2016 CX9 Owners Thread

[NewMazdaFan01]

I haven't experienced any issues with it so far. However, I find the lane departure system entirely to sensitive. I am constantly getting feedback that I crossed over a lane when in fact I might just be hugging a corner. I may turn that off.

I'm not sure how the reviewers encountered the panic stop but like mthouser said, I haven't experienced it either. I did take a 150 plus mile round trip highway drive yesterday and had the "brake" message flash at me while using radar cruise control. The vehicle was already breaking itself but I ended putting my foot on the brake when traffic came to an almost complete stop. I was in the far left lane and there was a broken down vehicle on the shoulder which I think the system detected.

Speaking of the radar cruise control it is nice but a little over zealous, in my opinion, depending on the traffic. If the traffic is light to medium but flowing smoothly I can use 2 bar lengths and feel comfortable at around 60-70 mph. When the traffic has the occasional slow down of going from 70 mph to 50 or so quickly I prefer the 3 bar lengths. It's a little frightening to see brake lights from the car in front of you while your vehicle has yet to begin slowing itself down. If you look at how the CX-9 is sensing the vehicle in front of you, that vehicle has to cross a certain slow down threshold before brakes are applied even if you are seeing brake lights ahead. It's a little hard to describe but the system does work well and when the CX-9 brakes are applied the rear brake lights are being lit up. This is something you may not encounter on a test drive. As an FYI for those that may not know, the radar cruise control allows you to set the distance between you and the vehicle in front from 1 to 4 bar lengths where I think 1 bar is a little more than the length of the CX-9.


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[MS33SM]

I haven't experienced any issues with it so far. However, I find the lane departure system entirely to sensitive. I am constantly getting feedback that I crossed over a lane when in fact I might just be hugging a corner. I may turn that off.

Lane keep sensitivity can be changed in the settings menu. There are 2 settings, high & low, default is high. There are also a few othe settings.

Mazda's lane keep is far less intrusive than other systems. I owned a ford before he CX9 and it would practically rip the wheel out of your hands. I find the cx9s lane keep to be subtle and the right amount of intervention.

 

[markts]

Agree completely!! It has more cargo space than my Edge, but the only thing I agree with an earlier poster was there is a 2 inch gap from 2nd row back to cargo area which I wish wasn't there.

+2! I was loading things today and kept getting them stuck. I'll have to figure out a solution.

 

[Aviboy97]

Lane keep sensitivity can be changed in the settings menu. There are 2 settings, high & low, default is high. There are also a few othe settings.

Mazda's lane keep is far less intrusive than other systems. I owned a ford before he CX9 and it would practically rip the wheel out of your hands. I find the cx9s lane keep to be subtle and the right amount of intervention.

I actually like the lane keep assist. It was weird at first with the rumble in the steering wheel paired with a slight nudge of the wheel, but it's fine. I also find myself looking through the heads up display far too often instead of looking down the road.

Overall, I'm pleased with the car. Getting about 18mpg with mostly city driving at the moment.

I have a GT in white. Amazing looking car.

 

[Tbot101]

Just wanted to let you all know OVTune offers recalibrations of the OEM ECU in the CX9 to help boost torque output and horsepower even further.
We know the engine feels absolutely amazing stock, with peak boost pressure coming in right at 2000 RPM, However during our testing, driving and development we noticed that after about 4000-5000 RPMs the engine simply "feels tired."
Well that is only because of the stock ECU Tune. The ECU simply "dials back" boost pressure quite a bit after 5000 RPM and limits boost pressure from 4000-5000 (mazda is notorious about doing this to limit generated heat, however from the many years we have been tuning the skyactiv engines, we have seen time and time again that the stock ECU tune is too aggressive in reducing power as the amount of additional heat is negligible. For example in the MX5 we have seen consistently 30-40WHP gains with no overall increase in temperatures)
**Note** We do NOT remove or modify any stock SAFETY parameter of the car. All safe maps are still in place and work as OEM, we simply recalibrate the "working maps" (main maps the ECU uses for driving under normal conditions) to bring the engine to it's peak potential.
Our 91 octane recalibration offers:
- steady boost control. No sudden power drop after 5000 RPM. A clean boost taper from Peak boost to rev limit. Peak boost pressure of 26psi (18psi stock) 91 octane only for peak boost.
-Fueling adjustments. Stock fuel requests are extremely rich, simply by cleaning up all of Mazdas wasted fueling (to maintain cylinder temperatures..which is a feature brought by the Naturally aspirated Skyactivs, however the turbo sky doesn't have this same issue with EGTs / Cylinder temps).
- Ignition timing adjustments to clean the power surge and drop off from 2000-4000 RPM.
Camshaft adjustments. These engines utilize full time, "on the fly" camshaft timing adjustments. We recalibrate the VVT for better fuel economy out of boost, more low end torque, and cleaner acceleration.
We understand this is a SUV and not a sports car, which why our tune is dedicated to maximizing power when needed, and maximizing efficiency in low boost or out of boost scenarios where MPG is the main concern.


OVTunes 2.5L Skyactiv Turbo Recalibration on 91 octane expected gains (flywheel)
80-100 ft lbs increase of torque at 2000 RPM with more than 50 ft lbs increase overall.
50-60 Horsepower
www.ovtuned.com

Stock Boost map to show you guys a little bit. We were the first to start develop and tuning on the CX9 2.5L Turbo engine even before the vehicle was released.
There are many, many things about this ECU and engine that are unlike any other skyactiv out there. (data has been converted to PSI)

 

[MS33SM]

we do NOT remove or modify any stock SAFETY parameter of the car.

Peak boost pressure of 26psi (18psi stock) 91 octane only for peak boost.

(boom05)

That's a lot of boost and what I would call an engine safety parameter.

 

[Len2016cx9]

currently own a late model Benz and two BMWs, sold a long term 03 Odyssey EXL and bought the '16 cx9. Initially peeved at the lack of tilt seat bottom, as all others have that as well. After figuring this out I realized that I can still adjust the seat to fit my 5'9" medium frame just fine. Actually like it since sometimes with too many choices one chases something that isn't really missing. Just figured that for 42k it would do that. I have noticed a few other cost saving measures my Germans have, but then again the buy in for the new cx9 is quite reasonable given the minor absences. I do like the bundling of options, keeps costs down. Very impressed with fit,finish, and ergonomics, plus the Mazda version of BMWs iDrive appears more comprehensive and pretty easy to use vs my BMWs actual iDrive. Don't use the navigation, since my Garmin has spoiled me, but even this beats the BMW nav. A whole lot cheaper too. Handles very well, fun to drive, home run!

 

[Tbot101]

(boom05)

That's a lot of boost and what I would call an engine safety parameter.

There are several maps that will lower boost based on certain things. Raising the boost, when tuned properly, doesn't hurt the engine.
This is common practice of manufacturers to limit boost way lower than what the engine / turbocharger is capable of doing.

 

[JPL]

There are several maps that will lower boost based on certain things. Raising the boost, when tuned properly, doesn't hurt the engine.
This is common practice of manufacturers to limit boost way lower than what the engine / turbocharger is capable of doing.

Under such mods, will the engine still run 300,000 miles? That's what we expect and what automakers must account for. If Mazda wanted to tune it for 300 HP they could have for marketing purposes. Two big reasons why they didn't. Fuel efficiency and long term durability.

 

[rocko107]

While I'll agree a professionally remapped ECU will remain totally reliable, I will question 26 PSI ? I haven't researched what turbo charger Mazda is using, but my guess is its a small one and an extra 8 PSI vs. stock I would think is going to push it way out of its efficiency range, at which point its just making heat. I'd like to know the efficiency map of this turbo. I ran a fully tuned WRX for 6 years, bought it brand new and had the factory ECU professional remapped at 20K. I sold the car with 105K on it, still original turbo, motor...everything and it ran like new. The guy that bought it off me sold it two years later with about 130K and still ran without an issue. That said, it was a TD04 turbo running 14.3 PSI from the factory and only tuned to max 17 PSI. Still within the efficiency range of the turbo. I'm sure these guys look at this stuff but man 26 PSI still sounds way aggressive. Not knocking these guys because I don't know them, just a little hesitant because that is a big PSI jump on a high compression turbo motor.

 

[Tbot101]

While I'll agree a professionally remapped ECU will remain totally reliable, I will question 26 PSI ? I haven't researched what turbo charger Mazda is using, but my guess is its a small one and an extra 8 PSI vs. stock I would think is going to push it way out of its efficiency range, at which point its just making heat. I'd like to know the efficiency map of this turbo. I ran a fully tuned WRX for 6 years, bought it brand new and had the factory ECU professional remapped at 20K. I sold the car with 105K on it, still original turbo, motor...everything and it ran like new. The guy that bought it off me sold it two years later with about 130K and still ran without an issue. That said, it was a TD04 turbo running 14.3 PSI from the factory and only tuned to max 17 PSI. Still within the efficiency range of the turbo. I'm sure these guys look at this stuff but man 26 PSI still sounds way aggressive. Not knocking these guys because I don't know them, just a little hesitant because that is a big PSI jump on a high compression turbo motor.

We are targeting 26psi PEAK, not throughout the entire rev range. Sure it would be way out of efficiency if we are trying to push 26k at 5000+ rpm, but we are peaking 26psi at 2000-2500 tapering to 15psi by rev limit. There is a big difference between trying to maintain 26psi vs a peak boost w/ tapering

 

[cubanomx]

I'm nearly at 1,000 miles and I've noticed a few new things.

A really cool feature I enabled is "walk away lock". When exiting the vehicle it beeps, you walk a bit further away from the car and it beeps again and locks the car. Now I only have to touch the door handle when unlocking the car. First world problem solved!

The engine note in mid range is very Subaru boxer like. I actually quite enjoy it now.

A guilty pleasure for me with turbo cars is hearing the turbo spool and forcing the BPV to go off. This engine has a lot of turbo/BPV sound with the windows down. Windows up you don't really hear it.

As far as MPGs, I am hitting the EPA numbers no problem. If I try I can easily exceed the highway number of 27 for my signature.

As far as issues I think the AC is underpowered like others have mentioned. I'm going to take the car into the dealer and ask if the AC is properly charged with refrigerant. It just blows cool air and not cold air. I've gone on 30 minute drives with the AC at full blast on 95 degree days and the car never cooled down. Fan was maxed the whole time and got annoying, I also never felt cooled off. I was borderline sweating in my car with AC on blast!

Thanks for sharing. I will enable the walk away lock in my cx9 GT.

I really enjoy driving the new cx9. lot of power! It's very nice to hit the pedal and feel the power (the transmission don't drop a gear like the old cx9.). Maybe in sport mode the transmission will drop one.

Regarding MPG, I'm getting bad numbers, but this can be related with the fact I'm continuously testing acceleration in my first weeks. It's lot of pleasure when I feel such a power. Very different compared with my old cx9.

Regarding the AC, no issues so far, but is not hot now here.

One think I missing is the coin compartment, there is none now.

And the trunk height is very low, I hit my head every single day. I would like to see if we can adjust the trunk to a higher possition.

Space in the interior (driver seat) is smaller compared with the old one. I notice the doors now are wider, like in my old volvo. Lot of security and isolation. I don't have a problem.

 

[123373]

I drove the 2016 CX-9 yesterday as well. I don't think its as quite as everyone is claiming it is. The engine does seem pretty harsh and around town driving didn't give me the impression is has 310 lb-ft of tq. On the highway when passing, it downshifted once and went from 65-80 in no time. That was pretty nice to see.

I'm not "wowed" by it. Still upset its significantly smaller on the inside vs the 1st gen. The styling and features of the GT is what I prefer. I was underwhelmed by the appearance of the Touring. Those 18" wheels don't cut it for me.

I will probably have one at some point. The wife does not like the new Pilot or anything else in this class.

I wonder if these are filled with 87 verses 91/93 sitting on the lot. If so may have contributed to it not feeling peppy?

 

[Turborascal]

I wonder if these are filled with 87 verses 91/93 sitting on the lot. If so may have contributed to it not feeling peppy?

Very likely, though I'm running 87 in mine and it performs admirably.
Maximum torque is available with 87 as well as with 91/93.

All Mazda dealers in my area have refueling stations with 87 only.
Since 87 is allowed, most dealers won't go to the extra expense of filling with premium.
When I bought my 2016 MX-5 Miata, I had to drive to a local gas station to have them fill it with premium on their dime.

 

[Turborascal]

Felt a slight vibration through the steering wheel at highway speeds.

I had the dealership recheck tire balance yesterday and ALL were out-of-balance; one by over two ounces.

No wonder I noticed ... smooth as silk now.

In about an hour having the front fascia protected by Xpel clear bra film. (2thumbs)

 

[tbensous]

Posting some photos taken last week at the dealer. (Not my car)

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[mthouser]

Posting some photos taken last week at the dealer. (Not my car)

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Very nice. I love the red, white and grey in this vehicle

 

[Aviboy97]

Anyone notice in the owners manual in the steering wheel section, there are instructions for a heated steering wheel? I have a GT with no heated steering wheel and to my knowledge, the Signature does not come with one either.

It is available in Canada?

 

[Bubbadog]

Anyone notice in the owners manual in the steering wheel section, there are instructions for a heated steering wheel? I have a GT with no heated steering wheel and to my knowledge, the Signature does not come with one either.

It is available in Canada?

I noticed it as well. We purchased a signature model last week and ours does not have a heated steering wheel. One of the biggest misses by Mazda as I would have gladly paid a few more $ for a heated steering wheel. Still an awesome vehicle on the whole. I just assumed the manual was for the US and Canada.

 

[NewMazdaFan01]

I noticed it as well. We purchased a signature model last week and ours does not have a heated steering wheel. One of the biggest misses by Mazda as I would have gladly paid a few more $ for a heated steering wheel. Still an awesome vehicle on the whole. I just assumed the manual was for the US and Canada.

Bubbadog is correct. I checked and even saw video where the Canadian version does have a heated steering wheel. I find it a little odd that Mazda provided features to the Canadian and Australian vehicles not available in the US even though it was designed for the US with the majority of sales being here. I guess they need to be able to add a feature or two on the 2017 version ;-).


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