Mazda CX 9 is Awesome

Hi everyone, I'm writing from Sydney Australia to say howdy and to say how pleased I am with my first Mazda. The CX 9 is an incredibly smooth car. I picked mine up on new year's eve and it's been an absolute pleasure to drive since then. I did all my homework based on all the reviews and forums coming out of the States as this car only launched in December last year in Australia. Based on all the positive feedback from you guys I knew that it would definately be a contender in the 7 seater class (we do not have as wide a choice of 7 seaters in OZ as you do in the USA) There are very limited mid priced 7 seaters with a good power and luxury package rolled into one. I thought my previous car, a Subaru Outback was a fantastic car, but the Mazda trumps it for comfort, luxuries, and space, handling and power however is just as good. There are a lot of discussions as to the ride on the 20" rims vs 18" but having driven it for over a week I can safely say that these 20s are not only quiet, but compliant and absorbing as well. They provide and even smoother ride than my outback on 17s ever did.

I would love to hear from any Australian owners and the good/bad issues you may have with your CX 9s or from any Aussies looking to buy one. As good as the info we get coming out of the States is, these are Australian compliant cars and they behave totally differently. Apart from all the praises I can heap onto this car I do have one issue which someone may have come across and that is the failure of the AUX outlet to work when hooked up to an MP3. i have read another thread addressing this issue, but that deals with a clash between the navigation system and Sirius satellite radio. in OZ, thoses 2 items are not available as yet and should therefore have no bearing on the car I am currently driving. The SATNAV will be a $3000 option so I will definately be giving it a skip. So saying, there should be nothing impeding my AUX from working.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this site and for all your input which assisted in my decision to buy the CX 9.

I'm in Sydney also. Picked up my pearl white luxury CX-9 just before christmas. I had done research here and elsewhere and had pre-orderd so I got one of the first off the boat.
Like you very happy with the car. With 3 young kids the car it's ideal.
I also have a 2001 Tribute, which we will keep as a second car. The Tribute feels very plain after driving the CX-9. I sold my old 1992 MX-6 to make way for the CX-9. I loved the MX-6...it was the last reminder of my batchelor days!! I like Mazda's all have been great cars.

What is the problem you're having with the aux port? Does it work but has static, or it doesn't work at all? If the latter, make sure you turn the volume up on the stereo after you press the MEDIA button. It seems to have its own volume setting, and the car seems to come with it turned to zero, even if you've turned up the volume while listening to the CD or radio. If it's the former, you need to get a ground-loop isolator.

Thank you for that piece of info. I'll try turning up the volume. When i hook up my MP3 to the AUX port and press media, there is no info available on the Bose screen, it is just blank. However, I'll go check out the volume situation.

Hi jlee & MikeB-CX9,

Good to see some fellow aussies in the forum! I am from Brisbane and picked up my CX9 week before Xmas.

I am absolutely loving the CX9 and think I made the correct decision in buying one. I have done about 800kms and at the moment the only things that justify any bad comment is probably my current fuel economy at 20L/100klm and any doors that have a childproof lock activated needs the unlock button to be pressed twice to unlock......even when all the other doors are already unlocked?

Everything else is pretty good at the moment but I guess only time will tell.

Cheers,
Simon

AussieCX9 said:

I have done about 800kms and at the moment the only things that justify any bad comment is probably my current fuel economy at 20L/100klm...
Cheers,
Simon

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Sure feels good to hear I am not the only one having this kind of fuel economy ... nay ... consumption !

I've done 1800 kilometers over the long holidays and still waiting for the FC to improve a little bit.
I've already replaced air with nitrogen in my tires while at the tire shop for a wheel alignment. I noticed my CX9 had a slight constant pull to the right at highway cruising speeds . Turned out, the wheels needed a slight correction.

Does your Australian CX9 doors autolock when you reach a certain speed ? Mine does not and the dealers keep telling me it's not possible.

I drove the CX9 to the Gold Coast today for a bit of a highway run and I noticed it also pulls to one side....left. I will get the service department to correct at my first service at the end on this month.

Unfortunately we also dont have autolocking doors here in Australia either, which is a bit of a shame cause my last vehicle (BMWX5) had this feature and I think most euro cars have it as standard anyway.

Not a real big issue here in Australia but it sounds like you may need to become familar with locking the doors manually if Mazda dont offer a solution.

On a positive note after my highway run today the average fuel consumption is now at 18L/100klms...

Hi guys, you're not wrong, this car drinks ULP like OPEC is giving the stuff away for free! After a week of just pottering around, my tank was empty. I had only covered around 300km of city driving and averaged 25l/100km! My friend could not believe it, that's the consumption of a Range Rover. Everything else is running quite well. I find the bass on the Bose quite muffled at times and I can never get a perfect setup on this system. I have my child locks activated, but I don't need to press unlock again after all the doors have already been unlocked. reading the forums regarding the auto locking mechanism, it seems that it can be done by the dealer who simply needs to just reprogramme the CPU, but i find that in OZ, the dealers are a bit blur with a lot of info regarding the cars they sell. Granted that it is a new model, but i knew more about the car than my dealer did. he even told me that Mazda did not make rear floor mats for the CX9! Anyway, I have resolved to just free wheel around when I can to try and maximise my gas mileage!

It will get better, these engines new drink gas like it's going out of style but it will dramatically improve after about 4000 miles, getting better with every fill up.

CX-7's=LOVE said:

It will get better, these engines new drink gas like it's going out of style but it will dramatically improve after about 4000 miles, getting better with every fill up.

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I hope so before I need to take out a second mortgage......At current fuel costs of $1.40 per litre locally or roughly $5.20 a gallon these babes suck juice like there is no tomorrow......love driving the car though!

Greetings!

Hi Guys -

Yet another Aussie joins the CX9 group!

I'm picking up my new CX9 tomorrow morning, been on order since new years eve (so not too long a wait!)

I've ordered the CX9 Luxury (seems popular here) with the pearl white paint (also seems popular).... Why so few options Mazda? Let's see some side stepping panels, dash mats and the nice roof racks they get state side!...

My other car is a CV8 Monaro - this is really the wifeys car, I just wanted something a bit better than a poxy Hyundai/Mitsu etc - so I broke out the extra green and went for the '9.

If I get 20l/100, it's bad - but still not as bad as the Monaro when the taps are open....

I've even taken the day off tomorrow to go pick it up and generally enjoy the experience... Will post some first impressions later....

Should be seeing a few more CX 9s on the roads soon. So far I have only spotted another one in liquid platinum which would have been my colour of choice except i did not like the mandatory black interior. The radiant ebony which I have is distinctive but every fingerprint shows up on the paint work. Speaking of which, the paint is simply amazing in its lustre and depth, Mazda sure did a great job on that. As far as accessories go, the front and interlocking rear mats are a must. they're not only thicker and look better than the scraggly carpet of the car, but they fit perfectly to the middle seat's sliding mechanism. The thing which really irks me and is a real waste of time is the rear cargo blind which Mazda is flogging for around $450 (luckily i got it for free) It is the crappiest retractable blind i have ever seen, The blind actually retracts into a skinny metal rectangular casing which is really flimsy. The blind itself is heavier than the retracting mechanism is strong so there is a sag when the blind is extended. Also, and this is my personal favourite, with the blind extended, there are so many large gaps to the back and sides that people can look in anyway, so there really is no purpose for it! however, it does just make the rear area look neater. They should have offered us Aussies the power tailgate instead. My dad has one on his car and its great - just press a button (strictly for the lazy people!) As the tailgate is so heavy, Mazda should have a auto release button on the key fob for it and just let the hydraulics open it up - now that would have been useful. At least with the ridiculously high fuel guzzling has taught me to drive a bit more conservatively and I must say since i filled up 3 days ago, my fuel needle hasn't moved downwards yet!

First 24 hours

Hi All -

I've had the '9 for just over 24 hours now, and I'm well impressed.

The luxury edn is just fantastic inside. The leather is wonderful, love the sunroof, and the BOSE stereo (whilst not up to my younger days, Rockford Fosgate standards) is just excellent.

Supremely comfy in the back seats.. So far I've had it loaded up with 3 adults and 2 kids and there's more than enough room to spread yourself out.

The only minor quibble I have (and it is minor), is tha the bonnet doesn't have any hydraulic supports! Pretty stingy I must say... using a manual arm to hold up the hood is real old-school.

yeah and it's absolutely lousy on petrol (14.8/100 so far), but expect that I spose for such a huge heavy beast.

Plenty of pick up when you push the foot to the floor. Lovely engine and gearbox... Looks fantastic in metallic white as well..

So far, all thumbs up here.

kryten2001 said:

Hi All -

yeah and it's absolutely lousy on petrol (14.8/100 so far), but expect that I spose for such a huge heavy beast.


.

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14.8/100 I can only wish for!!.........My CX9 straight from the dealership was 25L/100klm, down to 18L/100 with some highway driving and now back to 21L/100klm. I struggle to get 300klm out of a tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I visited my local dealership yesterday and they also admitted my CX9 is sucking juice at an uacceptable level and said they would like me to book the CX9 in this week to be accessed.(uhm)

AussieCX9 said:

14.8/100 I can only wish for!!.........My CX9 straight from the dealership was 25L/100klm, down to 18L/100 with some highway driving and now back to 21L/100klm. I struggle to get 300klm out of a tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Erg, that's shocking.... I got just under 400km before I filled it, and it still had just over 1/4...

It's still shocking though.. My 5.7ltr Monaro does better and that's even when I'm giving it the occasional bootful.

Just spent the whole entire day today giving it the "maguairs" treatment.. Wax, polish/wax, leather treatment and all the rest... Looks and smells magnificent....

And is heaps cheaper and more fun than getting sucked into those "paint protection" scams.

Accessories

I just wanna see some more aus-side accessories for the 9.. The available list is absolutely terrible..

Why don't we even get those nice roofracks they get stateside... Ours look aweful....

And how about some sidesteps, nudgebars and the like?.. C'mon mazda, we want to personalise!

jlee said:

Hi guys, you're not wrong, this car drinks ULP like OPEC is giving the stuff away for free! After a week of just pottering around, my tank was empty. I had only covered around 300km of city driving and averaged 25l/100km! My friend could not believe it, that's the consumption of a Range Rover. Everything else is running quite well. I find the bass on the Bose quite muffled at times and I can never get a perfect setup on this system. I have my child locks activated, but I don't need to press unlock again after all the doors have already been unlocked. reading the forums regarding the auto locking mechanism, it seems that it can be done by the dealer who simply needs to just reprogramme the CPU, but i find that in OZ, the dealers are a bit blur with a lot of info regarding the cars they sell. Granted that it is a new model, but i knew more about the car than my dealer did. he even told me that Mazda did not make rear floor mats for the CX9! Anyway, I have resolved to just free wheel around when I can to try and maximise my gas mileage!

Click to expand...

Yeah, my last tank let me go only 371kms! (cheers) Pretty bad, thou mostly city driving! Still , your car is more spacious and sits more people and it is faster than a range rover!!! (cabpatch)

jlee said:

Should be seeing a few more CX 9s on the roads soon. As the tailgate is so heavy, Mazda should have a auto release button on the key fob for it and just let the hydraulics open it up - now that would have been useful. At least with the ridiculously high fuel guzzling has taught me to drive a bit more conservatively and I must say since i filled up 3 days ago, my fuel needle hasn't moved downwards yet!

Click to expand...

Yeah buddy, now I have seen more cx-9s on the road, nonetheless, fortunately for me havent seen many, but now there are more.
On the contrary, I feel the tailgate to be on the light side, pretty good for me, better than my previous car.
Nice u to know u are getting better fuel economy haha!

kryten2001 said:

..

Why don't we even get those nice roofracks they get stateside... Ours look aweful....

!

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I am ordering a set of roof racks from the states because as mentioned ours are just crap and I reckon they would create alot of wind noise.....just waiting on the shipping costs.

I also spent 4 hrs doing the whole Maguires thing on Saturday.....Maguires leather conditioner, Maguires Gold clear coat polish etc....when I get a chance I will send some photos.(drinks)

Hi AussieCX9, let me know how you go with that assessment. My CX9 is guzzling gas at the same rate as yours. I'll most probably bring it up at my 1000km inspection if it does not improve. Thanks!