CX-9 for 6 people - worth it?

[pix530]

I am looking for people who bought new CX-9 and have 6-7 people in family.
How is your experience? Isnt trunk too small?

Our family is merging so we will have in addition to me, wife and 2 kids (2 and 11 yo) my wife's retired parents, and they will live with us permanently.
It comes that 6 people cant fit into our family Escape that was sufficient enough.

We check most cars and we down our choose to CX-9 due to look, drive, AWD and our Mazda good experience and Odyssey due to space.
We test drive most of the cars and we like CX-9 ride the most (better than MDX for me).
Odyssey is just ok, but there is 0 fun to drive it + I personally hate interior and leather. No AWD. But space...

So my only concern about CX-9 is a trunk space. I know its not that big so I am looking for real people experience...

 

[forty9er]

Watch this video from the 4:00 mark through about 7:12 mark. He talks about sitting in each seat and cargo space in "trunk".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJCGow7EoA

We take our in-laws to dinner while driving the CX-9 and that puts us at the 7 people mark. I have 3 small children, 2 of them in the 3rd row and the rest 2nd and 1st and we all sit comfortably. Now if you had a 6' adult in the 3rd row, he's going to cramped both leg room and head room. Regarding trunk space, it's not that much with 3rd row not folded down. Now if you have 6 and can fold one of the 3rd row down, it increases your trunk space.

 

[Official NOCO]

In the '09, the 3rd row is definitely tight. However, it's still nice. My family is only of 4 and a large dog and it was perfect. I would opt for something larger if comfort is really important. The trunk is definitely huge.

 

[eskimo0101]

2012 here and with the 3rd row up you have very little usable trunk. We did an overnight wine tour with 2 other couples and took our CX-9 (seating 2+2+2). Even with just small overnight bags, a small 25qt cooler and some snacks we had stuff piled above the rear window and had to put our wine inventory on the floor in the middle in front of the 2nd row.

If you're regularly hauling 6-7 people plus needing trunk space a minivan is a way better idea. There are a few AWD options if you're looking for the all weather competency of an SUV. The majority of the time our 3rd row is used for kids or adult friends when we're taking the boat out, at which point the trunk is moot because we can just toss the overflow in the boat.

 

[jamerson9]

I am in nearly the exact same situation as the OP and we decided on a 2015 Touring AWD. My parents are living with us 6 months of the year and we have two middle school aged boys. Our family are not large people, all under 6ft so we've never felt cramped in our CX-9. Every day use is fine, our couple in the front, grand parents in the middle, and the boys in the back. The rear seats were set to the 2nd position out of the three possible and my parents have plenty of leg room and boys never complained. I even like to ride in the 3rd row with one of the boys just for the novelty of it when my wife drives.

We did a 6 day road trip (~1700 miles) this summer and all our luggage in the trunk (one mid sized suit case, three medium sized sports bags, and one small backpack), the kids made a comfortable fort in the 3rd row with pillows and light blankets. We had a small cooler on the floor in middle of the rear seats, with the snacks and sundries on the middle rear seat. You can fit a surprisingly large number of items in the under floor tray in the trunk. We fitted in all of our emergency cold weather gear and flip flops in there. Ingress and egress from the 3rd row was only though the passengers side due to the small cooler on the floor. I even rode in the 3rd row when the boys got fractious one day for about an hour and half, and I was pretty comfortable.

We were staying at hotels for the trip so our luggage was minimal, however if we were to go camping (tents, foldable chairs, sleeping bags, cooking utensils etc) then I think I would then invest in a roof carrier box or a cargo tray. The rear trunk space with the 3rd row up was just minimally acceptable for us. If the rear hatch lid dropped straight down then it would be possible to put luggage all the way to the roof, but because of the curve you can't fit a large suit case upright. Thus, we used cloth sports bags for clothes as we could more efficiency pack them into the rear trunk. Only regret for me was that we could not fit a full sized cooler in the trunk with the rest of our luggage. I would suggest when you are going to look at the cars to take some empty suit cases along to test things out.

Driving wise, no comparison to the Odyssey, having drove a friend's Odyssey on numerous trips back when the kids were smaller. But, then again with the Odyssey we just threw in two families worth of luggage and strollers in the back without even thinking about it. CX-9 handled the twisting and turning scenic trails perfectly, and made driving a pleasure even with 6 people and luggage.

For the OP only difference from my situation would be the car seat for the two year old. I would suggest putting it in the middle of the rear seat with the two grandparents on either side. It's a pretty wide car and should be enough shoulder room. It's been pretty comfortable for our family when on rare occasions we have had to put one of the 3rd row seats down to accommodate cargo, one of the boys sits in the middle rear seat. For our 6 person family the CX-9 has been near perfect as possible for us.

 

[tex2670]

I am looking for people who bought new CX-9 and have 6-7 people in family.
How is your experience? Isnt trunk too small?

Our family is merging so we will have in addition to me, wife and 2 kids (2 and 11 yo) my wife's retired parents, and they will live with us permanently.
It comes that 6 people cant fit into our family Escape that was sufficient enough.

We check most cars and we down our choose to CX-9 due to look, drive, AWD and our Mazda good experience and Odyssey due to space.
We test drive most of the cars and we like CX-9 ride the most (better than MDX for me).
Odyssey is just ok, but there is 0 fun to drive it + I personally hate interior and leather. No AWD. But space...

So my only concern about CX-9 is a trunk space. I know its not that big so I am looking for real people experience...

Dude--you need a minivan. For 6 people, plus their stuff, you just can't beat a minivan's cargo space and access via captain chairs.

 

[JPL]

It's fine for 6 people as long as it's not an extended road trip requiring the luggage of 6 people. No crossover can handle that and no minivan can handle it either. Even a minivan would require at least a large cargo top carrier or even pulling a small trailer for 6 or 7 people to carry all their luggage for a week long trip. Really, there's only one vehicle class that could handle all the luggage for 6-7 people for a vacation and that is the Chevy Suburban class (not just Tahoe). This doesn't count full size vans that very few families buy.

Behind the 3rd row, you have 14.5 cu ft in the CX-9. There's 39 cu ft in back of an Odyssey. Sounds like the OP's situation could work with the CX-9. Doesn't sound like it will be used for family vacations taking the grandparents along. It's likely just local trips with minimal cargo.

 

[JPL]

Actually, the CX-9 seats 8!

 

[jcpharm]

as a 2016 CX-9 owner, i would say NO. i would think 3 kids (with at least one being <10 yrs old) is max over that, you should look at pilot, pathfinder, minivan, suburban, sequoia, tahoe, acadia, etc.

 

[Gtech]

Like someone else mentioned you can fit a surprising amount of items under the trunk area. I have also done long road trips with 6 people and luggage with no problem (one seat in 3rd row down). Seven or eight people can definitely fit but not with lots of luggage obviously.