CR CX-9 Reliability Nosedive

tex2670

Grand Poobah
I just received the December '18 issue of Consumer Reports with predicted reliability of 2018 cars.

The CX-9 is listed dead last (with a 20 !!! score (nuts)) in the Midsize SUV category. Lower than a Jeep GC and a Dodge Journey. Toyota Highlander = 83; Mazda CX-9 = 20. (eek)

I get it--when a car is all new, a lot of times there are growing pains. With reported problems of infotainment rebooting, and other infotainment issues, that tends to cause CR reliability scores to drop. But 20??!! Dang.
 
Yeah, it was really weird to see that. Mazda's ranking overall was also dragged down several notches due to the reliability ranking they gave the CX-9.

Granted we only have 5500 miles on it now, but our CX-9 has been rock solid in terms of reliability - with the exception of a random issue we had a few weeks ago with front wipers not working. I think that was due to a software glitch in the infotainment system, which I was able to easily re-set.

The Consumer Reports ranking did make me wonder though. Did they give the CX-9 this low of a score because of the actual volume of owner reported issues, or are they extrapolating reliability expectations based on the initial wave of problem areas (mostly due to the buggy infotainment system)?
 
The Consumer Reports ranking did make me wonder though. Did they give the CX-9 this low of a score because of the actual volume of owner reported issues, or are they extrapolating reliability expectations based on the initial wave of problem areas (mostly due to the buggy infotainment system)?

That's interesting, because right here (https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/mazda/cx-9/2018/owner-satisfaction) it says:

2018_Mazda_CX-9_Owner_Satisfaction_-_Consumer_Reports_-_Mozilla.png



My CMU has been rock solid fortunately. Zero reboots that I did not cause. I had one instance where Navdata failed to load properly. However, SD Cards are notorious for data block Read/Write failures and are known to be the weakest link in either Write intensive or Access intensive systems relying upon transistor based memory/storage media like SD Cards.
 
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Is there any way to get a copy of that report? Do i have to have a subscription to the magazine to find it?

Thanks!
 
It has only been two years of solid production. I never purchase a new vehicle design in its first year of production as a rule, because the manufacturer needs time to flush out the issues. I expect the 2018's to roll off with less issues than the 2017s and the 2017s to have fewer reported issues than the Proto-Year 2016s.

I spent several hours with my new 2017 this past weekend exploring what Mazda had really accomplished under the car and under the hood. You can tell a lot about the "attitude" of a care manufacturer by getting underneath the vehicle and seeing how they go about engineering things. Everywhere I looked was found thoughtful engineering and apparent solid construction. The engine compartment looked equally as well designed, thought out and constructed. From the rear differential all the way up to the transfer case, transmission and under the panels (which you have to take off) to the bottom side of the engine, everything looked as if someone really took great effort to design something worth owning and driving:



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Definitely says a lot. They released a half baked product especially that bad infotainment
 
Definitely says a lot. They released a half baked product especially that bad infotainment

BMW had iDrive triple-C problems and the "deep freeze."
Audi's MMI had to be forced down and rebooted.
Infiniti's "In Touch" system seemed "Out Of Touch" for a lot of its owners.
Mercedes Command System losing command of itself.
Volvo's Sensus system seeming to make Little Sense At All.

It happens. You can go down the line and find that brand new Head Units delivering Infotainment typically go through the grind of debug over a period of time.

Volvo's XC-90 is not half baked and yet its Sensus system leaves much to be desired today and its a couple years old now. I evaluated it to death before deciding on the CX-9.
 
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May be this report could be based of the fact that there is not enough data after 2016. Generally Mazdas are very reliable. Quality paint and all the factory installed features works great for the life of the car. I have a living proof: My 2003 Mazda MPV. Look at the picture.
Does this looks like a 14+ years old vehicle?
black-mazda.jpg
Few years back I compared mine with 03 Sienas, Odyssey, MDXes. All were rusted and looked dated. This Mazda looks sharper. Even though I had one major oil leak issue at 114K, my dealer took care of it and since then it had worked like a new van. Even my automatic sliding doors and moon roofs works great. Now, it has 155K miles and still we take the MPV for 10 hour drives.

Sometime before I read a report that said overall Mazda brand reliability was 4th in the list, ahead of Honda.

Another proof: My 2010 Mazda 3 with 85K miles, looks and drives like new. No issues to report. All I did was oil change and tire rotation with my dealer.

I would not hesitate to buy a new CX 9. Believe Mazda had learnt the lesson from CX 7's turbo charged engines and built a better turbo engine with the new CX 9.
 
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BMW had iDrive triple-C problems and the "deep freeze."
Audi's MMI had to be forced down and rebooted.
Infiniti's "In Touch" system seemed "Out Of Touch" for a lot of its owners.
Mercedes Command System losing command of itself.
Volvo's Sensus system seeming to make Little Sense At All.

It happens. You can go down the line and find that brand new Head Units delivering Infotainment typically go through the grind of debug over a period of time.

Volvo's XC-90 is not half baked and yet its Sensus system leaves much to be desired today and its a couple years old now. I evaluated it to death before deciding on the CX-9.

None of those makes were top notch in reliability before those bugs occurred.
 
If a Mazda scores lower then a Dodge and Jeep on some list, id take this list with a grain of salt.
 
BMW had iDrive triple-C problems and the "deep freeze."
Audi's MMI had to be forced down and rebooted.
Infiniti's "In Touch" system seemed "Out Of Touch" for a lot of its owners.
Mercedes Command System losing command of itself.
Volvo's Sensus system seeming to make Little Sense At All.

It happens. You can go down the line and find that brand new Head Units delivering Infotainment typically go through the grind of debug over a period of time.

Volvo's XC-90 is not half baked and yet its Sensus system leaves much to be desired today and its a couple years old now. I evaluated it to death before deciding on the CX-9.

I am sure it’s not just the infotainment man.
 
If a Mazda scores lower then a Dodge and Jeep on some list, id take this list with a grain of salt.

And I do. CR has heavily weight "reliability" over the past 5 years to complaints about infotainment systems. And these complaints are not all related that the system isn't working--a good portion of them are people that just don't understand how they work.

But--that can't explain all of the drop. So a "grain" of salt doesn't get me to the point of ignoring this.

I am sure it’s not just the infotainment man.

Exactly.

Definitely says a lot. They released a half baked product especially that bad infotainment

I would not argue with the "half baked" theory. Introduced in May '16 as a '16 MY, and not as a '17 MY? That to me smacks of delays to market because it was not ready for Prime Time.

I would think the '18s will have most kinks ironed out. Looking forward to the April Car issue.
 
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I would not argue with the "half baked" theory. Introduced in May '16 as a '16 MY, and not as a '17 MY? That to me smacks of delays to market because it was not ready for Prime Time.

I would think the '18s will have most kinks ironed out. Looking forward to the April Car issue.

I don't think the CX-9 was really delayed, Mazda just decided on the '16 designation for whatever reason.

Upon first release of the unveiling (November 2015), it was always "on sale Spring 2016".
 
If there isn't a sufficient sample size with which to compute reliability, why even issue a score? I haven't read the entire report so my comments are based on this thread alone, but isn't it overly presumptuous and somewhat deceptive to issue a perception score without actually doing the work?

Just like those silly JD quality awards for initial quality, it's completely worthless indicator of how a car fairs long term which is what really matters.
 
I don't think the CX-9 was really delayed, Mazda just decided on the '16 designation for whatever reason.

Upon first release of the unveiling (November 2015), it was always "on sale Spring 2016".

That's why a think there was a delay. They kept saying it was debuting in '16, and by the the time they could nail down the release date in Nov '15, it was going to be the next spring, and then they'd have to say "Oops--we mean it will be a '17 MY". Who purposely debuts a '16 MY in late spring of that year?
 
If there isn't a sufficient sample size with which to compute reliability, why even issue a score? I haven't read the entire report so my comments are based on this thread alone, but isn't it overly presumptuous and somewhat deceptive to issue a perception score without actually doing the work?

Just like those silly JD quality awards for initial quality, it's completely worthless indicator of how a car fairs long term which is what really matters.

But you are just pulling out the Mazda results. If you look, generally, up and down the lists, the reliability ratings are not out of line with historical data. Toyota Highlander near top; Jeep and Dodge near bottom; etc.

Personally, I think it's more a heavily weighted score to early MY issues that need to be tamped down in production. But I agree that the true accuracy for the Mazda score seems awfully skewed.
 
I only own a third of a CX-9 (a CX-3) LOL, but my comment is about CR and similar ratings companies... I think there is money involved and the ratings are not un-biased. I can't tell you how many times I have read a report rating a certain vehicle very highly followed by multiple ads for said vehicle.
I put zero value in what those reports find. I have owned 56 vehicles in my life and contrary to all the "tests and ratings", I have had the most problems with the Toyotas I owned and the least the problems with the Jeeps.
Just my .02. :)
 
Never looked underneath the CX-9 like that, thanks for the great pics... 20 seems really low, maybe it's a typo?

Other than a some issues withe my screen not displaying audio or the backup cam 3 different times, I've have zero issues with my '17 GT that I've owned since April...
 
I only own a third of a CX-9 (a CX-3) LOL, but my comment is about CR and similar ratings companies... I think there is money involved and the ratings are not un-biased. I can't tell you how many times I have read a report rating a certain vehicle very highly followed by multiple ads for said vehicle.
I put zero value in what those reports find. I have owned 56 vehicles in my life and contrary to all the "tests and ratings", I have had the most problems with the Toyotas I owned and the least the problems with the Jeeps.
Just my .02. :)

Your experience is an anomaly! Maybe those Jeeps were made by Toyota :D
 
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