I talk a lot of trash about minivans. I know it’s not nice but it’s all in good fun. People think I’m anti-minivans because I’ve never been in one but come ooooon. I grew up in a large blended family where at any given time, there was easily 6 of us piled in a car for family vacations. We’d rent minivans every now and then and let me tell you…they were SO comfortable.
So I totally get the appeal. And I shouldn’t care that when I drive one, I feel my cool stock plummeting. This shouldn’t matter.
But..it does. And so in 2017, I am still very much anti-minivan. Especially after driving the Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring AWD.
You know you have modest or older cars when every little bell and whistle in a new car has you like…”Ooooooh!” I kid you not. Cherry (the name I lovingly gave the Mazda during the week that I had her) is such a sexy beast on wheels. Bright red on the outside, insane speakers on the inside, buttons here, features there, driving Cherry was such a nice reminder.
A reminder that yeah I’m a minimalist and all but I neeeeeed a car like this. And why?
Driving on a cloud
With a car as large as the CX-9 Grand Touring AWD, you’d think it’d be pretty clunky to drive. I mean, it IS a 3-row SUV with a lot of power but my goodness, nooooo…Cherry was whipping it left and right and I felt nothing. This truck drives incredibly smooth and glides with ease from highway to byway and around city streets with very little effort. Meanwhile, my SUV feels like I’m driving a diesel truck from the 70’s but that’s neither here nor there.
..and while driving I was able to fit not 1, not 2 but THREE car seats in the second row with no problem. I had 2 kiddos forward facing and 1 rearfacing and it was a tight fight for all of those seats but everyone’s seat was assembled correctly and the kids were comfortable. WIN.
That trunk tho
I mean, you can’t have it all, can you? This is true for relationships and for cars. While I enjoyed the comforts of the car, I was a bit frustrated at how teeny tiny that trunk space was. If a family of 6 was going on Spring Break, you’d have a tough time getting everyone’s luggage in the trunk.
I’m not sure it would be possible and for that reason, I think this SUV is a best fit for people who wouldn’t mind a 3-row but don’t NEED it.
Dashboard while whoa!
I feel like such an old lady when I ride in newer cars. I mean, I come from a generation of windows that you had to manually roll down. Anything beyond that is “So techie”. The CX-9 Grand Touring AWD has plenty of cool bells and a ton of whistles but what impressed me the most was the touch-screen console.
I was able to control everything from navigation, music and car information. A sweet little button made this easy to do but having the touch screen option was really cool, too.
And you mean it can automatically connect to my bluetooth without me having to connect it each time? YESSSS!
I could take a nap in here…
…said Esposo when he played passenger. Because, YES! There’s something about the captain chairs in this vehicle. They’re so incredibly comfortable.
This goes for the backseat, too!
Three adults could fit in the back – not for a long trip but it’s definitely possible. Like most third rows in SUVs, I found my knees to my chest in Cherry but I generally think of those third rows perfect for kids who aren’t in car seats or for folding down to add to the trunk space.
People swore that I’d have this burning desire to get a minivan after Baby #2 but nooooope, here we are. Two kids and zero desire for a minivan.
Wouldn’t mind the CX-9 though. I did a video review of Cherry in case you’d like to see a better view of what this beauty has to offer.
Special thanks to Drive Shop for providing me with the opportuntiy to drive this baby up and down Orlando for an entire week.
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