HELP!! Can't decide between 2017 or 2018 CX-9 GT - Reasons Inside - Buying Tomorrow!

Hey folks!

Long time reader, first time poster Been lurking on here for a while, ever since i saw the first CX-9 commercial with the re-design, i was hooked ever since!

Just sold my 2014 Toyota Sienna last week in order to buy this car!

So, here we go...

When i put my Sienna for last 3 weeks ago, it was so i can sell it really fast and take advantage of the really low interest rates on the 2017's and deep discounts, these 2 combined finally put the GT in my price range. I had absolutely no interest in taking the tech package as i none of the feature included with it interested me. I lived fine without them in all my previous cars, didn't need them now.

When i started reading as much as i could on the 2018's to see if there were any MAJOR improvements, the only one that really caught my eye was the rear heated seats. As I always have my 2 kids with me in the second row, i thought it would have been a nice treat for them to benefit from this as well, especially up here in Canada! Seeing how there is no more tech package option, it wouldn't have the option to take the lower costing GT for 2018 so i will have to get everything that comes with it as well.

So, i started looking into the pricing if i were to opt for the 2018 model 0n our 48 month lease and it is almost exactly $100 more per month on a 48 month lease so I would be paying $4800 at the end of my term only for heated seats. My wife sorted freaked at the idea of this and is totally not ok with it and i can sorta understand why.

So, as i continued to surf the net, i googled "CX-9 2018 changes" and found 3 very interesting articles about them, but this one really stood out to me as most of these changes are not in dealer listed changes that I have read:

Mazda Quickly Responds to One Key Fault With a 2018 CX-9 Update:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/09/least-partially-one-mazda-cx-9s-key-faults-fixed-2018/

It is this section that really caught my attention:

"No wait, there’s more. Mazda also made the second row slide farther forward so real humans can actually get into the third row. That gap measured 2.36 inches in the 2017 CX-9; it measures 7.87 inches in the 2018 Mazda CX-9. This is a difference maker.

But wait, there’s more. Previously, when the second-row seat was moved forward, the rake of the seat was just 50 degrees — it wasn’t leaning that far forward. Now the second row leans forward to a 33-degree angle.

Finally, aiding comfort in the second row is a seatback angle that’s now more like the CX-5: 22 degrees rather than the MY2017 CX-9’s upright 6 degrees.


In addition to this, from another article, it is also supposed to have more soundproofing adding to make it even more quite.

Now that I've seen this about the second row seatback angle and that it now reclines further back, this is somewhat important to me. When i took the 2017 GT for a test drive last week, I actually noticed how upright the second row seats were and made a comment about it. We tend to take very long distance road trips and my kids often wind up sleeping in the car over night and i was wondering how the would do that the seats so strait. I am thinking that the improved angle allowing it be more back would ultimately be more comfortable for my kids.

Has anyone actually been able to compare the seat back angle on both the 2017 and 2018 and do you think there will be a big difference between 6 and 22 degrees? My dealer doesn't have a 2018 in stock yet so i can go do a comparison between them.

With the better seat back angle and heated second row, does it justify an extra $100 per month? Thoughts, feedback??

Thanks so much for all the quick replies!

If there is a 100$ per month difference in lease of 2017 vs 2018, just go with 2017 GT. But, please double check with another dealer to make sure 2018 lease quote you got is correct.
If you are going to lease, 2017 or 2018 does not really matter. If you are going to buy, it is more long term and I would recommend a 2018.
Even though there are quite a few changes, most of them are only nice to haves.

2018 notable GT changes.

• Driver seat tilt feature.
• G Vectoring
• Passenger power seat with height and lumbar support.
• Stop and go radar cruise control with front sensors (You can always hit resume if you go with 2017)
• Traffic sign recognizing in the HUD.
• Easier 3rd row entry (Another user had said, it is not bad in 2017)
• Rear heated seats
• 5% more noise reduction in the rear of the vehicle (this I think you can't even feel the difference).

One final note. Just ignore truth about cars. They just report in a scary way to catch readers attention.

I have to believe you can get them a lot closer than $100/mo.

Thanks so much for the feedback so far. I pushed and pushed the dealer for better pricing on the 2018 and he said there is no room left. I spoke with another dealer who quoted me even higher. I am getting a really good rebate on the 2017, i think that's the reason for the larger gap and there are not many incentives on the 2018 right now.

Dreamss said:

Thanks so much for the feedback so far. I pushed and pushed the dealer for better pricing on the 2018 and he said there is no room left. I spoke with another dealer who quoted me even higher. I am getting a really good rebate on the 2017, i think that's the reason for the larger gap and there are not many incentives on the 2018 right now.

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If you can hold off for several months then go with a 2018 as these will have deals by then and likely lower rates but if you must buy now then the 2017 is the way to go...sometimes the added features won't matter to some folks and buying at the right time makes a huge diff so the now is the time to buy the 2017 as you've said more deals on it and none on the 2018s

Dreamss said:

With the better seat back angle and heated second row, does it justify an extra $100 per month? Thoughts, feedback??

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First, based on my experience (and I can only speak for myself) being a new CX-9 owner after having done extensive research over a very long period of time using high priced luxury and performance SUVs as comparisons, as well as lower priced offerings in the seven passenger category, I am fully confident in saying that no matter which CX-9 you end up buying this weekend - you will ultimately be more than happy with your purchase. There is a very good reason for this.

The CX-9 was released by Mazda at the optimal time for seven passenger SUVs under $50k. Its new design language (which includes all things iSkyActive) push the CX-9 into a level of presentation, comfort, technology and performance unmatched by anything else at the same price level. Mazda did not merely execute better than the competition, it innovated better than the competition. Is it perfect? Probably the only "near perfect" SUV in existence right now is the Bentley Bentayga, which shatters old notions of what "Luxury SUV" actually means by completely re-writing the book.

In similar fashion, Mazda has probably "re-written" the book on under $50k seven passenger cross-over SUVs. All others at or below that price level will definitely need to up their game from 2018 and beyond in order to keep up. So, make no mistake about it - if you are buying a new CX-9, you can be sure that you are buying the best that under $50k can afford you. At every turn in my post-research experience with this vehicle, I keep coming across old data points that get confirmed time after time by what I experience driving and owning the CX-9. So, know that you are making the right decision with the CX-9.

Now, do the added features and functions in the 2018 justify an extra $100 per month in recurring cost? You ask a great question. The answer is simple: How do you define Value?

People define "Value" in different ways. A dollar to one individual could be as "valuable" as ten dollars to another individual. It really depends on where you are right now in your personal economic journey. Others place more emphasis on "quality of life" (which could include how you feel about the vehicle you drive) and not so much the dollars spent obtaining it. The "Value" question can only be assessed by you - no one else can answer that question for you. If you are in a place right now where money is not so much of an issue relative to the cost of the vehicle, then you might value quality of life in the ownership experience. If you are in a place where the economics limit or restrict to enough of a degree, then the time value of money may be more important to you right now. Only you can decide that.

Beyond that, $100 per month is $3.33 per day and $1,200 annually. In order for any expenditure to have meaning in terms of "Value," it must be juxtaposed against Risk. In this case, Risk is defined in two (2) different areas. You said that this is a Lease, not an outright Purchase. That changes the playing field quite a bit and it implies a residual inherent value in the vehicle when you return it at the end of the contract. It also implies that you will not hold the vehicle long enough to extract your full investment back out over time. This is extremely important to understand and place into proper context.

Because of your decision to Lease, that $100 per month can be used to Buy Down future Lease Option costs associated with your decision to buy outright at the end of the contract (if you decide to ultimately keep it). This creates two (2) paths for risk analysis: A) The risk of giving up some quality of life now (those new features and functions in the 2018 that you like) for an easier acquisition of the vehicle later, and B) The risk of acquiring QOL now (quality of life) at the cost of regular recurring payments that cannot later be recovered if the vehicle is returned per the contract. You need to be able to clearly see these two (2) competing eventualities as Risk factors.

In order to Buy Down future acquisition costs (should you decide to option purchase the vehicle at the end of term), you would need to 'put to work' that same $100/mo such that its yield over the time period of the full Lease term is greater than or equal to the calculated option costs necessary to retain the vehicle as its title owner. That means you would need to grow capital using $100/mo as a regular (fixed) input over the period of the Lease, to keep pace with normal inflation plus full buyout costs (whatever they may be). This would only apply, if you decided to keep the vehicle. Else, there is no risk mitigation path to put $100/mo to work for any future residual acquisition cost(s) involved.

However, if you truly wish to surrender the vehicle at end of term, your focus and value determination might indeed be different and QOL might become the sole focus. In that case, the juxtaposition is QOL derived from the vehicle's new features and functions -vs- some other (assumed beneficial) use for the same $100/mo. In other words, can you derive some other benefit that you value more than cost of attaining QOL using that same $100/mo, $3.33/day or $1,200/yr. If you can come up with something that rivals QOL derived from the vehicle's new features/functions, then you might have to weight that decision appropriately. But, if you don't have a rival to deriving QOL from those features/functions, then the answer is quite obvious because you have put the $100 in play as being available for increasing QOL in some dimension of your life. If the $100 was not available (remember you made it relevant here), this question would not exist and the point would be entirely moot.

It is all about how you perceive "Value," first. Then the question becomes, what are the QOL options available to you and what are the real cost(s) involved in acquiring each one over time. If ultimate cost exceeds ultimate benefit (as you define benefit - remember, no one can do this for you) then you might consider mitigating risk by putting capital 'to work' until benefit exceeds cost. Later, reevaluate your QOL options, keeping them in-line line with costs. Doing this I remain constantly in the black and able to stack QOL options over time.

Good decisions to you. You are going to love the CX-9 either way!

As with any car model you usually won't get heavy discounts on a fresh released model year when inventories are low compared to waiting for an additional 4-6 months when the inventories start piling up. I got an exceptional deal on a 2017 in July 2016 though rare.

Dreamss said:

I am getting a really good rebate on the 2017.

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how much discount does your dealer offer?(apart from Mazda incentives)

thx,
thd

I just went through this and went with a 17. The price difference on a signature was almost 5k. Driver seat adjustment was nice, but both my wife and I were comfortable I the driver side. We'll get a lumbar pillow for the passenger on a long trip if needed.

I grew up doing road trips in a sedan and I slept fine.[emoji3] I can also sleep on airplane seats. I feel that it's safer in the case of a crash to be more upright as well. Those are all personal decisions.

Dreamss said:

Hey folks!

Long time reader, first time poster Been lurking on here for a while, ever since i saw the first CX-9 commercial with the re-design, i was hooked ever since!

Just sold my 2014 Toyota Sienna last week in order to buy this car!

Click to expand...

Today was the big day! You've stoked the fires here and inquiring minds want to know what you decided to do? Drum roll please.................................... (couch)

I'm laying 7:1 that he went 2017. Any takers before he reports back?

Cessna's post nailed it re: value.

SmCaudata said:

I just went through this and went with a 17. The price difference on a signature was almost 5k. Driver seat adjustment was nice, but both my wife and I were comfortable I the driver side. We'll get a lumbar pillow for the passenger on a long trip if needed.

I grew up doing road trips in a sedan and I slept fine.[emoji3] I can also sleep on airplane seats. I feel that it's safer in the case of a crash to be more upright as well. Those are all personal decisions.

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Congrats!

Hey everyone!!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you!

After long deliberations with my wife, weighing out the pros and cons of taking each of year, we settled on the...the...drumroll please....
.
.
.
2017 GT Machine Grey (no tech pack)!! Cessna CJ4 good guess man!

My dealer is trying to have it ready for delivery tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed waiting for the call, would love to have it for the weekend!

I'd say 80% of the decision came down to price, $100 a month is a steep increase if one of the only things that truly mattered to me was the 2nd row heated seats which we calculated would probably be used 5 months out of the year max. She said I'd be pretty upset paying the extra money from April to November while that feature is not being used at all.
Secondly, one of my main concerns was also the angle of how much the 2nd row went back, 6 degrees vs 22 in 2018. This could have possibly swung me from the 2017 to the 2018 as i wanted my kids to be as comfortable as they possibly could at all times. My dealer wound up having a 2018 model out back (the one just below the GT) that he just got in. As i would expect that all models across the line would have the same angle for the seats regardless of which model we pick, we tested the second row in the 2018 pretty intense. Moved it front, back, played with the angles, to the point that we ever were unofficially measuring the angle based on key points in the car and where the seat landed when angled all the way back.
We then went into the dealership and did the same exercise with the 2017 GT he had and we could honestly find no difference at all? The marking on the seats in both cars pretty much ended at the same exact point we used as a reference in both cars. Even just simply sitting in them both we really couldn't sense a difference between them.
The article i had used as a reference to this change made reference to the CX 5 seating angle so we then went into a brand new CX 5 and we angled it all the way back. We found that the seat back angle was pretty much the same for both. I would think that 5 degrees to 22 degrees would be somewhat noticeable and obvious but to each of our eyes, we saw no difference.
Based on this, it was no longer a selling point for me to pay more for the 2018 model and my wife had some solid points on the heated seats and amount of times we will use them.
Not sure if this change is only on USA cars or North America wide, but what i also found funny is how the spec sheet for changes on the 2018 GT also included a heated steering wheel. Funny thing, we've had the heated steering come standard all all our GT's in 2017.

Lastly, i come from a family of Toyota's, i absolutely love them, our family loves them and all of ours have been incredibly solid and reliable.
Seeing how this is the first Mazda in both our families, it was hard to get a real feel for the brand without simply relying on reviews or forums.
With that being said, we thought that we would go with the less expensive model (2017) as an introduction to the brand and CX 9 and should we fall in love with it, we will return our lease early and go with the newer GT which by then will come with a ton of new features including my heated seats which will simply carry forward from this year. Since i leased the car with a late October delivery and these deep discounts actually started on October 1st, i expect that this should remain Mazda's release month for new CX 9 models and when it's time to return mine or bring it in early for a trade in on a newer model (which i would do around my anniversary date), I should be able to strike a solid deal on the close out GT model of that year with an ultra low interest as i did now.
I spoke to the sales manager and he said I can try to return it after my 1st year is over so If I fall in love with it, I'll try to see if i can do a trade up and exchange it for a brand new lease. My goal is to get out of it within 3 years max.

As for pricing, i did my best to haggle, it's not my strong point so i don't know how amazing my lease price is compared to others but 2 dealers gave me roughly the same price as an absolute low, both within $10 of each other.

With zero down, I took a 48 month lease at 0.5% interest for a total of $535 (CANADIAN) per month BEFORE TAX. All in I'm paying just over $600 per month.
The 2018 GT was gonna cost me around $720 tax in (don't remember my price pre-tax), he offered me $4500 off MRSP if i took the 2018, I almost felt he had more wiggle room in the 2018 as he had some on the way to his dealership shortly. He was sold out of all his 2017's and he had to buy it from another dealer, this may have contributed to how low he could go.
I found out where he was ordering from had 7 2017 CX 9 Machine Grey GT's in stock, this dealer was around 30 minutes from me. I'm wondering if i had gone there instead if they would be more desperate to move old inventory and would have offered me a better price.

Just want to mention that the 2018 GT had an interest rate of 2.9% and if i owned a Mazda, I would have been eligible for a reduction of 1% making it 1.9% instead. We did the math on the 1.9% rate and the price went down around $35. I begged, and pleaded to find a way to get this rate on the 2018 even though i didn't own a Mazda, tried to see if there were any loopholes but apparently the company is super tight on how they manage this. I was told they require proof of car insurance and car insurance all sent to Mazda financing and they all have to match the buyers name. I even contemplated buying a scrapped Mazda for a week to qualify for the lower interest lol.
If i had a way to get the 1.9%, i was ready to sign on the 2018 as the price difference wasn't big enough to make me second guess my choice at that point.

Well, now that I own a Mazda, i will qualify for a lower rate in the future, and if not, I'll just trade it in when they start liquidating models and offer the same 0.5% rate i have no. In the end, I'm happy with my choice and I feel the reasons for not taking the 2018 are merited.

Thanks for all the feedback, tips and advice! I really appreciate it!

Now, I need winter tires...you'll see me posting very soon in the tire section...i have 5 weeks to find a set of tires and rims...suggestions?!!? (Just missed the clearance sale at TireRack on 19" DM-V1's...at $139 i was a no brainer but i called today and they are completely sold out and not getting more...bummer) Prices are crazy in Canada and was gonna order them from the USA and pick them up as i live near the border. I've done the same thing for all my cars so far lol.

Dreamss said:

With zero down, I took a 48 month lease at 0.5% interest for a total of $535 (CANADIAN) per month BEFORE TAX. All in I'm paying just over $600 per month.
The 2018 GT was gonna cost me around $720 tax in (don't remember my price pre-tax), he offered me $4500 off MRSP if i took the 2018.

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Congrats on the new car! So it looks the dealer gave you 2,000CAD discount(decent) along with the 1,000 upgrade bonus from Mazda and the lease bonus of 1,650. That equals the 48x535/mo. before tax with 0 down.
Not sure if the 4,500 discount for the 2018 GT included the 1,000 upgrade bonus from Mazda.

I'm a bit surprised that with 2 kids you focused more on backseat angles and less on safety, skipping on crucial features like SBS/DRSS/FOW/LDWS found in the Technology package or in the 2018 model.

enjoy your new ride!

thd

Thank you for this thread! It was really helpful! You had me wondering which one to buy at first but it seems that the difference doesn't worth the premium!

I've sent you a pm.

Dreamss said:

Hey everyone!!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you!

After long deliberations with my wife, weighing out the pros and cons of taking each of year, we settled on the...the...drumroll please....
.
.
.
2017 GT Machine Grey (no tech pack)!! Cessna CJ4 good guess man!

Click to expand...

Nice landing. Smooth roll-out. Congratulations and welcome to the CX-9 nut case family. We are nutty about ours and you and your Wife will probably end up being nutty about yours, too. (rockon)


And, yes. Something tells me that if that other dealer just 30 minutes away had that many 2017's still sitting on their lot, they would most definitely would not mind parting with one of them at your price/terms/conditions.

Still, at the numbers you specified, I think you got a good deal. Nothing I would complain about - especially when you want to give it up in 3 years. I've (and this is just personal opinion) never been a fan of leasing a vehicle unless I could put it under the name and TIN of my business. That way, the business gets tax advantages that as an individual would never obtain. Don't know anything about tax laws up in Canada, however.

Now, go out and drive it like you stole it!

LOL! I'm just kidding -- drive safely -- especially with the kids on-board. However, when you are all by yourself and that lonely twisting road comes long, it will beg you to have some fun.

We also skipped the technology package, to each is own but we didn't find that it's crucial features.

If the lane departure warning warn me of changing line inadvertently, maybe I should just pay more attention to what I'm doing! Ie driving! Pay attention at all time! This kind of tech is maybe great, but the majority will pay less attention because of it. I feel like people will more readily take their eyes off the road for some seconds since the safety features will bip..

I agree about some of the tech features, not all. I have a Signature, which has the lot. Lane departure warning may be helpful if you are given to straying from your lane, but it only works when there are clear lane lines, and it seems to me that if you do that kind of thing you probably shouldn't be driving anyway. Blind spot warning is OK, but it really only corrects for when you have your mirrors set incorrectly. With proper mirror settings in any modern car, you don't get a blind spot and so you don't need to be 'notified' of a vehicle in it. Variable speed cruise control is probably useful if you live in LA or equivalent, but I fail to see its use in normal traffic on normal roads. Ditto the little thing that nags you for following too close and the feature that slams on the brakes at low speed if it detects a hazard -- several road tests have complained about how this activated unnecessarily. Park assist is handy (I call it Beeping Bumpers) although it is becoming pretty standard on most SUVs these days. But the one feature that I think is excellent is the side warning when you are backing out of a parking space in a crowded parking lot. It wouldn't be necessary if the morons among us slowed down just a tad and stopped using parking lots for slalom practice. But they don't so it is.

Certainly not important to some but '18 may have the improved off-road traction algorithm that '17 CX-5 has