Mazda CX-9

Seating for six in maximum luxury – that's Mazda's play with the CX-9 Azami LE, offering family functionality with a high-end twist.

Mazda's well-known, and well loved CX-9 faces a formidable foe in the form of Hyundai's eight-seat Palisade.

Sport-styled SP or luxurious LE? The 2021 Mazda CX-9 adds some new variants to help it fend off some of the newest large-SUV rivals.

Buyers of large family SUVs are spoilt for choice these days, and most options are loaded with gizmos. The Acadia and CX-9 are two options, but which one stacks up best?

The Mazda CX-9 will be sold alongside the new CX-90 in Australia.

Mazda says it has added technology to certain models due to have their safety ratings expire in the coming years, and they will remain on sale in Australia.

The Mazda CX-9 won’t live beyond the end of 2023 in the US and Canada – though when time will be called in Australia is yet to be determined.

Family favourite gains a trio of new model grades, plus a new infotainment system, new colour options and tweaked equipment lists.

Are you shopping by size, or by price? Let us guide you toward the best Mazda SUV to suit your life - from the new MX-30 Hybrid, stylish CX-30, top-selling CX-5, practical CX-8 and luxurious flagship CX-9.Sponsored by Mazda

Hans' parents need a new family hauler but aren't sure where to start.

Michelle is after a family hauler with more space and seats than her Toyota RAV4.

2 years ago I wrote an owner review of my 2015 Mercedes C250d here , ending by saying “Maybe when it's time for an SUV (I think we all need to admit it's inevitable...), I'd be very happy for the updated C-Class sedan to replace my Lexus". Well fast-forward a year and here I am writing about my first SUV, a Mazda CX-9 Azami AWD which ended up replacing my trusty Lexus IS250, whilst we kept the Merc. Some context: A house move last year that meant the kids could no longer walk or ride to their friends’ houses has necessitated transporting more than 5 people on an occasional basis. Plus a planned road trip to Tasmania with extended family seemed like a perfect trigger to upgrade. And I think what better way to review a large SUV than in the context of a 6 person, 3 state 4,000 kilometre road trip! There have been lots of professional car reviews on the CX-9, and not surprisingly, what they say is what I’ve experienced in the first 6 months of ownership. On the positive side: The car is indeed very refined, in fact surprisingly so given it’s been a Mazda bug-bear over the last decade, and I’ve come from a Lexus. You can still tell it’s a 4 cylinder turbo lugging around 2 tonnes, but it goes well enough in the city and the freeway. Inside, it is really spacious and I reckon the dash and materials are better than the Merc C-Class. On the negative side, the rear-view camera is poor, the new digital display doesn’t really offer any better functionality, and for what is a family car, the oddment space in the front and centre console is too small – the lowly placed air vents and climate controls are definitely a case of form over function. Now to the roadtrip and some finer aspects of living with the car: We seated 3 adults and 3 kids under 14 in a 2-2-2 arrangement given we used a roof pod. That would have allowed easy access to the centre armrest USB ports and air vents were it not for us cramming as much luggage as possible – B-pillar mounted air vents and 3rd row vents should be in standard fitments in a 7-seat SUV; Fitting the roof rack is pretty easy, but I’ve seen cleaner solutions for other cars that don’t require drilling thru the plastic sill cover and replace it with ill-fitting nodules when not in use. Getting in an out is easy of the 3rd row is easy, and the space in the back row is more than enough for 140cm kids when the middle row is all the way forward. And even then, adults are still comfortable enough in the 2nd row because of the high set seats which afford a great view ahead. The only improvement would be a full-length sunroof which would increase the airiness in all rows. The keyless locking/unlocking is basic – no ability to lock/unlock from the rear doors, and you need to press the button on the front door handles to unlock. There is also no lock button on the auto-bootlid, so you can’t just hit the boot close button and go. On the plus side, the auto-locking feature when you leave the vehicle is great, though like many of the Mazda’s clever features & settings, they could still be clever-er. Like having a setting “don’t lock the car if GPS recognises you’re at home”. Also, the over-speed warnings (which you can preset to 0, +5 and +10) are either a visual display in the Head Up Display (HUD) speed limit, or an audible warning. The visual warning is too small, but the audible warning volume can’t be adjusted, so your passengers know every time you go thru a school zone outside school hours (yet the school zone alert itself is smart enough to only play during school hours?!). The HUD is excellent, which makes the dash’s basic digital display functions even more disappointing and redundant. Out on the road, the Active Cruise Control has been disappointing compared to the excellent Merc system – the CX-9 will increase speeds up to 5km/h downhills before braking, then drop up to 8km/h below the speed before accelerating again. I thought Mazda would have done better. From a positive aspect, it can be set with a single push, and there is the option to revert to a non-Active setting if you’re on a sparse freeway for an extended period and don’t want to inadvertently slow down when approaching a car ahead. Not that the Cruise Control got much use on Tasmania’s roads! Outside of the main Devonport-Launceston-Hobart highway, the roads are scenic, windy and well-sealed. Lots of fun, even in a 2 tonne SUV with 6 people aboard! Just watch out for the wildlife, especially after sunset. The Mazda’s LED headlights were well up to the task, and the auto-high beam works well, so fortunately we didn’t contribute to the massacre of possums, wombats and wallabies we saw every day, everywhere. In summary, I highly recommend the CX-9 and a roadtrip around Tasmania, and in light of the current environment, I’m sure there will be many more family roadtrips within Australia in the years to come.

I’m a film maker, a consultant to our local state member for Bathurst and I own a wedding venue. Therefore I look for 3 main features in a car that are either important to me or important to operating one of my businesses, At below $70K, I was initially blown away by the value offered by this car and for the first 6 months I was hugely impressed. First off is the space. My sixth and seventh seats are barely used, so I’ve got 810L of room for; camera equipment when filming, beer cases and floral arrangements for the venue. Compared to my prado, its nothing, but its as much as i need for the uses I put it to. When she's cleaned up, I can also drive around my minister to media jobs, if my car is more accessible than his ministerial one at the time. Seats 3-5 also rarely see use usually though. The soft leather is perfect for throwing a camera, or drone, down for a short haul to the next filming location. Having them there is like a bonus though, 7 seats is handy for bridal parties! It's a versatile, modular design. Secondly the drive,
The CX9 is good fun with its 170KW producing 2.5L Turbo petrol engine. Its claimed 8.4L/100 is much closer to 9.5 - 10L/100KM, so its not particularly efficient. I don’t mind too much because the performance is pretty good, its delivers power nicely and revs smoothly through the range, and gears for that matter. I wish I had opted for the AWD model though, the front wheels can grab a bit when accelerating around corners, and throw the steering out a little. But, with only 30 kilos of camera gear and nobody else in the car usually, it gets me to shoot locations and back home, as quickly as I need. The car is very comfortable, the leather seats look and feel great and have very effective seat warmers for our chilly Bathrust mornings., The cabin is very quiet, it has fairly effective climate control and great bose speakers. The tech and safety in this car can be hit and miss though, it has excellent blind spot monitoring but parking sensors that seem to work whenever they like. Great traction control and a good reversing camera, unless the rubbish MZD infotainment system has one of its restarts mid-reverse, or just simply doesn’t boot up after igntion. 
This problem still wasn’t addressed when I got it upgraded to apply car play. I paid $500 for the ability to have google maps come up on the dash, as the Mazda navigation is awful. The data doesn't even transfer to the active driving display, a feature I loved using with the old maps system, even if it took me the wrong way. Finally, looks. Its a fairly subjective issue, but I believe this car is quite presentable. Mines been through the wars, as I take it absolutely everywhere, but when I first purchased this car it really made a statement on the street. 
Bold but sleek, black and chrome finished with big 20 wheels, the car had delusions of grandeur; as if it was fresh off the boat from Europe. Unfortunately, they are truly delusions. This CX9 has been plagued with problems since the early 20,000km mark. It started with a passenger seat base that was sure a person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, all the time. Constant connectivity issues with the MZD and any device I plugged into it - now substituted with random restarts of the Apple Play system. A roof rack cover plastic strip thing that keeps detaching and flying about. And an I-eloop malfunction error. The i-eloop system allows the i-stop to shutdown the car when I’m stopped in traffic, to conserve fuel. Granted, it might not sound like the biggest issue, but when the error has been on your dash mini-display for over 35,000KM, and the local mazda dealer claims it can’t be fixed, you have to ask questions. Not to mention the error overrides all your pivotal car information, and serves as a constant reminder of this cars short-comings. Amidst these problems I’ve been constantly thrown the same line by my european-suv-driving mates; “what did you expect”. If you’d asked my back in late 2016, I would have said 9/10. I loved this car. The car seems to age badly, and is peppered with tiny technical issues that a make this flagship refresh a bit of a fail in the long-term. I’m due for an upgrade shortly, and I’ll be looking to either Toyota, LandRover or Audi to meet my needs.

Does this review sound familiar? About a year ago I published an owner review of this exact car - our 2016 Mazda CX-9 Azami. After living with the car for another year and having a few issues, I thought I would drag the pen and paper out again and rewrite the review. Well, not rewrite it. Long-term owner review, perhaps? Premium for the people is a term that goes hand in hand with brands such as Volkswagen. If you hadn’t already realised by now, this saying basically means you are getting a perceived premium vehicle for the price of a mainstream vehicle. Semi-premium is the official term. Over the years, Mazda has pushed towards semi-premium and the new CX-9 is the perfect example of this. Climbing inside, you are treated to soft-touch materials and a quality feel, while outside a modern design tops everything off. There are even hints of BMW’s famous Hofmeister kink, which isn’t a bad thing. Almost two years on from the car arriving on Australian shores, and into our personal garage, the car still puts a smile on my face. However, there have been times recently where that smile has been turned upside down. Let’s start with the elephant in the room: MZD Connect. From all accounts, MZD Connect is an awesome system. It is easy to use, thanks to the rotary dial, which makes navigating the system a breeze. Everything you could want - Apps, Music, Communication and Navigation - is featured in MZD Connect, however Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are glaring omissions. Mazda now includes these systems in the updated Mazda6 and upcoming 2019 CX-9. It will apparently become an option on all systems, but I won’t believe it until we are using it in our car as Mazda has pulled an Elon Musk when it comes to promises regarding smartphone integration. In saying this, it wouldn’t be a Mazda review without mentioning the glitches of the system. Think frozen and broken navigation, random reboots, lag and blank screens. Countless updates later, and even a replacement at one point, MZD Connect now seems to be working, though I’ve probably jinxed it. What I would like Mazda to do for MZD Connect 2.0 is have a somewhat faultless system as well as internet connectivity, incorporating over-the-air updates and the ability to send the car information like BMW ConnectedDrive or OnStar, just to name a few things. Just like anyone else, over summer we were very reliant on the air conditioner to cool us down. Unfortunately, the air-con didn’t have the power to keep the car cool on any day above 35 degrees, which meant you only got some relief from the heat. The air was as soft as a tissue and couldn’t distribute throughout the interior. Thankfully, in February, Mazda agreed to recalibrate the computer and modify the air vents. The air is now blowing like a heavy gale of wind and we cannot fault Mazda’s excellent customer service, even if they were a few weeks late. Other than those two issues, we’ve also had the passenger seat sensor replaced as it beeped when no one was sitting in the seat and the drivers door seal came loose, as mentioned in the initial review. Under the bonnet of the CX-9 is a 2.5-litre turbo-petrol engine producing 170kW and 420Nm. While not a performance car in any way, the engine is punchy with plenty of torque. It can handle anything you throw at it without fuss. Fuel economy averages 10L; not bad, considering this monster weighs 2 tonnes and is 5m long. On the road, the CX-9 feels relaxed, with nice steering and great handling for a large SUV. Being a family-orientated car, the CX-9 doesn’t lack good ride-comfort and NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) - the latter of which is always a common complaint with Mazda vehicles. Monster? It certainly doesn’t look like one, even if the dimensions allude to it. While the Toyota Kluger and Nissan Pathfinder show their American-centric bulkiness, the CX-9 and its other competitors manage to look smaller and are much better styled - despite the Mazda being the largest of the bunch. It’s the styling that matters though and the CX-9 excels. Handsome and modern, yet not necessarily sophisticated. The interior is where the CX-9 really shines. Sitting in the middle of the dashboard is the MZD Connect housing - a controversial design that many disagree with; personally, I like it. Surrounding the display is a burgundy fabric (standard with black leather) which helps break up the monochrome interior, something that nearly every Australian-market car has. Give us variety! Push down on any plastic from the centre console up and you are treated to a squidgy, solid feel - same for the soft-touch leather materials - however diving below it will show scratchy, hard plastics. Everything is durable and has stood the test of time, however. The front seats are beginning to fade and crinkle up, though, which is annoying. Moving on to something that is important for families: Safety. This car does not fall short in that regard, that’s for sure. Standard inclusions on the base Sport include AEB, blind spot monitoring and rear-cross traffic alert with parking sensors and camera, plus 6 airbags and a 5-star ANCAP safety rating. The Azami adds on that by offering rain sensing wipers, front parking sensors and higher-speed AEB, plus nifty stuff like lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control and adaptive LED headlights. Furthermore, the updated 2018 model brings pedestrian detection to the AEB system, Traffic Sign Recognition and G-Vectoring Control - a system designed to reduce fatigue and improve handling. Most of the time, these systems aren’t intrusive and work like they should, but Blind Spot Alert likes to make ‘invisible blind-spots’ out of curbs (especially at roundabouts) or bridges. Another thing important for families is keeping the kids (or adults) entertained and comfortable in the back seats. Passengers are treated to two USB ports to keep iPad’s charged, four cupholders large enough to swallow the biggest McDonald’s drinks, a personal climate control system and sunshades, however, third-row passengers can’t get much relief from the elements, with not a single air-vent in sight. Improvements for future models? I would like to see some of the new Mazda 6's technologies morph into its bigger brother, such as the 7” digital gauge display, 360° camera and ventilated seats. The US-market Signature model in Australia would also be nice, which adds Japanese rosewood trim, ambient lighting (even on the grille - how cool is that!) and Nappa leather in beautiful Auburn brown. The lack of the full-LED lights on the lower models is also something that can’t be left unmentioned, especially when Mazda offers these on its smaller and cheaper cars. It’s 2018, not 2008, Mazda. Would I recommend the CX-9? It depends. If you have enough money to drop for the fully-fledged Azami, absolutely. But, if costs are tight, I’d push towards its Korean rivals, the Kia Sorento or new Hyundai Santa Fe, both of which offer a longer warranty and better value. Three years of warranty coverage doesn’t cut it anymore and Mazda need to increase this as time progresses. If there’s one thing we regret about our CX-9, it would be not spending the extra $4,000 to upgrade to all-wheel-drive, as the car can struggle on some surfaces when that extra grip is needed (on rare occasions, though…) The Mazda CX-9 is the best new car we have ever had in our garage and it’s certainly worthy of being in yours.

Why this car? Time to upgrade with a second child coming and, after about 4 years, I felt the urge to replace our Honda CR-V MY2012 (2011) base model. The competition? Kia Sorento GT-Line. To me, Sorento screams of value (about $10,000 cheaper) and CX-9 is the last saving grace for a family man without affecting credit-rating too much. Why not Sorento? Sorento’s turning indicator noise gave me a headache at test-driving. It also felt heavy when accelerate/brake. We mostly drive in inner city conditions which made the diesel particulate filter was a concern to me. Real world fuel economy. Five tanks later, the average is about 11.2L/100km. Our daily drive is around the very hilly east side of Melbourne. Our 3-year-old often naps between 30 minutes and an hour and half in the car (after we tried everything to exhaust him) where aircon is a must. We occasionally drove on highways (for example, on Eastern freeway or to/from the airport). I found that the key to better fuel economy is to learn to leave with the very sensitive accelerator, be gentle and it should make a difference. Here are lists of what I like and don’t like about CX-9. I will highlight the dislikes because it is an almost $70k car. Likes: To me, it drives like an Audi and designed better than Lexus. Good list of safety features, helpful when I found a few blind spots from the driving position and it is a big car. Adaptive cruise control which is very handy. Head-up display is surprisingly clear. The infotainment system is intuitive and connects to local Wi-Fi networks. Fun to drive with the sports mode although I don’t really mind about having this function or, off-road capacity. Bose audio. I have to turn down the bass. Quiet cabin. An old-fashioned charger on the right foot side of the front passenger (in addition to two USB chargers). Auto walkaway door lock function. Insurance is only slightly more expensive than our 4-year old CR-V MY2012 (2011) base model. It took about 3 months for delivery but we got a MY2017 which is good for re-sale down the track. Dislikes? At almost $70,000, expectations are an entitlement: • Why there is no 360 camera when this car is huge and cost almost $70k? • Standard 3-year warranty lacks confidence. Squeezed a 3-year additional warranty from the dealership which carries lots caveats and limitations. However, I didn’t do my research to know that there is a standard extended warranty and a premium. • Good GPS system but went to La La Land a few times now. On the first 1k inspection, the dealership upgraded it. Reverse camera also failed once when we tried to squeeze into a tight parking space. It still started itself a number of times without warning and silenced the warnings on a couple of occasions. When the GPS is silences, stop the engine longer than a few minutes and it should be OK. But I am not sure about auto-restart scenarios although, each time, the navigation continued as if it never re-started. • No automatic door-locking function when driving above certain speed which is available in Kia Sorento GT-line. Need to manually turn on and off the door lock on the driver side. • Interior details are good but the fine details failed short of a $70k car (irrespective the two additional seats it has). I understand that it is not a Euro luxury car or a Lexus. Leather coverage stopped above dashboard and doors. • Signature (USA) vs. Azami. What Azami doesn’t have the Signature has: wood trim (vs. shinny plastic trims around the high-traffic areas at the cluster and on the doors), burgundy leather seat trims (vs. black/cream trims) and a cheaper price. • The dealer spent a bit over an hour with my wife introducing the car and some of the functions at delivery. However, no warning of “burn-off” was given. What is burn-off? When my wife drove the car into the garage we all noticed a light grey smoke coming from the bonnet (it was a hot day and the dealership is about 25km away). We both panicked. Called the Sales Manager (the delivery was scheduled at 5pm and did I mention we panicked?) and he had no idea other than suggesting to drive in the next day to the dealership for a check-up (although he initially suggested that he would send someone to us). When calmed down a bit, I checked online and it was suggested that the engine was covered with wax to prevent possible damage caused by sea shipping). Called the dealership service department next day morning and was told it was a “burn-off” (whatever that means) and it is normal for the first 1,000km. With a young child, I chose to believe the service department. • Given the infotainment system connects to the local Wi-Fi network, why do updating the navigation through Mazda Toolbox on your PC or Mac, which requires a SD card reader? • Inadequate storage around the front cluster with a nothing-special glove box and strangely small dual-lid storage box between the front seats. A somewhat deep storage area in front of the cluster under the air-con switches which could be messy after a few corners. No small storage area on the door for coins or small rubbish. • No Apple CarPlay when there is no CD player. I must say that to play music from my iPhone through a USB was fine by me. • No panoramic sunroof (as in Kia Sorento) but a small “moon-roof” (as it is called in the USA). • Side-rear-view mirrors do not automatically fold up when switched-off and they are a bit hopeless (I need Dumbo’s ears). It is a very good car for anyone with a bigger family (only). Mazda is not a big company in the auto industry and I commend it for its drive to succeed and for this final product. For $70k a few details are missing although it is more refined.