This came into my feeds whilst we were sitting in the Mazda dealer after test driving an Asaki diesel awd today and waiting for the salesman. I showed my wife and we laughed and then signed up for a Touring Diesel AWD in the same colour as this Asaki LE. Delivery in about two weeks. This will replace our ageing (8 year old) Territory Titanium.
In the base model the rear arch area looks odd. It is just a stretched CX5 afterall. Engine is pretty bad on hills and overtaking (diesel is preferred). It's definitely the wisest choice if you don't need the 7 seats often (or not at all) and you don't need the additional width which makes parking tight. The upside is the additional boot space makes it more practical then a mid size SUV (a Mondeo hatch is more practical just for reference).
Nice review although I don't entirely agree with the "roughly the same size as a CX-5 observation - 350mm extra length is quite a bit. I also query the usefulness and comfort of the rearmost seats - you clearly had no underthigh support, being perched on your tailbone. I test-drove one of these and like the reviewer, found it to be relatively noisy and harder-riding than the vehicle I eventually chose (which also features budgie-perch rearmost seats) - a Kia Sorento, which is a mere 70mm shorter than the CX-9, but offered more comfort, features (excepting the middle-row seats), and safety gear...at a much lower price.
I wish the styling was more distinctive, I love Mazdas, because they usually do a great job on exterior/interior design and they drive well, this one looks bland :(
It’s unfortunate the CX-8 doesn’t come to the North American market. As much as I like the CX-9, it’s a bit big. And, diesels don’t sell very well here, so Mazda would need to only use a petrol.
