New CX-9 Owner Intro and Thoughts... from a E92 M3 Owner

[JsL]

I just picked up a 2018 Snowflake White CX-9 Signature and I want to say kudos to Mazda for building this car and hats off to their ride/chassis tuning engineers. Considering this is a 3 row SUV, the car drives great, feels planted and they did an amazing job on the electric power steering tuning.

Next, I'm excited I found this forum, as there's good information on here. I'm active on M3Post and I'm looking forward to contributing to the CX-9 Community here. I looked over some of the DIYs and am glad there are members here taking their time to create them.

I'm going to leave the major modding to the M3, but that doesn't mean we can't make the CX-9 more fun. (yippy) As the current generation CX-9 is out longer, hopefully the aftermarket support will grow a little. Hoping for springs, struts, tune, downpipes, intercooler, and some E85 fun. Yeah yeah, I bought the wrong car if I wanted to do all that right? (hand) But I do like to tinker. My M3 is the one with the V8... and it's supercharged @7psi with Ohlins coilovers (drive2). I'd post pic of my CX-9 but you all know how it looks like, and it's not a BMW forum, so I'll leave the M3 pics out. (uhm)

My immediate plans for the car is to wrap all the chrome in gloss black. I'm not sure if I want to wrap the front of the grill or leave it satin silver. Anyone have pictures of their grill wrapped?

 

[CoastSpeed]

Welcome! I also have an 2018 Signature, that I came to from a 2011 335i M-sport. With a 2017 Mazda6 in between (long story). I do miss the inline 6 engine, but I do not miss the tow truck that I had on speed dial when I owned my E90 . I really think Mazda out-BMW'd BMW with the ride & handling balance on the CX9 and the 6 - both are considerably more comfortable than my M-sport E90 with 18s and run flats, yet have all the handling that I'd ever want on the street.

As far as wrapping, check out this post from the Appearance forum.

 

[norsairius]

Welcome!

Former E90 335i driver here. Id be interested in seeing the M3! Any vids so we can hear that supercharged motor and the exhaust would be neat too!

I do miss the 335s performance, but the CX-9 has been a wonderful vehicle to drive (especially considering its size) and the extra practicality has been of use for my family.

Its interesting that a decent number of members here in these forums came from luxury brands and/or had performance cars or bought a Mazda as a secondary vehicle. At least thats what I feel like Ive seen. I think that speaks volumes for Mazdas efforts to build vehicles with quality interiors that also focus on the driving experience.

Anyway, I think I speak for others here too when I say it would be interesting to see how your mods on the CX-9 go!

 

[sm1ke]

I did not come from a BMW, in fact I came from the other side aka a Lexus IS250 AWD. Would love to see pics of your M! Like you, I also like to tinker, and eventually I would want to do all of the mods you listed should they become available. For now the CorkSport catback exhaust is available, and.. well that's it, haha. Hopefully CorkSport releases a few more goodies and other companies take note!

 

[alekii_405]

My M3 is the one with the V8... and it's supercharged @7psi with Ohlins coilovers (drive2). I'd post pic of my CX-9 but you all know how it looks like, and it's not a BMW forum, so I'll leave the M3 pics out. (uhm)

Post M3 pics m8

 

[JsL]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

I'll dig up some (camera phone) pics + vids and I'll post them.

 

[forties]

I drove an e30 and an e39. None of their current offerings excite me. May be my age.

It sure feels like mazda nerfed the upper rpm boost. I agree with your assessment that the steering, brakes, handling all feel great.

I personally am content enjoying my low rpm grunt.. but I think lots of folks would pay for a tune. Be interesting to see if anything comes out.

 

[norsairius]

I drove an e30 and an e39. None of their current offerings excite me. May be my age.

It sure feels like mazda nerfed the upper rpm boost. I agree with your assessment that the steering, brakes, handling all feel great.

I personally am content enjoying my low rpm grunt.. but I think lots of folks would pay for a tune. Be interesting to see if anything comes out.

Agreed - BMW's current offerings aren't particularly exciting, but there are a couple exceptions in my opinion. I'm partial to the E90 just because I owned one (also had an E92 328). I do feel it was the last good 3-series though as the generation following the E9x, the F3x, just feels too soft and the electric steering was AWFUL (based on my experience driving a few loaners). Later model F30s are better and I could even consider owning one, but still not quite as good as the E9x before it in some ways. I've also driven the F10 5-series and found it to be pretty nice since it's meant to be more of a comfortable luxury car and it was competent enough when pushed around a bit. My younger brother otherwise picked up an M235 and he's let me drive it a few times. I think the 2-series the closest thing to an "ultimate driving machine" that BMW makes today. I otherwise haven't had the privilege of driving an E30 or E39 (I'm jealous!).

All that said, I think Mazda has done a better job with electric steering than BMW has in any of their models.

Anyway, I think the 2.5T is well-matched to the large and heavy CX-9 with its low to mid-range power. Power at the higher end would be nice while driving on the highway though, which is what most of my commute is. The CX-9 and 2.5T are otherwise excellent around town. The CX-9 was an ideal choice for me because I wanted something more practical but I also needed something that was still relatively fun to drive without being too crazy expensive or unreliable. Mazda simply ticked all the right boxes.

 

[hollandog]

340i M Sport driver here looking to get into a 2019 CX-9 signature in a few months.

 

[JsL]

How do I upload photos? I tried to upload a few jpg and they are under the size limit too. I get "upload of file failed".

Here's a video of the exhaust and bypass valve when I removed the recirculation hose. Use headphones

 

[sm1ke]

Love that sound clip.

How do I upload photos? I tried to upload a few jpg and they are under the size limit too. I get "upload of file failed".

That's odd, if they're under the size limit you should be able to upload them. Maybe there's some other limiting factor that the site isn't telling us, lol.

You could try https://ctrlq.org/images/ or https://imgbb.com/

 

[JsL]

Here are some pics. Can't find my full car pics, so now i have to wash it and take new ones.

Supercharger and manifold

E85 Fun

Ohlins