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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Here began the weirdest drive I’ve ever taken in a test vehicle. It commenced on a chilly fall morning at the Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center, a collection of grand 19th-century mansions on 26 acres overlooking the Hudson River.

It is one of those places where the rich once lived in glorious isolation from their lesser fellows, but that, through the workings of the mortality table and accompanying economic changes, has been converted to an elegant campus for current and future captains of industry.

I am neither. My lot is that of a struggling middle-class scribe invited to this place to witness the unveiling of the 2008 Mazda CX-9 3.7 crossover-utility vehicle, a family conveyance more appropriate for people of my delicate economic stature than it is for homeowners in this part of New York’s Westchester County, an exclusive enclave 25 miles distant from midtown Manhattan.

But therein lies the trick of the CX-9 3.7. With its sleek exterior and a tasteful interior that would please most affluent parents of non-financial-aid daughters attending one of the elite Seven Sisters colleges, including those at Vassar in nearby Poughkeepsie, the CX-9 actually looks like it belongs here.

Yet, in its most luxurious form, such as the all-wheel-drive Grand Touring model I drove from this place with every intention of going no farther than New York City, it has a base price under $35,000, well below that of the Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche utility vehicles that are common fare here.

That price discrepancy proved comforting.

As I said, I had no intention of driving the CX-9 3.7 farther than the safety of my preferred East Side garage in Manhattan. But I am a kidney-transplant patient who left home without immune-suppressant drugs, an oversight that forced me to drive back to my home in Northern Virginia.

There is a certain nervousness that accompanies a long drive under duress in a very expensive vehicle. Thus, it was pleasing to know that the CX-9 3.7 at my command only looked expensive. Its real monetary value relieved mental stress. I felt more at liberty to run fast and engage in the mayhem of traffic moving over the George Washington Bridge, exiting Manhattan and entering New Jersey.

Four hours later, I pulled into my driveway in Arlington, having moved along the New Jersey and Delaware turnpikes, and Interstate 95 South at median highway speeds thanks to the CX-9 3.7’s 273-hp, 3.7-liter V-6 engine, which pulled nicely.

I took my medication and slept a bit. But more business in New York required my immediate return. I would’ve driven back in the CX-9 3.7. But there was a splendiferous 2008 Cadillac CTS4 sedan sitting in the driveway, and, well, that was that.

No matter.

My wife, Mary Anne, and my associate Ria Manglapus saw an opportunity, abandoned the rides they were in at the time, and drove the CX-9 3.7 700 miles in Virginia and environs.

That surprised me. Mary Anne and Ria are at that stage in life where they have assigned minivans and similar family transports to the far corners of their memories. It matters not that Ria, for example, still has children to taxi. But both women now seem wedded to the concept of “sporty,” which means minivans, station wagons and other “mom-mobiles” are out, and zoom-zoom is in.

They said the CX-9 3.7 had enough zoom-zoom to please them. But they complained that the vehicle’s turning radius was too wide. And they both suggested that Mazda put the outside ambient temperature gauge in a more ergonomically sensible dashboard location.

They really liked the CX-9 3.7, but not enough, said Mary Anne, to drive it alone “all the way back to New York.” Ria offered to drive it “halfway” to New York — a ploy to get me to give her the Cadillac CTS4 in exchange for the seven-passenger CX-9 3.7. I declined. The CX-9 3.7 is nobody’s mom-mobile. But it is a family hauler. The only thing the Cadillac CTS4 wants to haul is assuredly something inappropriate to mention in a family newspaper. I found that addictive and wonderfully riotous, especially in this staid, wealthy bastion of propriety.