2016 CX-9 Recommendation

Jk2016

Member
:
Mazda CX9
Hello everyone,

I am new to Mazda, having been with Subaru for a while. We are looking at getting a 2016 CX-9 AWD GT, to accommodate a growing family. I test drove the car the other day and really liked the way it drove, but I have two questions of those who own this vehicle.

1. What is the MPG as driven normally -- about 50-50 hwy/city?

2. I have been reading elsewhere that the nav system crashes and re-boots midway. Has anyone here experienced that?

On balance, would you recommend the car, or does anyone have buyers remorse?

Cheers,
JK
 
Hello everyone,

I am new to Mazda, having been with Subaru for a while. We are looking at getting a 2016 CX-9 AWD GT, to accommodate a growing family. I test drove the car the other day and really liked the way it drove, but I have two questions of those who own this vehicle.

1. What is the MPG as driven normally -- about 50-50 hwy/city?

2. I have been reading elsewhere that the nav system crashes and re-boots midway. Has anyone here experienced that?

On balance, would you recommend the car, or does anyone have buyers remorse?

Cheers,
JK

1. 21.7 mpg in 70/30 city/highway driving on regular unleaded at ~1800 miles and with the A/C blasting most of the time during this summer.
2. i think i've seen it happen once. my CX-5 did it every 2 weeks when i first bought it, but since last summer, it hasn't happened that i can remember....i didn't even update the firmware so i have no idea what caused it.
3. i recommend the car to anyone who likes the drive, can deal with the 6-way seat adjustment (and find a comfortable seating position), and can deal with the less-than-class-average cargo space.
 
Hello everyone,

I am new to Mazda, having been with Subaru for a while. We are looking at getting a 2016 CX-9 AWD GT, to accommodate a growing family. I test drove the car the other day and really liked the way it drove, but I have two questions of those who own this vehicle.

1. What is the MPG as driven normally -- about 50-50 hwy/city?

2. I have been reading elsewhere that the nav system crashes and re-boots midway. Has anyone here experienced that?

On balance, would you recommend the car, or does anyone have buyers remorse?

Cheers,
JK

1. I'm averaging around 20-21mpg with 50/50 city highway. My commute involves some hills so I'm not sure how much that affects it. Not much I would think since when it goes downhill it didn't condone gas

2. Yes. This has happened more than I would like in 4 weeks of having this car. Usually happens when u turn the car on and it's trying to establish a connection with my phone. The system goes blank and Ihave to stop/start my car again.

3. I recommend the car, there are a few annoyances I have like live traffic not being integrated in the nav system. Doesn't have power folding side mirror or hands free lift gate and the commission of tilting from the seat is annoying, but overall, I'm happy.

Disclaimer: my previous car was 15 years old. I had it since 2001 and it didn't even have a radio, so I'm probably more impressed by this case then most people here.
The heads up display is pretty handy though, hard to go back to driving without it.
 
Id definitely recommend it. I have the Signature trim and its amazing. I had the rebooting problem one time but somehow and thank God, it didn't happen again. Who knows what could have casued it but it has been working fine after that.

And before I bought this baby, I looked at the Infiniti QX60 3 rows and 70 and the Accura and with the Signature trim features added on each one of those brands, the MSRP is not justifiable for me( A huge 20k price difference). Plus I test drove those particular vehicles and it didn't handle as good as the 2016 CX-9.

Hope this helps.
 
Hello everyone,

I am new to Mazda, having been with Subaru for a while. We are looking at getting a 2016 CX-9 AWD GT, to accommodate a growing family. I test drove the car the other day and really liked the way it drove, but I have two questions of those who own this vehicle.

1. What is the MPG as driven normally -- about 50-50 hwy/city?

2. I have been reading elsewhere that the nav system crashes and re-boots midway. Has anyone here experienced that?

On balance, would you recommend the car, or does anyone have buyers remorse?

Cheers,
JK


1. I am getting about 24 MPG when driving city/rural roads. I took a 300 mile round trip and got about 22 MPG.

2. I haven't had any issue with rebooting. I have had some issues with Bluetooth connection with my Nexus 6P.

3. I would recommend the car with the following conditions:

I am 6' and find that my legs rest on the hard surfaces and that can get uncomfortable. Make sure to test that out while doing the test drive. The Bluetooth issues are annoying and am hoping that it's my phone and not the radio.

I LOVE the safety system on this car. I have the Grand Touring and it's loaded with all the safety tech. Love the active windshield display, it's nicer than I thought it would be. Car has a very nice luxurious feel to it for a reasonable price.
 
2. I haven't had any issue with rebooting. I have had some issues with Bluetooth connection with my Nexus 6P.
i have a Nexus 6P as well and it kept disconnecting. i then turned my WiFi off while in the car and it seems to disconnect a lot less. if u haven't tried that already, i suggest doing that.
 
Including MDX w/ SH-AWD?

It was the 2017 MDX with tech package. Not sure if it was SH-AWD though.

One thing that my kids wished that my CX9 has is the wide screen overhead player from the MDX. But then again the price tag is not worth the extra money. I can certainly add a factory matched headrest player later on for less then 2k installed.
 
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I have a GT FWD.

After 1,300 miles; approximately 20 mpg on regular gas in mixed driving with the A/C running constantly in the 100 + degree heat.

The infotainment system failed to boot properly on one occasion. A hard reset cured the issue and it's been flawless since.

I highly recommend this vehicle against the competition.
My GT has many features available only at a much higher price (if at all) in competing nameplates even though it lacks cooled seats and a couple of other niceties that I'l like to have.
In my opinion, value for the quality and utility is much better than the competition (after narrowing my choices to the CX-9 and Honda Pilot).
 
After about 600 miles in the city I'm getting like 15mpg - maybe I have a lead foot.

It's a fantastic car. It seems most of us test drove pretty much everything else and decided on the Mazda.
I love it. I don't think the cargo room is that small but I also have a roof box.
My nav has yet to reboot but that said its a pretty average infotainment system, but i more than does the job.

You should test drive it - like 5 times. That's what I did. Annoyed the piss out of the dealers but F em; that's their job.
Test drive other cars and then test drive it again.

The only car I actually like better was the XC-90 but I didn't like it 15 grand better.

Also if the GT had come with the amber colored interior I would have picked up one of those. But I always wanted a brownish interior - something besides beige or black. So it sold me. But I didn't find the actual seats in the GT any less comfortable than the signature seats.
 
1. Not really enough miles, but at 20.

2. Just happened twice to the wife. Hopefully it stops, will try the hard reboot.

No buyers remorse. Wife loves it and a happy wife makes a happy life. haha.

Of all the vehicles we looked at in our price range, this was the one that stood out the most. We normally buy American, but just couldn't do it after riding in the CX-9. There is a plus and minus for all vehicles. We came from an outback and the cx-9 puts it to shame, but it was def more expensive.
 
1. I am getting 17.4 mpg on my 2nd tank of gas with about 90% suburban driving
2. Have had no reboots

I would definitely recommend the car. Even after a month of owning it, I look forward to driving it every morning.

I was sold on the car solely based on the heads-up display. It is hard to describe how natural it is to have information available right on the windshield especially blind spot monitoring -- you know immediately when someone is in your blind-spot without having to look left or right at the mirrors. In addition, the posted speed limit as well as your car's speed are shown. Lastly, when navigating on a route, the street name of the upcoming turn is shown as well as the direction of the turn. It is wonderful. I drove my salesman crazy by insisting that I see and test every aspect of the HUD. Make sure that your salesman has the nav SD card in the vehicle when you test drive. Some salesman are reluctant to put it in -- evidently fearing that people will steal it. I would insist on it. The CX-9 is dead quite and the sound system is good. I drove the Volvo XC90 and did not care for it. I also drove the Hyundai Santa Fe, but did not care for it.
 
1. I am getting 17.4 mpg on my 2nd tank of gas with about 90% suburban driving
2. Have had no reboots

I would definitely recommend the car. Even after a month of owning it, I look forward to driving it every morning.

I was sold on the car solely based on the heads-up display. It is hard to describe how natural it is to have information available right on the windshield especially blind spot monitoring -- you know immediately when someone is in your blind-spot without having to look left or right at the mirrors. In addition, the posted speed limit as well as your car's speed are shown. Lastly, when navigating on a route, the street name of the upcoming turn is shown as well as the direction of the turn. It is wonderful. I drove my salesman crazy by insisting that I see and test every aspect of the HUD. Make sure that your salesman has the nav SD card in the vehicle when you test drive. Some salesman are reluctant to put it in -- evidently fearing that people will steal it. I would insist on it. The CX-9 is dead quite and the sound system is good. I drove the Volvo XC90 and did not care for it. I also drove the Hyundai Santa Fe, but did not care for it.

It's said to be one of, if not the best HUD's out there even against the most expensive of cars according to reviewers. I also can't think of any crossover in the class that even offers it. So while Mazda is missing a few features, it has an amazing HUD which makes a better overall driving experience.

And that's the thing, the CX-9 has a number of things, and qualities, missing on competitors but unfortunately the focus has been on what the CX-9 doesn't have. Instead of every bell and whistle, Mazda made a great automobile that triggers passion rather than being driven around in an appliance.
 
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Thank you all for these wonderful thoughts and observations. Thus far, I have driven the Pilot, the Highlander, the Volvo XC 90, and this. After getting in to the CX-9, and even before driving it, the first two appeared tired and old. The XC 90 has much to recommend it, but gosh, it drives like an old Pickup truck, and its seats, even in the Inscription version, are not even remotely as comfortable as the GT. As many of you are pointing out, it is also quite a bit more expensive, and worse, drinks higher octane gas, without showing much for it by way of mileage, despite being four cylinders. Ultimately, the two features I love about the XC 90 are its adaptive cruise control at low speeds, and its carplay integration -- albeit without the HUD if one uses Carplay for maps.

I loved the suggestion that one test drive this thing five times. I recall, back in the day when I was young, I was told that one should always go on three dates before calling anything off or getting too excited. In this case, I am rather infatuated, and your comments make more a bit more so. But the suggestion about five dates sounds wonderful -- and since are about 3 weeks left before any potential Labor Day savings, I am going to do just that.

One more question, please. Someone lamented the lack of integration of real time traffic. I thought this thing had SIRUS as well as HD radio, and I thought that the sales guy made some kind of pitch about that. Are you sure there is no real time traffic data in the nav system? Not a deal breaker, but it will be good to know.

Once again, many thanks for all your comments. If you have other thoughts, please do keep 'em comin' in.

Best, JK
 
Thank you all for these wonderful thoughts and observations. Thus far, I have driven the Pilot, the Highlander, the Volvo XC 90, and this. After getting in to the CX-9, and even before driving it, the first two appeared tired and old. The XC 90 has much to recommend it, but gosh, it drives like an old Pickup truck, and its seats, even in the Inscription version, are not even remotely as comfortable as the GT. As many of you are pointing out, it is also quite a bit more expensive, and worse, drinks higher octane gas, without showing much for it by way of mileage, despite being four cylinders. Ultimately, the two features I love about the XC 90 are its adaptive cruise control at low speeds, and its carplay integration -- albeit without the HUD if one uses Carplay for maps.

I loved the suggestion that one test drive this thing five times. I recall, back in the day when I was young, I was told that one should always go on three dates before calling anything off or getting too excited. In this case, I am rather infatuated, and your comments make more a bit more so. But the suggestion about five dates sounds wonderful -- and since are about 3 weeks left before any potential Labor Day savings, I am going to do just that.

One more question, please. Someone lamented the lack of integration of real time traffic. I thought this thing had SIRUS as well as HD radio, and I thought that the sales guy made some kind of pitch about that. Are you sure there is no real time traffic data in the nav system? Not a deal breaker, but it will be good to know.

Once again, many thanks for all your comments. If you have other thoughts, please do keep 'em comin' in.

Best, JK

That's right, No more real time traffic from the nav system.
 
I respect that my Aussie post may have no relevance to US market, however, having set up a wifi hotspot in the car (external/portable wifi device I leave permanently plugged in to the USB in the car) I get real time traffic updates along my route and weather report for my destination.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I respect that my Aussie post may have no relevance to US market, however, having set up a wifi hotspot in the car (external/portable wifi device I leave permanently plugged in to the USB in the car) I get real time traffic updates along my route and weather report for my destination.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh really your unit pulls data from the internet for the stock navigation traffic? What is the name of the traffic service that supplies the data? I'm wondering because there may be a future hacking opportunity...
 
i have a Nexus 6P as well and it kept disconnecting. i then turned my WiFi off while in the car and it seems to disconnect a lot less. if u haven't tried that already, i suggest doing that.

Hmmm.. interesting. I too have a nexus 6p. My problem is bit the reboot but that it doesn't start up properly, it stays blank.
 
"and its seats, even in the Inscription version, are not even remotely as comfortable as the GT"

hmm the inscription seats are like lounge chairs - you sure you sat in those? that's also a 70K+ car
 
Hmmm.. interesting. I too have a nexus 6p. My problem is bit the reboot but that it doesn't start up properly, it stays blank.

reboot the car infotainment or reboot the 6P? what stays blank? all i am saying is to toggle off the WiFi antenna (i routinely keep it on to grab wifi at home or work). before my 6P i had a 2014 Moto X and it never seemed to disconnect bluetooth as much as my 6P started doing. but once i started toggling off Wifi, my 6P disconnects FAR LESS OFTEN (plus the mazda connection manual mentions to do this saying Wifi may interfere with bluetooth connections...not sure it's true, but that's what it says).
 
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