Is the Mazda CX-9 right for me?

[WT21]

I’m expected to get a Honda pilot that will be ready for me in a few days, but I think I just … can’t. It checks all the logical boxes, but I don’t love it. Test drove a CX9 and really enjoyed it.

I have a 2009 MDX and the CX9 is the first vehicle with a similar driving feel. My kids are headed to college so I don’t really need the three rows, but I like a larger car and the CX5 felt small to me.

My one concern is we generally buy and hold cars to about 150k miles (MDX is at 173k) and are used to trouble free vehicles. I’ve always avoided turbos because they are fussy

We keep all our cars religiously maintained. Do all minors and majors and do the oil on schedule.

Will a CX9 give me at least 10 years without worry? Without replacing a transmission or engine before 150k or at least before 100k? Or is it the kind of car you love but will demand a bit from you in terms of additional service? Like an Audi or something. I see posts about oil burning, coolant, entertainment systems, etc. so it’s got me a little skeptical.

Thanks for any input. And stories about high mileage current gen cx9 are appreciated.

 

[dougal]

Well, I want to say yes but right now, the 2.5T engine is showing some teething problems. Some older versions had cracked heads and coolant leaks. Certain 2021 models have oil burning issues. Will Mazda fix or take car of the issue? I hope so.

And from the sounds of it, the 2022 models don't have the issue so maybe everything is good to go. The transmission is solid, the electronics are dialed and overall, the vehicle is been in production for 6 years, so a lot of the kinks and such have been worked out. In many ways, the car now is in its perfect form.

For peace of mind, I would get the extended warranty they offer- make them throw it in and use the TSB on oil burning as a reason.

 

[youri]

The CX-9 is very reliable in that it will not require a lot of work throughout the years, not like a Audi.

But as mentioned above there is the issue of the cracked head which is pretty catastrophic. Hard to know how frequent it is, there a few on this forum that have had this problem, but how much of the entirety of Mazda owners had the problem is hard to tell. And almost all of them have been fixed under warranty by Mazda with a replacement engine.

Seems to happen around the 60-70k mark. No preventive maitenance will prevent it, it seems like it either happens or it won’t happen at all for the entire life of the vehicle.

But forums are a bit misleading, i am sure the honda forums have issues with the Pilot as well. Now you know what to expect, i love my 2018 CX-9, but only have 35k on it ( Covid really slowed down our driving), hopefully the engine will last. This my third mazda and the previous two have lasted well into 150k with very minimal maintenance but none of them were turbos.

Can you even find a CX-9? I am in Canada, but when I asked for a trade-in appraisal to replace my 2018 with a 2022, their answer was a plain: we don’t have any.

 

[sm1ke]

I have a 2018 with about 68k kms (~42k mi) on it. It's been pretty reliable for me, with the only real issue being a coolant slow leak that appears to be completely different from the other coolant leaking issue (no cracks in my engine block). If I'm being perfectly honest, even with the coolant slow leak issue, I don't think it would stop me from buying this car again. This is my first Mazda. I don't know how long it would last, but if I were to wreck the car today, I would be trying to replace it with another CX-9.