Beast Mode: 2016 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD

I was provided a car free for 7 days to do a review, all opinions are my own.

Hey Yall!  We spent five days in Memphis for my families annual family reunion and I'm pooped!  I need a vacation from my vacation!


As you all know, I like to take the 6 1/2 hour drive to Memphis because flying there is way too expensive, even though the flight is only about an hour from Atlanta.  I was checking out the prices and flights were going to be about $400 a piece, rip off!

The car I drove to Memphis was 2016 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD Crossover vehicle.  Now, I'm not a fan of crossovers and the reason for that is it reminds me of a station wagon.  Crossovers, look wise, seems so ugly to me.  But not the 2016 Mazda CX-9, it looks just like an SUV, my favorite cars to drive.

The exterior is tough, masculine, cutting edge, I love the sharpness of the body frame.  Makes you want to be seen in this car.  The Machine Gray exterior color gives the CX-9 a fantastic look.

And the awesome looks department doesn't stop there, open the door and I was wowed by the color of the leather interior seating called Auburn.  The color gives the inside a luxurious sex appeal.

The seating with some adjusting was comfy for our long ride to M-Town.  With these burning up hot days, I didn't have to worry about the leather seats burning my skin; seats stayed cool throughout the day.

Like I always say, space is the most important when it comes to me picking a car I want to drive, and this CX-9 had plenty of leg room and storage in the back.  It even had 3rd-row seating for extra guest (7 passenger seating) and even they had enough leg room.  I piled in a bunch of my family in the car, and they loved everything about it.

The CX-9 was fully loaded with some new features Mazda introduced like the Active Driving Display.  While I was driving, I could see how fast I was driving, what was the speed limit, blind spot monitoring, and lane departure all in my front driver side window!  It shows a lot better at night.  This helped me while driving to know when to slow down because this car drives so smooth I didn't realize how fast I was going, but with the mileage and speed limit displaying right in front of me, it helped me to maintain my speed and stay in my lane.

Can you see that 0 mph by the first tree?  Sorry it came out blurry.

There are a few things that I wish the CX-9 had or needed to improve on.



I didn't like the fact that the CX-9 didn't have cooling seats, yes I did mention that the seat are not hot when you sit in them, but still it's a nice feature that people would like to have.



Another thing, the navigation system is not user-friendly.  I couldn't figure out how to use it, so I had to use my cell phone for driving directions.  I even had help from my brother to try to understand the system, and he too couldn't figure it out.  Now this is a big problem here, and this happened to me in other Mazda vehicles too.

The CX-9 is considered a luxury car, I don't like the fact that the automatic sunroof door opens manually.  Mazda should have both door and sunroof open by a push of a button.

Now here is the kicker that needs significant improvement, the gas mileage.  This car drinks gas like it's drinking a glass of water.  On the highway, it's okay, but when I was doing city driving, I went through gas quickly.  During my trip, I gassed up like four times, not good at all; that's almost getting gas every day.  My wallet is not happy.  (Fuel Economy: 23 MPG combined city/hwy  21 city and 27 highway)

For this big beast of a car with all the bells and whistles, the total MSRP is $45,215.00.  To me, for what the car has and do not have, the price is a bit too much.

Even with the stuff that needs improvement, I had a great time driving this car.  I felt safe, comfortable, and super cool driving it.  When people pulled up beside me, they were checking me out as well as the car; it's a show stopper.

 

 

Judging by my review, would this be a deal breaker buying this car?

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