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Putting zoom-zoom charisma into a three-row crossover is no easy feat, but Mazda does it with the CX-9鈥攅arning it a 2017 10Best award. A well-tuned suspension offers great handling; steering is light but precise. A 250-hp 2.5-liter turbo four mates with a six-speed automatic and either front- or all-wheel drive. The EPA estimates 22 mpg city and 28 mpg highway for front-drive models; adaptive cruise control and automated emergency braking are standard on Grand Touring and Signature trims. We talk a big game. After endlessly professing our love for Chevy Corvettes, Porsche Caymans, and Mazda MX-5 Miatas, more often than not, when the time comes to pick a vehicle for a weekend road trip, we choose something practical. Practical is three rows. Practical is all-wheel drive. Practical is quiet. Practical rides well. Practical doesn鈥檛 make us look as if we鈥檙e suffering a mid-life crisis. And practical gets driven. In our long-term fleet, the vehicles that rack up 40,000 miles the quickest are always minivans and three-row SUVs.
As much as we love driving them, sports cars can鈥檛 accommodate the family or carry much stuff. So the Mazda CX-9 is practical, but it鈥檚 not all Costco and Home Depot and road trips to Disney. The CX-9 looks like something Karl Lagerfeld would use to run errands on whatever his version of a nice little Saturday might be. A wholesale redo, the new CX-9 lifts the design idioms of Mazda鈥檚 own CX-5 but also borrows some styling cues from the Infiniti QX70 (the SUV formerly known as the FX). The big Mazda, especially on its optional 20-inch wheels, looks elegant enough to wear a designer badge. Some of what makes the Mazda appear expensive is actually its restraint. Yes, the large chrome grille juts menacingly forward and has LED lighting inside it, but Mazda鈥檚 designers appear to have sculpted the clay with hands when forming the CX-9, rather than hacking at it with swords.
Even the Mazda鈥檚 paint looks like a budget breaker. Covered in a finely flaked hue called Machine Gray, the CX-9 glows. This SUV has the presence and style to rival Acura鈥檚MDX and Infiniti鈥檚 QX60. It鈥檚 the same story inside. Mazda鈥檚 material choices look and feel rich. Many of the plastics are so finely grained and soft to the touch that they appear to be bovine based. 45,215, there are open-pore rosewood trim pieces, aluminum accents, and soft brick-colored Nappa leather seats. The gaps are consistently tight, and the trim all lines up with an obsessive attention to detail. In an effort to bring the CX-9鈥檚 noise levels upmarket, Mazda tells us it worked on suppressing the tire roar that plagued the previous CX-9. The replacement has a thicker floorpan, 53 pounds of sound deadening under the carpet, and an acoustically laminated windshield and front windows. The work pays off with a low 65 decibels of noise at 70 mph, four less than the last CX-9 we tested and the same as the Tesla Model X. Our only gripes up front are related to the seats.
The driver鈥檚 chair doesn鈥檛 go low enough and needs more thigh support, and the passenger鈥檚 seat produces the same complaints while lacking any height adjustment. As in the CX-9鈥檚 brethren, the instrument panel is dominated by round analog dials. But unlike in almost every other Mazda, one of the round gauges is actually a color LCD screen that can display trip-computer information and a compass. On all but the lowest Sport trim level, which gets a seven-inch screen, there鈥檚 an eight-inch touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard. It鈥檚 a bit too far to touch while driving, so the screen can also be controlled by the BMW iDrive-like knob behind the shifter. Navigation and audio controls are logical and easy to use with either the knob or the touchscreen. The CX-9 steals more than one trick from Porsche. Its rightmost gauge contains a screen, as in Macans and Cayennes. Further, it looks poised to run. In the second row, there鈥檚 ample space for adults, provided they slide the split bench all the way back. However, second-row legroom comes at the expense of third-row space.