trust me, i said exactly that to them. i said, "you mean to tell me every brand new cx9 sitting on your lot ticks like mine? i know you can't honestly believe that..."
he didn't have much of a response to that.
still no news to report. i got back ahold of the customer service guy but he was no help, he claims to be powerless against the advice of the master tech who diagnosed the problem and says it's normal. however, i was able to get a time next week with this tech to sit down and hopefully discuss why he feels it's normal and go on a test drive specifically with him. the dealer service manager appears willing to help at least, so we'll see where this goes.