated from Ford, here's hoping they can do better.

 

[thesmokingman]

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

How did they f that up? Hugs my JDM STI twinscroll. There there, they are not talking about you...

 

[Midwayman]

Not a fan of wanna be BMW/Mercedes interior....what were they thinking? BMW/MB interiors are horrid. NOT what you want to copy.

BLEH

Not enough garish logo imprinted plastic for your taste?

 

[fleshconsumed]

Not a fan of wanna be BMW/Mercedes interior....what were they thinking? BMW/MB interiors are horrid. NOT what you want to copy.

BLEH

So I get stylish German interior with bold unique exterior and Japanese reliability? That sounds almost too good to be true... Gosh, why would I ever want that?

The German/Mercedes vs American interiors is a matter of preference. Personally I can't stand most of the American and Japanese interiors. Mazda is one of the few exceptions. IMO Mazda is definitely doing it right. I wish them well.

My current car is 11 years old and it's still going, hopefully it'll last me another 4 years. So technically I'm not in the market yet, but it still very exciting to see good designs in the sea of mediocrity.

 

[tsupersonic]

How did they f that up? Hugs my JDM STI twinscroll. There there, they are not talking about you...

I was shocked because at the time I drove the ecoboost Mustang, I had a F30 335i w/ N55 (also a twinscroll single turbo). The 335i did not have any noticeable turbo lag. It made "300" ft-lb at 1300 RPM (300 in quotes because BMW underrates their engines). Anyways, I'd love to see this new Turbo mazda engine in something like a Mazda 6 or 3 (Mazdaspeed 6 or 3)

 

[Vdubchaos]

So I get stylish German interior with bold unique exterior and Japanese reliability? That sounds almost too good to be true... Gosh, why would I ever want that?

Stylish to YOU. Personally I loved German interiors of the 80s and 90s. After that, just horrific, I'm sorry, maybe it's just me.

The German/Mercedes vs American interiors is a matter of preference. Personally I can't stand most of the American and Japanese interiors. Mazda is one of the few exceptions. IMO Mazda is definitely doing it right. I wish them well.

Funny, I think American/Japanese interiors have only improved and some.

And germans degraded......again just me. I hate the new designs of the German car interiors. I call it the "melted plastic look".

My current car is 11 years old and it's still going, hopefully it'll last me another 4 years. So technically I'm not in the market yet, but it still very exciting to see good designs in the sea of mediocrity.

Both of mine are on year 15 and hoping to get 5 more

 

[Herr Kutz]

So I get stylish German interior with bold unique exterior and Japanese reliability? That sounds almost too good to be true... Gosh, why would I ever want that?

The German/Mercedes vs American interiors is a matter of preference. Personally I can't stand most of the American and Japanese interiors. Mazda is one of the few exceptions. IMO Mazda is definitely doing it right. I wish them well.

My current car is 11 years old and it's still going, hopefully it'll last me another 4 years. So technically I'm not in the market yet, but it still very exciting to see good designs in the sea of mediocrity.

I don't recall hearing Mazda having the same reputation as Toyota/Honda with regards to reliability.

 

[NutBucket]

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

*shrug* I've only experience it in an Edge. Seemed fine in that application.

 

[Demo24]

The only thing I see on the interior that I don't like is the HVAC controls in proportion to the shifter. With the shifter in park (which is where you would want to be to adjust such things), it looks like many of the buttons would be quite hard to get to, not to mention their recessed, low location to begin with. Hopefully, that section is only there for emergency-like situations, and all controls are available through the touch screen.

As far as power, the turbo 4 will not win any awards, even if they do throw dual exhaust pipes in the back. Our Mazda 6 doesn't take premium fuel to get fuel power, and you don't have to wait for the turbos to kick in to get it.

But those are my two main gripes so far, and will wait to read some actual road testing to see if they are legit.

That area looks very similar in design and size to the 3. It's fine there. The dash is generally lower than the pics make it seem. Also no, the HVAC won't be controllable through the screen. Compared to some others those screens have pretty basic functionalities. On the plus, the auto climate seems to work quite well.

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

I kinda think it's tuned that way on purpose to not be as fast as it might could be. That application has gotten numerous reviews saying the same thing, but in other applications the turbo is much less noticeable. IE, people carrying cars. Heck the ecoboost transit connect we have has pretty minimal turbo lag (I honestly never noticed when I drove it, and I've owned turbo cars with serious lag for 10years).

 

[fleshconsumed]

I don't recall hearing Mazda having the same reputation as Toyota/Honda with regards to reliability.

Maybe not, but I don't recall them being as bad as Germans either. Anecdotal evidence the Mazda owners I've known have been very satisfied with their reliability, the only consistent issue with Mazdas has been rust.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Anyone that overly worries about how a car looks needs to make sure the carpaint matches their purse.

Once you own the thing for a month, you could give a rats ass about how the interior and exterior looks. All you care about is how comfortable the seats are and how intuitive the infotainment center is.

 

[NutBucket]

Bullshit. People will put up with a lot if the looks work for them. It's all about priorities.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Anyone that overly worries about how a car looks needs to make sure the carpaint matches their purse.

Once you own the thing for a month, you could give a rats ass about how the interior and exterior looks. All you care about is how comfortable the seats are and how intuitive the infotainment center is.

I think it also depends on how long you plan on owning it. If you lease or trade it in before it hits 5 year mark, that's one thing. Most of the people I know, myself including, keep their cars for a very long time, I'm talking 10+ years. If you keep a car that long, you want to make sure you're going to like it because if you don't there will always be that itch to get a different one. I'm kind of in the same predicament, which is why I spend too much time in "Garage", I own a sedan, but in retrospect I wish I'd gone with a hatch, a wagon, or a small CUV. I have the itch to upgrade, but my wallet doesn't want to. It's a battle of needs vs wants and I hate it. When eventually I get a new car, I want to make sure I really enjoy it so that I can keep it for a long time.

 

[Kelvrick]

Having driven an ecoboost (twin scroll turbo) Mustang on a small track, it has the worst turbo lag ever. It's very noticeable

Care to expand more on your experience? We had an ecoboost mustang at Thunderhill Raceway then at Laguna Seca over here in California and we didn't notice the turbo lag much. A lot of the power was down low and torque and then seeming to sputter out past 80-90 on the straights.

Then we brought it to an autox course and it seemed to shine there, plenty of power and fun to drive.

It could be that a lot of us are used to driving turbo'ed subarus, but our group of friends had the ecoboost mustang, an rx-8, 2015 v6 camaro, 95 na miata, 94 na miata, and a 2002 wrx for same day comparisons.

Figuring out how to hold down the TC off button made it a lot better to drive. The consensus at the end of the days was that the ecoboost mustang was the most fun to drive, followed by a scramble of cars with the camaro at the bottom.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I've been reading lately about the CX-7 Turbo engine problems. I wonder if this turbo engine is going to be more reliable, because that would be a total buzzkill.

 

[NutBucket]

Sounds like a clean sheet design. I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

[A5]

I have to admit the starting price is bit higher than I expected, but it will be a pretty good deal once there is 3-4k on the hood in a year or so.

A Touring + Premium package for $35k doesn't sound too bad.

 

[thesmokingman]

I've been reading lately about the CX-7 Turbo engine problems. I wonder if this turbo engine is going to be more reliable, because that would be a total buzzkill.

It is Mazda, closer to Mitsu than the not.

 

[lsd]

I picked up a CX9 Grand Touring a few weeks ago after some prick totaled my '03 g35. I would have gotten a signature model but it only comes in awd and down here in FL we really don't need AWD at all. The GT interior is still surprisingly good, everyone who sees it is surprised it's a Mazda.
Some Likes:
1) Drives very well. I thought it being a mazda it would be overly stiff but it's not at all.
2) Even though it has only 227hp it has enough torque down low to not feel lethargic.
3) Looks great, I got the optional metallic gray paint and with the 20" wheels I think it's one of the best looking suv's on the road
4) I love the heads up display. It shows nav info, lane watch, blind spot, mph and tach. I find it very useful and use it all the time.
Some dislikes:
1)The backup camera is horrible. Sad to see a 2016 car with such low resolution video. My 2013 accord camera is far better.
2) As expected MPG isn't all that great. I'm enrolled in the snapshot program with progressive so I am driving as delicately as possible. So far averaging about 24mpg with mostly rural/suburban driving. epa estimates are 22/28.
3) I don't know if it's just my car but the brakes are atrocious. This is my first large vehicle but I feel as if the brakes are too spongy and I don't feel a linear application of brake power when I push down the pedal. I may have to take it to the service department for a check.
4) The infotainment system crashes regularly. Can't say that I'm surprised.
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