While ours doesn't trump the Arizona desert for beauty, but our family of four did just get back from a week-long trip to the beach in Alabama. That's a pretty good place to drive a CX-9 (not that there's a bad place.) It's the first long family trip on the '9 and was most pleasant. We had outgrown our previous family a car - an 01 Millenia.
The newfound space was amazing - we could take much more necessary stuff. Fuel economy wasn't terrible either (right at 20 mpg) for an 08 GT AWD with the back crammed full.
The RSES kept the kids entertained and the Pandora app for iPhone kept the adults entertained.
I did find out that the hard way that tire pressure monitoring worked, but the car was unloaded by then.
I'm really starting to like the 6 speed AT in this thing. I've been most impressed.
Saw quite a few CX-9s in Orange Beach, Alabama BTW, including my first Galaxy Gray and the metallic black color. Too bad they discontinued those.
