Mazda is on a roll in recent years, picking up Car of Year Award nods around the world and surviving as a small automaker in a business sector dominated by the behemoths like Toyota, Volkswagen and Ford. The latest edition of the Mazda CX-9 should continue that positive vibe right up to the top of the company’s line.
The CX-9 is Mazda’s largest vehicle — a seven-seater crossover that will also rank as the company’s most expensive build (MSRP starting around $31,000 and topping out just north of $40,000) until the RX Vision becomes a reality. In the past the CX-9’s size and styling left it as a bit of an automotive tweener. Once too big to be a true crossover, yet a little too small to wear the SUV name tag, the CX-9 now employs a lowered, sleeker styling to settle nicely into the crossover zone.
From the tiny MX-5 to this CX-9, Mazda unified its entire line under the Kodo (“Soul of Motion”) Design Language. That’s a fancy way of saying you can always spot a Mazda. From the low slung grille through the flowing, undulating lines running front to back, Mazda’s designers created an unmistakable signature car to car. The new CX-9 takes it place atop the food chain without deviating from that signature styling.
While the Kodo philosophy rules the CX-9’s appearance, the Mazda concept of Jinba Ittai flows through its engineering. The term comes from the art of Japanese combat archery, describing the relationship and symmetry between horse and rider at arms. Translated to Mazda vehicles, Jinba Ittai describes that sensation of pleasurable driving the automaker wants to take the fore in all of its cars.
Also: 2015 Tokyo Motor Show: Mazda Unveils RX Vision
To that end, the CX-9 offers a high compression, 2.5 liter, inline four cylinder engine that puts out 227 horsepower. In keeping with its SKYACTIV packages, Mazda stripped out more than 200 pounds of weight from the previous version to maintain balance and quickness.
The CX-9 is also the first of its kind to offer the new Mazda Premium treatment. Essentially an effort to edge Mazda up closer to the luxury crossover class, Mazda Premium offers the use of quality material like rose wood in the interior, better noise proofing and enhanced in-car s0und.
While the CX-9 and Kodo are a happy fit, there is one element of modern car design Mazda must struggle with to maintain their “fun of driving” philosophy. Cars these days are filled with driver aids. Some — like automatic brake assist and adaptive cruise control — are safety-centric and look to keep the operator injury. There’s a trend to make such features mandatory that’s constant building strength across the all automotive classes and price ranges.
Other technological advancements look to add comfort or convenience — like navigation and infotainment apps. There’s less of a push to press these into uniform service as they don’t save lives as much as make driving easier and more comfortable.
The debate for all of these driver aids comes down to one camp arguing we should make use of all available technology to both save lives and make said lives easier to manage from behind the wheel — while the other side claims too much relying on all of this assisting tech makes already distracted and inattentive drivers that much lazier and less competent.
That argument aside, the driver aids can definitely have an impact on the relationship of human to machine – Jinba Ittai in Mazda parlance. A safer, smarter car can often become a numb, boring car. So, Mazda fights to find the balance between human interaction with the vehicle and the electronic driver assists.
After driving the new CX-9 for a day in San Francisco, it’s clear Mazda knows they must have the expected barrage of safety assists and such, but the company opts to lean toward human input in the control of their vehicle to maintain the pleasure of driving. This latest crossover honors that spirit of Jinba Ittai admirably.
