It has been 7 years since Mazda introduced to the world their concept of what a crossover should be and after receiving minor facelifts over the years, it still feels as a proper road-going all-rounder for any family. This is indeed shown in the increasing number of CX-9s on Dubai roads and so we were eager to find out for ourselves the reason behind the popularity of this vehicle in UAE. 

Exterior

The CX-9 is designed to be simple and subtle yet pleasing. Mazda knew their target market is the average commuting family who are not fond of flashy cars and like to blend in with the crowd. We believe that’s the reason why we never noticed so many CX-9s before testing it ourselves. Comparing it to the competitors like the Pilot and Pathfinder, this looks much better with its overall curvy shape and little resemblance to the older Acadia. Mazda tried to fit this SUV in line with their other models by offering a new grill for the 2013 iteration. The result is, an understated vehicle with bland colors looking ordinary and sometimes that is not definitely a bad thing. 

Interior

The CX-9’s key selling point, we believe, is the interior space and we can vouch for that by saying it is quite roomy for 7 adults to sit comfortably – even in the third row. Pull down the third row seats and you have got decent luggage space. The cabin is made of hard plastics and that’s fine as this is not a German car where one would expect luxury. We received the full-option trim with electric leather seats with the heating option which were comfortable especially in long drives from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah and did not make us feel tired after reaching the destination. Other regular options included auto headlamps, rear view camera, navigation, Bluetooth, rain sensing vipers and climate control. Overall, the interior checks all the points on the practicality list. The only drawback we felt was that speedometer markings could have been a bit bigger in font size to be read easily.

Drive

This area was surprising while testing. The car doesn’t feel like a 7-seater behemoth at all. The steering is so nimble that you feel like you are in a small sedan eager to squeeze into tights spots in traffic without any fear of crashing. The 3.7 V6 is smooth as smooth can be while cruising and gives ample torque once you hit the pedal without scaring you. The concern comes when it is time to slow the car down as the brake pedal felt too soft and squishy. We are used to hard brakes and expecting the car to stop intuitively in a certain distance. In this case, we had to press the brake harder to achieve that distance as soft pressing did not give us any response. Again, that could be a debatable topic as it is different from driver to driver. Moving on to fuel consumption, well, it was ordinary as we were expecting better. We averaged 18 l/100 km while driving mostly on the highways. This is the segment, we believe, in which Mazda can do better. Other than that, the car is fun to drive and feels more like a sporty hatch rather than a crossover. 

Verdict

This is the biggest Mazda to drive and it holds true to the Mazda lineage – an understated affordable Japanese car. It is roomy, comfortable and doesn’t look ugly – a perfect mommy’s car.