2021 Mazda CX-9 review: High style with tradeoffs

Believe it or not, the 2nd-technology Mazda CX-nine is by now six years old. But it however seems thoroughly clean and fresh new, and its driving dynamics also proceed to produce. Even so, six years is a prolonged time in the automotive entire world, which is why Mazda gave the CX-nine some styling and tech updates for 2021 to help preserve it pertinent.

Nip and tuck

In the situation of my selection-topping CX-nine Signature examination car, 2021 delivers a trio of exterior changes. The grille is now concluded in Titanium Grey Metallic, there are larger exhaust outlets around back and the full package deal rides on new 20-inch Brilliant Silver wheels. None of the changes are earth-shattering — in particular the bland 10-spoke wheels — but the CX-9’s style continues to be handsome all round.

Slide into the Signature’s cabin and you’re greeted with an eye-catching, easy sprint built from some actually handsome elements. The sprint and door panel toppers are tender to the touch, the hard plastics on decreased parts are perfectly concluded and the Santos rosewood trim helps make the full interior appear top quality. In addition, the very first- and 2nd-row Nappa leather-based seats get new diamond-quilted bolsters and contrasting piping, while the genuine aluminum accent trim now sports a patterned complete.

Those people updates be a part of the other top quality fixings in the CX-nine Signature, this kind of as three-stage heated and cooled entrance seats, heated 2nd-row captain’s chairs and a tender, leather-based-wrapped, heated steering wheel. You will find also a typical sized moonroof, which will disappoint admirers of gargantuan panoramic glass tops, as Mazda isn’t going to supply a person of those people.

Area in entrance is generous with cozy and supportive entrance buckets, significant door panel compartments and a sizable heart armrest. The center row captain’s chairs are on the flat facet with more than enough area for adults, but the rearmost seats are extremely snug. Head- and legroom for anyone above 5 toes, six inches tall is generally nonexistent, but at minimum there are cup holders and a couple of USB ports back there for any little ones you deliver alongside.

In the cargo area classification, the CX-nine falls powering its level of competition. With all seats deployed, there is certainly fourteen.4 cubic toes powering the third row, which grows to seventy one.two cubic toes when the two rear rows are folded. In comparison, powering the rearmost seats, the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander supply sixteen cubic toes of storage area, while the Kia Telluride attributes a hearty 21 cubic toes. With the two back rows flipped down the Honda (eighty two.one cubic toes), Kia (87 cubic toes) and Toyota (eighty four.three cubic toes) all dwarf the Mazda.

Large display tech

The most noteworthy update to Mazda’s largest crossover is the addition of a 10.three-inch heart infotainment display. The large show comes typical on all CX-nine versions, providing crisp resolution and passable graphics, but this however isn’t really a touchscreen, so you’ll have to fidget with the heart console controller to enter destinations into the Signature’s typical navigation system.

Even without touchscreen capabilities, Mazda Hook up is a relatively intuitive interface, working a twelve-speaker Bose audio set up, satellite radio, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi hotspot. If you dread Mazda’s tech, and some on the Roadshow team do, you can choose to hand infotainment controls around to either Apple CarPlay or Android Automobile.

The CX-nine surely isn’t going to deficiency ability factors, with a wireless cost pad situated at the foundation of the heart console, USB cost ports in effortless reach of all three rows of seats and twelve-volt outlets in the entrance and trunk place.

On the driver-aid tech entrance, each CX-nine comes with adaptive cruise management, automatic unexpected emergency braking, lane-holding assist and blind-place checking with rear cross-website traffic inform. My Signature tester’s safety tech menu is beefed up more with entrance and rear parking sensors, a head-up show, website traffic indication recognition and a 360-degree camera system with respectable impression top quality. 

The course athlete 

Each and every CX-nine is inspired by a two.5-liter turbocharged I4. When working ninety three-octane gas, the large-block 4 presents up 250 horsepower and 320 pound-toes of torque, with the latter on line at two,500 rpm. Working normal 87-octane gasoline is also feasible, but output drops to 227 hp and 310 lb-ft. Possibly way, the CX-nine feels downright energetic in Sport mode when accelerating absent from stops, and continues to pull strong through the center of the rev selection, making effortless perform of passing slower website traffic and seamlessly merging on to expressways.

Functioning with the CX-9’s engine is a six-pace automatic transmission, which is archaic by present day benchmarks given the proliferation of eight-, 9- and 10-pace gearboxes. In operation, while, there is certainly not much to complain about with the six-pace, as it provides clean, perfectly-timed cog exchanges and it assists return course aggressive EPA-approximated gas overall economy figures of 20 mpg in the metropolis and 26 mpg on the freeway.

The Mazda’s drivetrain, nonetheless, is on the coarser facet of the audio spectrum and slight vibrations are detectable when you wind factors up towards the engine’s six,three hundred-rpm redline. The CX-nine gives up some in towing in contrast to its V6 rivals also, with a three,500-pound capacity. The all-wheel-travel Pilot, Telluride and Highlander can all pull 5,000 pounds.

Down the road, the CX-9’s trip is buttoned-up, with the suspension taking the edge off small to medium impacts, and the cabin stays impressively hushed from irritating road and wind noises. Toss this crossover into a corner and its system motions are constantly retained in check out, with just the slightest dive less than braking and lean at switch-in in advance of hunkering down and working by way of turns. The 20-inch Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 In addition tires supply plenty of grip. Increase in responsive and perfectly-weighted steering alongside with stout, effortless-to-modulate brakes and you have a three-row crossover that presents the sportiest reflexes in its course.

How I’d spec it

The Signature edition of the CX-nine pictured in this article is a pricey fella, stickering for $48,575 as examined. Intellect you, it is packed to the gills with typical all-wheel travel, a fancy Nappa leather-based interior and all the driver-aid technologies you could want, but I’d be keen to give up some goodies for a softer blow to the financial institution account. 

For my make, I’d start with an all-wheel-travel Touring product that begins at $39,025, together with $one,175 for desired destination. This trim comes typical with eighteen-inch wheels, a leather-based interior and heated entrance seats, and must-have attributes like blind-place checking and LED headlights arrive geared up on all CX-9s. I’d then plunk down for the $395 Snowflake White Pearl Mica paint work and $two,060 for the Touring Top quality Package deal, largely for the Bose audio system, satellite radio, entrance and rear parking sensors and wireless mobile phone charger. All in, my best Mazda rings in at a extra realistic $41,480. 

Form and general performance around purpose

The 2021 Mazda CX-nine begins at $35,335 together with desired destination with entrance-wheel travel, placing it right in the same ballpark as Honda, Kia and Toyota. Upgrading to all-wheel travel tacks on an supplemental $one,900. Although the CX-nine isn’t going to supply as much purpose as its rivals, the Mazda packs a healthy dollop of type, a certainly top quality interior and tighter handling chops than the other individuals. If those people emotional attributes are more than enough to appear previous the cramped third row and cargo area, I wouldn’t blame you. But if they are not more than enough to outweigh the deficiencies in practicality, I wouldn’t blame you for searching elsewhere, either.