Ride & Handling

The Mazda5's steering response is designed to engage the driver. A turn of the wheel delivers a quick change of direction, and there's a fair amount of feedback. The suspension is on the firm side, but it provides a tolerable ride even on the broken pavement that's prevalent near Cars.com's Chicago headquarters.

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    Brake/Clutch Fluid
    qInspecting Brake/Clutch Fluid Level The brakes and clutch draw fluid from the same reservoir. Inspect the fluid level in the reservoir regularly. It should be kept at MAX. The level normally d ...

    Under the Hood
    The CX-9 features a 273-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6 with 270 pounds-feet of torque. * Standard six-speed automatic transmission with clutchless-manual mode * V-6 runs on regular gas * 16/22 mpg ci ...

    Second & Third Rows
    The second row is pretty easy to get into, and the seats slide forward and back independent of each other. With these seats in their rearmost position, my knees didn't touch the driver's backrest, ...