I bought my cx9 2 months ago , it has 1500 kms on the odometer.
we are a family of four and before this car we had a Hyundai santa fe 3.3 as a family car. my other car is an audi s3 ( this will become relevant in a few lines)
Usually we make or 2 car journeys a year inside my country in order for my kids to know it better, something I couldn't do at their age because this was a country filled of terrorism and violence, that is something of the past now.
Peru is a country with a vast geography, where u can go from 0 mts sea level at 30 degrees centigrade to 16000 feet 0 degrees centirgrate in an hour and a half driving and 3 hours later you are in the jungle, so u can imagine the kind of country roads and the extreme conditions for the car to go through.
Exposing the car to this kind of conditions makes u realize what ur car is really made off. usually Toyotas are the most common cars in these roads, although lately u can see lots of hyundais and other corean car brands around showing their reliability and performace through this tought conditions. obviously audis porsches and land rovers as well.
As you all know the higher altitude u drive the lower oxygen there is in the air and this makes combustion tougher so as a result there is a loss in power , turbo engines suffer less of this power loss this is why ull see tons of turbo diesel engines around this roads. So, whenever I have to drive a few hundred kms to visit a client on this areas I love to go in my other car, an s3, it is a pleasure to drive it around these country roads, where its dynamics because of the turbo engine and the Quattro system makes it one of the most enjoyable drives one can imagine. on the other hand usually going with the family and using the santa fe was a turn down because of the power loss and the lack of dynamics compared to going in the car , its obvious an SUV will never perform as a car on these roads. although the santa fe was great for this kind of travels it did the job great but that was it.
Yesterday was our first journey through these roads with the cx9, all I can say is that my 12 year old daughter said " dad this SUV feels like ur car" and she was right , the performance of the turbo engine at 15k feet was amazing , we were surpassing every truck, suv and car with ease, whenever u pressed the accelerator the power was in, big v6 engine suvs were not even close to be able to catch me, but that was not the only thing, at the curves, the suv really felt like a sports car, considering of course the size and weight, but still the sensation was there, when a curve suddenly closes in angle more than expected and u have to match it, the cx9 really responded in ways I could not even imagine, my wife never asked me to go slower, never!! why? she never felt afraid, she felt confident as a copilot all the way , the sound proofing and the suspension absorbing the pot holes and differences also helped a lot In making this journey a fast secured and relaxed one.
Congratulations to all mazda engineers that made this suv possible at this price, the only suvs that can match the performance are highly priced ones like audis q7 or going beyond like Porsche and land rover, after those, there is non suv that will be any close to this one on these kind of roads, and non even the high priced ones will match the fuel economy on this kind of trip.
I cant forget to say how adecuate the seats were, they had to be supporting but comfortable enough to drive through curves for 6 hours, when I reached my destination ( Ayacucho) my back was relaxed!
Mazda has settled a new Benchmark at least for these kind of roads, congrats!
ill add some pics of the trip later where ull be able to see the alpacas vicunias and the vegetation. amazing!
we are a family of four and before this car we had a Hyundai santa fe 3.3 as a family car. my other car is an audi s3 ( this will become relevant in a few lines)
Usually we make or 2 car journeys a year inside my country in order for my kids to know it better, something I couldn't do at their age because this was a country filled of terrorism and violence, that is something of the past now.
Peru is a country with a vast geography, where u can go from 0 mts sea level at 30 degrees centigrade to 16000 feet 0 degrees centirgrate in an hour and a half driving and 3 hours later you are in the jungle, so u can imagine the kind of country roads and the extreme conditions for the car to go through.
Exposing the car to this kind of conditions makes u realize what ur car is really made off. usually Toyotas are the most common cars in these roads, although lately u can see lots of hyundais and other corean car brands around showing their reliability and performace through this tought conditions. obviously audis porsches and land rovers as well.
As you all know the higher altitude u drive the lower oxygen there is in the air and this makes combustion tougher so as a result there is a loss in power , turbo engines suffer less of this power loss this is why ull see tons of turbo diesel engines around this roads. So, whenever I have to drive a few hundred kms to visit a client on this areas I love to go in my other car, an s3, it is a pleasure to drive it around these country roads, where its dynamics because of the turbo engine and the Quattro system makes it one of the most enjoyable drives one can imagine. on the other hand usually going with the family and using the santa fe was a turn down because of the power loss and the lack of dynamics compared to going in the car , its obvious an SUV will never perform as a car on these roads. although the santa fe was great for this kind of travels it did the job great but that was it.
Yesterday was our first journey through these roads with the cx9, all I can say is that my 12 year old daughter said " dad this SUV feels like ur car" and she was right , the performance of the turbo engine at 15k feet was amazing , we were surpassing every truck, suv and car with ease, whenever u pressed the accelerator the power was in, big v6 engine suvs were not even close to be able to catch me, but that was not the only thing, at the curves, the suv really felt like a sports car, considering of course the size and weight, but still the sensation was there, when a curve suddenly closes in angle more than expected and u have to match it, the cx9 really responded in ways I could not even imagine, my wife never asked me to go slower, never!! why? she never felt afraid, she felt confident as a copilot all the way , the sound proofing and the suspension absorbing the pot holes and differences also helped a lot In making this journey a fast secured and relaxed one.
Congratulations to all mazda engineers that made this suv possible at this price, the only suvs that can match the performance are highly priced ones like audis q7 or going beyond like Porsche and land rover, after those, there is non suv that will be any close to this one on these kind of roads, and non even the high priced ones will match the fuel economy on this kind of trip.
I cant forget to say how adecuate the seats were, they had to be supporting but comfortable enough to drive through curves for 6 hours, when I reached my destination ( Ayacucho) my back was relaxed!
Mazda has settled a new Benchmark at least for these kind of roads, congrats!
ill add some pics of the trip later where ull be able to see the alpacas vicunias and the vegetation. amazing!