I can say the same thing about myself. My first real Mazda. I have driven (rent/loaned) a few before but never paid for one. My brother in-law has a '16 Mazda 6 GT so i have some direct observation over his car.
We have Lexus and Toyota in the family today, and an old 1994 Mazda B4000 truck, yes another Mazda, but it is 90% Ford Ranger.
Prior to current Toyota/Lexus cars, we had a plug-in Prius, Acura TSX and Acura RL sw-awd, Nissan Maxima...older Audis, Ford and a Corolla.
I enjoy cars, different cars from all sizes, brands, shapes, hp, price range, etc. I also love to work on cars ...from basic maintenance (oil, belts, brakes) to tuning, rebuilt and upgrades.
I am not downplaying the CX-9, i am just being 100% realistic about its weaknesses and strengths and also what else is out there. The list of cars i drove before i bought the CX-9 is very long. It was a 5 months process for me. I drove everything from Toyota Highlander Limited, to Lexus RX450h, to Porsche Cayenne TDI, Audi Q7 TDI, Acura MDX, Hyundai Santa Fe Limited, Buick Enclave, BMW X5 diesel, Benz ML350 bluetec, VW Atlas... and the list goes on and on. Some of the cars were brand new, some were certified pre-owned.
My last car was a fully loaded 2012 Audi S4, Stage 2 tuned. I loved that car. It had close to 100k miles when i sold it but was solid as a rock, yet it was pushing 450+hp with no effort. Why i sold it? Well... 3 kids under the age of 8 cannot fit in Audi S4. Not even in Audi A6/S6. I drive my kids to school and activities almost every other day, so the small rear seat in the S4 was becoming a real issue for the family.
The CX-9 Signature won my business at the end of the day. I test drove it 3 or 4 times. Clearly i liked the car. I needed the rear seat room and decent handling/fun to drive factor + AWD. I also wanted decent MPG, given the amount of miles i put on my cars per year. The price and full warranty were also a factor. At the end of the day, it was a good compromise and so far - i like it. I miss my old S4 but i do enjoy driving the CX-9 a lot. I am also convinced now that it is far from perfect and i find myself wishing it had a few extra things.