Might be back in the Mazda Family (CX-9) - Would like to know suggestions on Options

[Rawyzf]

Hey Everyone,

Been a while since I posted on here, but have been around forever.

Mazda History: Protege 5, Mazdaspeed Protege, Mazdaspeed 6.

Now, the wife and I are SUV shopping and the CX-9 has made the final cut along with the Traverse, Acadia, Flex, Explorer.

We're gonna drive a CX-9 next week for the first time to see how we like the ride.

My question is, what are the options that are a must to get? I'm leaning towards a GT, but if I can get away with a T with the must have options, I might go that route.

Specials right now are 2K off dealer price, or 1.5K off and 0% @ 60/mo.

Thanks for any input!

-Ryan

 

[kelrog]

just for comparisons check out the new durango as well just for comparison's sake, my wife didn't like the way it looked though. we were very partial coming from the 08 cx-9, but we were able to get our payment down 100 bucks cheaper and into a 11, with better newer features (bt-audio, better rear camera, much better nav (screen phone dialer!), all the small things that were annoying seemed to be fixed.

we ended up with a gt fwd w/nav, moonroof, bose, power lift gate, all weather mats, trunk tray, roof rack, and tow prep (oil cooler)

the blindspot monitoring is worth just going to the GT for, and of course the Xenon HID's.

 

[Rawyzf]

just for comparisons check out the new durango as well just for comparison's sake, my wife didn't like the way it looked though. we were very partial coming from the 08 cx-9, but we were able to get our payment down 100 bucks cheaper and into a 11, with better newer features (bt-audio, better rear camera, much better nav (screen phone dialer!), all the small things that were annoying seemed to be fixed.

we ended up with a gt fwd w/nav, moonroof, bose, power lift gate, all weather mats, trunk tray, roof rack, and tow prep (oil cooler)

the blindspot monitoring is worth just going to the GT for, and of course the Xenon HID's.

I too like the look of the new Durango, but the wife doesn't really. So we eliminated that one.

Is thier a tow package, or is tow prep the only option?

 

[kelrog]

tow you can get the tow prep ($100) for the oil cooler and towing ecu mod, and then you can buy the hitch stuff as a different add on or not at all.

also if you look at the trunk mats, there is a new version that is in separate pieces and attaches to the seats vs. a solid tray that will fold up all weird if you want to use the 3rd row.

 

[table5511]

I'm partial to a sunroof, just can't live w/out one. I like the Bose, sounds pretty good, but if you're not an audiophile, then I guess its not a must. I don't have an autodim mirror and my biggest complaint about that is that my garage door opener clip is too small to clip onto the sunvisors, so without the homelink mirror, its a nuisance having the garage door opener clipped to the cup holder door in the vertical position, it just kinda gets in the way. I highly advise having all the towing equipment, a trans cooler will keep your transmission fluid cooler, thus giving your trans a longer life (potentially). Backup camera (in the mirror on the touring) is kinda useless except for parallel parking, which I do pretty much almost never. If you parallel park alot, then I highly advise on getting it. If you are at all into canoing/biking/skiing, then get the roof rails & crossbars, so you wont regret it later. Rear bumper guard is a must. The new ones they have actually fold over the lip of the bumper, and this will save your bumper big time. You don't think about how scraped up your rear bumper will be until several years down the road, the top of it is trashed from putting crap into the back and taking it out. The all weather mats from Mazda ARE A JOKE. Get an entire set from Weathertech, a USA company. Their stuff is simply amazing and holds up, unlike the Mazda all weather mats which give out like a beached whale.

Now I went with used, by a couple years, but even buying new, its really a crapshoot. You might be able to get a GT for the same price as a touring depending on where you go and who is offering what rebates. Buying used I deffinately found that I could get/negotiate a GT for the same price as a Touring.

Good luck.

 

[IslandTractor]

I was in the same situation last year at this time. I opted for the GT/nav/sunroof/power rear. The T obviously has all the same core features but I really liked the side sonar warning system, xenons, xlink and a few other things that came only on the GT. Xenons can be added to the T but the others were either not possible or impractical.

No regrets. I have just passed 19,000 miles with zero trips to the dealer except for oil changes (though I do have a date with the body shop for a fender bender after being rear ended).

I haven't driven the other cars on your list. The only SUV/CUVs that came close in my test drives were the ML350 and the MDX. As competent vehicles I would have been happy with any of the three. Neither of the others came anywhere close to the CX9 in initial cost or cost of ownership however. Count me as a very happy CX9 owner.

 

[domcx9]

Funny. I bought a 2010 Touring as a leftover in January of this year. No options, the straight touring package. I had an opportunity to drive the GT around for a week (loaner from my dealer during warranty work), and I pick up my 2011 GT tomorrow.

Things I can't believe I lived without:

- HID (I put an aftermarket HID system in my GT's lamps, but the factory system is superior)
- Rearview camera (lots of little kids around us, worth the price right there not backing over one of them) -- the little one in the Bose system / mirror is useless, the big one is the only one to get
- BSM. Not foolproof, but a great tool along with eyeball mirrors
- Power liftgate. The wife LOVED this.
- Subwoofer.
- Bluetooth streaming from my iPhone. Slacker radio / Pandora going down the road -- oh yeah baby.

The Touring trim is still good, and you can usually find a SMOKIN good deal on 'em.

Get the GT. You'll like the 2010+ GT better I think, and get the Nav package. Skip the rear seat entertainment system (I thought it was crappy), and as stated, if its an option, skip the mats entirely and go aftermarket.

 

[table5511]

I didn't really think much of bsm before purchase, but it saves you from that once in a blue moon situation where you almost change lanes into someone in your blindspot, and bsm says HEY DUMMY THERE'S SOMEONE NEXT TO YOU!

 

[Rawyzf]

Thanks for the input everyone....exactly what I was looking for.

I found a couple that we liked that are in our price range, they have everythign except navigation and the rear DVD player. I don't really want the navigation, but the dvd would be nice for the little one.

 

[domcx9]

For rear seat entertainment, I use my 2 iPads and the Coolvue mounts. I have every single kids movie on the ipads, and the ability to put tv shows, music, etc... plus, with the ability to tether to a phone (iphone or android), both ipads can have on-road internet access if appropriate.

Most of the time, it's just used for movies. No cords, since the ipad lasts 8 hours easy without a wireless connection just playing movies. Bluetooth headphones, and all that was cheaper than Mazda's big goofy ass player.

The nav screen is huge -- make sure you play with the nav screen before you decide on just the bose screen.

 

[Rawyzf]

How is this deal:

2011 CX-9 GT AWD, loaded with everthing I believe except Navigation.

MSRP $37985
Dealership Discount $2900
Incentive $1,000 or $500 & 0%/60mo

Price: $34,585 @ 0% for 60/mo.

This is prior to TT&L

 

[Antonio DiMarco]

Yeah just like the power liftgate, BSM is wonderful once you live with it (I have it on my 6 and 9). It's not a substitue for being aware of your surroundings but a great sanity check to make sure someone isn't in your blindspot. On a couple of occasions it's saved my wife and I from ramming into an idiot who decided to change lanes at the last minute.

And yes that's an excellent price for a brand new fully loaded GT, especially with the -0- APR. We got our 2010 for about $34K at -0- APR but ours was driven by the General Manager for 4500 miles. Still it was a nice deal for one with everything including Nav.

 

[jbedoya]

I have GT with Nave, Bose, powerlift-gate, camera, Sunroof, BSM, AutoDim Mirror w/homelink.

I only regret 2 things: NAV, very limmited if you compare with other cars like Toyota, and don't even talk about Aftermarket Garmin which now you can get it for less, with Voice recognition. The Nav is very restrictive, you can not operate most of the things while you are driving, except 6 pre-set destinations. The total POIs is 2M, that is less than 40% of the POIs you get from any TomTom/Garmin/Magellan. Nav still use DVDs (set of 2), but the nav unit receive only one at a time (not big deal)

The second thing I regret is not having the sonar/parking assistance in the front and in the back. All my previous cars where less pointy/rounded, and i have to be extracareful not to hit something with my front bumber when parking. So unless you (or whoelse will drive this) is not use to the small backwindow and the rounded back bumber, go at least for the rear camera.

Consider that if you get the powered-lift gate, you will not be able to get a Retractable Cargo cover as it does not fit

BSM, great thing. I was not aware of that until we drove a Mercedez R Series and my wife almost hit a car in the highway while she was doing the test drive.

weather tech is great. but on the trunc I was debating a lot. because for cargo you get either the one that fit in the back of the third row, or in the second. they do not offer something that may fit both. I you, like me, play alot with third row up and down, you may probably like to consider this 0000-8D-N03 (only for cargo, the rest... weathertech)

 

[table5511]

34.5K is not bad... I think you get alot of car for the $$ compared to say a Honda Pilot with no options for this price. jbedoya: I agree that it would be cool to have a front mounted camera as well for those sticky parking situations just for bumper clearance. I have messed around with a few cars with both electronic parking aid as well as camera backup assist (dual parking system), which has red/yellow/green lines to show you that you are getting close with corresponding audible beeps. In my opinion, this is just silly. The camera is the best tool, as long as you back slowly, you can obviously see your bumper closing in on the parked vehicle in back of you, so what is the use of the additional parking sensors. I can see just having the sensors, or just the camera, but having both is overkill and not needed. Believe you me, these parking sensors are big $$$$ .The electronic parking sensors usually have a sensor and a bracket, some have a sensor ring, a sensor, and a bracket. Alot of cars have painted sensors. The problem is that if the paint is ever damaged, and needs repaint, additional mils of thickness will reduce the effectiveness of the sensor and lets say if one sensor has 3 mils of paint, while the others may have 2, now you have an incorrect electronic aid which will mis-guide you. Replace a sensor, they are usually 150 - 250 each, they are very buggy, and if not perfectly painted and perfectly installed, they will disagree with what the camera is showing you, making for a potentially unsafe system really. So in my opinion, if a vehicle just has sensors, that is fine, I prefer a camera. But to have both installed is a mistake by any manufacturer who does it this way, in my opinion.

 

[jbedoya]

Just a parenthesis in the main topic:

I don't know too much about the technical spects for the BSM that is installed on the GT; so I wonder if eventually Mazda could use those preinstalled sonar-like sensors iclose to the corner of the rear bumber, to play the double function... BSM and Parking sensors.

 

[danz75]

Just a parenthesis in the main topic:

I don't know too much about the technical spects for the BSM that is installed on the GT; so I wonder if eventually Mazda could use those preinstalled sonar-like sensors iclose to the corner of the rear bumber, to play the double function... BSM and Parking sensors.

Maybe but i doubt it because the field of 'vision' does not cover the back of the car but rather the typical blind spot area.

 

[ceric]

No.
Parking sensors require a shorter range and are able to detect obstacles of any materials.
Therefore, ultrasound is the logical choice.
Our BSM is based on radar. The range is about 30ft. It detects metal only.
It does not bounce off plastics or woods.

Besdies, as danz75 said, the angles are set to detect adjacent lanes of vehicles, not directly behind it.
Volvo/Ford are using the BSM to assist pulling out from parking space. That is one good enhancement
to add. Our BSM only activates above 20mph. To assist in parking lots, the BSM must activates
- in R gear at 0+ mph
- longer range of detection

 

[Rawyzf]

Guys....thanks for all the info. I'll open a new thread, but we are offically going getting the CX9 on the 25th of Aug. Just waiting for the state fair discount to go into effect. We put the money down on it last night. .

 

[table5511]

Nice job!