A not-so-positive review of the 2019 CX-9 Signature

I do not understand where all this *seats are slow to warm up* criticism is coming from. It*s as if it has become urban myth. I find that the seats and steering wheel heat up just fine. In fact, I can*t leave the seat on the high setting past the first few minutes before I switch it down to medium. My wife on the other hand, likes all three lights lit in the very cold weather.

BTW, mine has hot heat, cold AC, and hot heated seats very quickly. Everything functions great.

Not an urban myth - it's a real issue that I and others have experienced. My wife and I often alternate cars and when I take the CX-9 to drop my son at daycare in the morning, the car is not even close to being fully warmed up by the time I get home...nor are the seats fully warmed up (set on 3). It's not a long trip as the daycare is our neighborhood, so it's only a few minutes to drive there, 5-10 minutes for dropoff/chat, and a few minutes back home.

However, when I drive our 2016 VW Tiguan, by the time I come out of the daycare the engine is fully warmed up and heat/air coming out of vents is hot...and when I get in the car I have to turn the seat heater down. In another thread there is discussion about how Mazda has designed the cooling system to not circulate coolant through the heater core unless the car is being driven, meaning that the cabin heat will not function 100% when the car is idling.

The lack of cabin heat is a real issue when temps are in single digits (Fahrenheit) but seems to not be as bad when temps are above 20* F. Perhaps the issues with seat heaters are a sign of poor quality control instead of poor design that affects every car? If not every owner is having the same problem, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just that it only affects some cars and not others (though only Mazda knows why).
 
I'm 6' & top out around 375#, so yes i'm an actual fat guy giving his honest opinion on the driver seat. My only complaint about the driver seat is i wish the bottom was just a tad longer for thigh support, other than that I find the seat extreme comfortable. Before i bought mine last year, i test drove the Atlas, Pathfinder, Santa Fe, Highlander, Explorer, Traverse & Sorento before buying the CX-9. (i sat in the Ascent @ the car show & found it uncomfortable). The CX-9 I felt was hands down the most overall comfortable seat. As for the arm rest creak, of course it will creak if you push down on the center of it because the way it opens up (and it's the weakest point for a design like that). I've used the edge closest to me if i have to adjust myself for some reason & have never heard any noises. Professional car reviewers are going to nit pick about little things. Some are legit, some are more of their opinion (as in this case).

The most comfortable seat for thigh support I've ever had in a car was in a 96 Ford Explorer sport i owned. it had a telescopic thigh support (it would extend & retract like a normal car seat head rest). it was like sitting in a recliner chair
 
I'm finding this whole thread interesting, as my last five cars before the CX9 were BMW 540i (x3), BMW X5 4.4 (with aftermarket supercharger), and Mercedes ML550, all purchased new. (There were a couple of PT Cruisers in there, too, one to tow behind a motorhome and the other as a dog car to avoid ripping apart the interior of expensive German vehicles.) My wife traded her BMW M3 in on her current BMW 650i Cabriolet. So I have a fairly good idea what to expect of 'luxury' cars, up to but not including things in the Bentley class. When I bought my Mazda, I was comparing it to those cars, not to whatever the fair competition might be.

IMO, the CX9 in Signature trim compares extremely well. It lacks some of the little niceties that I was used to -- a hood that stays open without having to prop it up, better interior lighting particularly in places like the footwells, more adjustability of the seats, 'curb view' mode in the right mirror when you select reverse, mirrors and steering wheel integrated with seat memory, seat cooling, and a few other items like these. But the interior is just as classy if not somewhat more so, the seat leather is just as soft and well finished, the sound system and nav are just as good, the vehicle appears to be just as solid and rattle-free, winter driving is just as good, and I don't appear to have had any of the problems with slow-heating seats, slow-heating HVAC, and mediocre AC that others have experienced. Being newer than all my other vehicles, it obviously has far more electronic gizmos and driver 'aids', but after the initial flush of playing with them ("Hey look, it can tell the speed limit!") I have turned most of them off as I just find them to be clever but silly distractions.

I am far from being a Mazda fanboy, and I am way outside their CX9 demographic, but as probably the oldest member of this board I have likely, over the past 50 years, owned rather more vehicles than most here and I can say with some assurance that if my CX9 is typical then Mazda is well positioned to continue on the sales roll that they appear to have started. I bought the CX9 because I am aware that as I age my reactions become slower and I am less safe with great gobs of German V8 than I used to be, so I wanted something that offered reasonably spirited driving -- yes, some of us old farts have a background in serious rally driving lo those many years ago and still like to actually drive! -- combined with fuel usage that is more in line with my 'living off my savings' situation, and that has the practicality demanded by the third member of our family, Sophie the Great Dane.

The only interactions I have had with my dealer were buying the car (just like buying any other car) and having the oil changed (just over an hour, waiting in a clean, pleasant sitting area with coffee and wifi), so while I'm not in a position to rave about them I certainly have no complaints.

I believe Mazda could quite easily move into the Lexus/Acura class with just another $1,000-worth of niceties, and position them selves as a very valid alternative to BMW in the entry-luxury/fun to drive department. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for their call for my advice...
 
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Name recognition is a very tough nut to crack. For Mazda and other manufacturers, it can be like buying multiple lots in a middle-class, $250,000 house neighborhood, and then building $300,00 houses that are much nicer than anything else in that neighborhood.
Many viewers would be amazed that the home builder did such a great job with houses that are not much more expensive than the others. In fact, they could compare the houses with those in higher-end neighborhoods with average house values of $600,000 or more.
Most likely, there would be few cross-shoppers because the middle-class neighborhood name recognition would not be nearly as impressive as it is when living in the upper class neighborhood. The new 2019 Mazda 3 has been compared to BMW 3-series, Tesla Model 3 and the Audi A3, yet even if you blindfolded those owners and got them to admit that the Mazda 3 is just as good, if not better, they would most likely never buy a Mazda.
Roadrutz, I admire your buying a Mazda after having those name-recognition cars but let's face it, you are among a small minority.
Now I do know that in general, Toyota/Lexus, and Mazda vehicles are more reliable than any of the German manufacturer's vehicles, at least according to Consumer Reports and their latest reliability ranking among most manufacturers selling vehicles in the US.
 
... I am way outside their CX9 demographic, but as probably the oldest member of this board... I can say with some assurance that if my CX9 is typical then Mazda is well positioned... I wanted something that offered reasonably spirited driving -- yes, some of us old farts...

You may not be as alone here as you think. Sprintrps from Florida said he is also 70; I*m 59, and we both are satisfied owners of new 9s. You are however, likely to be rejected for Mazda Insiders. For some reason we were both quickly determined to be *ineligible* ;-)
 
I am trying to be honest about the shortcomings, most of which are not issues of preference but are legitimate design, quality, or workmanship issues. It seems to me that the CX-9 really isn*t best at anything, but tries to be too many things to too many people.

Of course its got shortcomings and strong points just like any car. Seems like its strong points don't do much for you. If that is the case, there are probably better options.
 
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