2017 Mazda CX-9 consumer reviews

I test drove all the Consumer Reports recommended SUV and the Sienna that got an average of over 20 mpg and chose the CX 9 for it's style, room and performance. I am happy with the purchase so far. It is comfortable, has a lot of features and nice fit and finish. Enjoyed driving it including a 7 hour day of driving over the 1st weekend.

I recently got to borrow a 2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature Edition SUV for a week. It's not the kind of car that I typically write a review about but it surprised me, impressed me, and left an impression. At first blush, I found it to a very attractive SUV. While still somewhat boxy like other SUV's, it had smooth, graceful lines that looked...elegant...sporty. Much nicer and more artistic than anything else in it's class. The interior (unique to the Signature Edition, I learned) was a beautiful auburn red leather with black carpeting and tasteful chrome accents. The seats were really comfortable and even at 6'2" and 250 lbs I had plenty of room in just about any seat except the third row of seats (did I mention it seated seven?) which I suspect are just for kids. It had a ton of electronic safety measures like lane assist, that vibrates the steering wheel when you cross the lines on the road and gently nudges the wheel back into your lane; blind spot monitoring, to let you know when someone was hanging out in your blind spot; and one that alerted you when you were backing out of a parking spot and someone was coming from the side. These are all good things to have in a car, in my opinion. Especially if you have kids in the car with you. But the absolute best thing about the CX-9 is the way it drives! So if you're driver like me that loves sports cars, the CX-9 is worth checking out. Now, I drove this car for three days, thinking "Yeah, it's a gorgeous car. I can see why it gets such good reviews but it doesn't seem to drive special." Well, then I found myself on a fun road...you know the type - hills, curves, dips - a real roller coaster of a road. The Signature Edition has a switch on the console labeled "Sport." I turned on sport mode and proceeded to push it a little bit...and it came alive. It just stuck to the road, gracefully swooping through curves, the small but potent engine always on cam providing just the right amount of power right when you needed it. When you went in too hot, the brakes could rescue you from just about anything, and if fact saved my neck during my commute one morning. It may not be a sports car, but Mazda has imbued it with enough sports car character that it's actually a fun SUV to drive when you push it. Fantastic! If you're not a sporting driver, you'll still get a small sense of it's handling competency; that sense that everything is working just right to make it feel like that. But really push it and it comes alive, revealing handling abilities you never expected. I'm pretty impressed. And while I don't necessarily need an SUV in my life, if I ever did I'd be looking at a Signature Edition CX-9.