Exterior

The CX-9 manages to avoid the chunkiness of many SUVs, in part because of its angular nose and car-like honeycomb grille. The SUV's beltline rises as it heads rearward, and the sides are free of cladding. Sport and Touring models have 18-inch wheels, while the Grand Touring version wears 20-inch wheels. Available features include a power liftgate, high-intensity-discharge headlights, rain-sensing windshield wipers and turn-signal repeaters in the side mirror housings. CX-9s have a four-wheel-independent suspension and front and rear stabilizer bars.

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    Safety
    In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests, the CX-9 earned the top score, Good, in frontal and side-impact tests. It hasn't been tested for rear impacts or for roof strength, an indica ...

    Automatic Transaxle Controls
    Various Lockouts: Indicates that you must depress the brake pedal to shift (The ignition switch must be in the ACC or ON position). Indicates the shift lever can be shifted freely into any po ...

    Convertible Commentary
    As mentioned, our test car had the retractable-hardtop roof, and Mazda's implementation of this type of roof has a few advantages over those from other manufacturers. First of all, it's fast; it ...