My wife’s daily is a CX-9, we just traded our 2021 for a 2022 with ALN. The cargo is certainly something to be desired, but still useful as an SUV. We keep the 3rd row folded down for cargo and we have 2 kids so they love the captain’s chairs. We have used the third row for passengers, and that does kill the cargo space. Having captain’s chairs makes the 3rd more comfortable with the extra legroom though.
Fit and finish is incredible on the car. Very quiet ride on the highway and to me, no question, the best driving 3 row SUV out there (excluding the luxury cars I have not driven). Sorry to hear about @mllcb42 experience.
Infotainment can be an adjustment since there is no touch, but the dial is simple and easy to use. No issues at all with our 2021 after a year of ownership and 10k miles. Only a few days with the 2022, so nothing to report that in’t great so far. Went from a Carbon Edition to a Grand Touring, happy to have the HUD and 360 cameras.
ALN has some great pricing on the CX-9 right now as well.
@savagelion I was going to get the signature trim.
@mllcb42 did you have the signature trim? Sounds like you just got a bad one of the batch. I never never heard anyone every say that about a Mazda. Used to own one a 6 my wife and father in the the same 6. My sister in law has a 3 with 0 problems.
I had an awd GT. There have been several people that have posted on here over the past couple years with similar experiences. (Although I think I have the most individual issues).
For me, the most telling thing was that my wife was the one that was ecstatic to get rid of it more than me. I can be fickle and have a short attention span with cars, but it takes a lot for her to want to deal with going car shopping and she was eager.
My FIL’s is a 2020 GT AWD. He hasn’t had one issue and they have a lab that jumps around inside. They must have fixed those issues, he has over 30k with not one problem.
@tpgh thats great to hear. I really want to like it because my wife loves it. @mllcb42 my mother had a Jeep that had issues the whole time she had it. I have had chargers and ram with no issues. So they all have issues in the bunch I guess.
everyone has a story with one brand or another. i could go on and on about my defective toyota camry and the jackoffs at southeast toyota corporate. you have to take these things with a grain of salt.
I’ve had cars with issues and cars without. I haven’t had any other that has lots of unrelated things that were just annoying, constant reminders of what a bad choice it was.
I ended up going with a Highlander xle. I needed the car quick due to my 20 year old Lexus RX getting rear ended and being deemed totaled. The dealer buying experience is a nightmare nowadays and if I was more patient I probably would have gone with a platinum hybrid. I ended up only paying $750 over msrp after a weekend of reaching out to all the dealerships in my area.
The palisade definitely looks nicer on the interior and seems like a better deal overall, but the markup over msrp and availability of them in the northeast made me not even consider it. I also don’t know if I trust the long term reliability of Hyundai.
If you properly maintain a Toyota, you can have the car for 10-15 years and only need to change the brakes, tires and change fluids. People say Hyundai has turned around their quality issues but it hasn’t been long enough to truly know that yet.
Don’t know if you’ve considered it but the new Toyota Sequoia is coming out in June I believe. That car looks like a beauty and is gonna tempt me to trade in the Highlander.
Mazda has a good reputation for reliability. Even with their turbo engine cx9 is a very reliable suv. All people will have issues here and there but I think the it can last a good amount of time.
