First Drive Review
Mazda's full-size crossover CX-9 debuted at the New York auto show back in April 2006. After being quite taken by the Mazda CX-7 mid-size crossover's tall sporty-car behavior, we have been wondering if Mazda would stick to the same ingredients while doubling the recipe for a bigger family. This would be a first—nobody has ever made a truly sporty minivan (excluding the $90,000 Mercedes-Benz R63)—and a full-size crossover is essentially a minivan for people who really don't want to be seen in a minivan.
Unmistakable family looks, surprising interior comfort.
From the outside, the similarities to the little brother CX-7 and the rest of the Mazda lineup are immediately apparent. Mazda's racy corporate face, with its trapezoidal grill and angular headlamps, manages the translation from small car to full-size SUV without losing its charm or originality. The steeply raked windshield, bulging fenders, and swoopy beltline are double-take close to the CX-7, but toned down from garish and aggressive to simply stylish. Base models get 18-inch wheels, while uplevel Grand Touring models roll on 20s. The proportions try to trick your brain into thinking the CX-9 is smaller than it is, and almost succeed. But with an overall length just a smidge shy of 200 inches, there is no hiding the CX-9's size.
From inside, your perception of size depends on your location. Sitting in the driver's seat, the CX-9 feels relatively cozy, but not small. The large center console and attractive instrument panel create a driver-centric cockpit, but on a winding, snowy road, we were always aware of the right wheels' proximity to the slippery shoulder. The CX-9's external size means a spacious interior for the front five passengers, while third row detainees will beg those in the second to please slide their seats forward. This is done easily enough; the second-row seats have over five inches of travel. The seat rails have detents for three positions within those five inches. The rearmost allows even our 99th percentile testers to fit comfortably in the second row, but leaves no room for anyone much over five feet tall in the third seat. The forward setting simply reverses those roles, while the middle setting is a compromise that will leave passengers in both rows happy, as long as they're all moderately-sized folks and the trip isn't too long.
