The Mazda CX-9 is a car I have admired for a while, it is a stunning looking vehicle and I LOVE it in the beautiful Mazda red! So when I got one to test for BabyDrive I was very excited and it's in my favourite colour!!
The cream leather perforated seats looked fantastic, completely impractical for a BabyDrive and they only narrowly escaped by daughters sick bug!! However, as a treat for mum, they were fabulous! I didn't find the front seats comfortable at all to sit in but they looked nice!!
The CX-9 has FIVE top tether points?!! Yes! They are in all three central row seats and both rear seats too! But the central seat's anchor point was strangely located slightly under the seat base and not clearly labelled, which didn't fill me with confidence!
There are ISO Fix points in both the outer second-row seats, they are hidden in slits of the seat leather so you do have to line them up carefully and are not as simple as when within plastic guides.
The second-row seat, behind the front passenger, has a folding mechanism that allows it to fold and move forward with a child seat installed (if using the ISO Fix, not the seatbelt) and gives a big step through access to the third-row seats!
I managed to very comfortably fit five large Britax child seats into the CX-9, still with plenty of legroom in the front for driver and 23cm for the passenger!
First, I tried the Britax Maxi Guard Pro and Britax Kid Guard Pro in the third-row seats, then I swapped the Britax Kid Guard Pro to the forward facing Britax Platinum Pro so that I could put the slimmer booster seat in the central second-row seat and free enough space for the sliding seats to work.
With the rear-facing Britax Unity infant capsule and Britax Graphene (installed as rear facing) in the outer seats and the Britax Kid Guard Pro booster seat in the central seat, there was plenty of space around the seats and installation was really simple.
Storage was also good throughout the CX-9, with the second-row passengers being treated to double map pockets.
They also have a central seat armrest with cup holders and phone storage and charging.
There are also built-in window blinds in the second-row doors which are FABULOUS Babydrive features!!
Storage in the boot is also very good. When you are only using five seats the boot is a huge space that would hold any combination of items.
At capacity, it will hold 18 shopping bags and even with big strollers such as the Mountain Buggy Duet and Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle there is still room for 10 shopping bags. 
When you are using all seven seats the boot space is still very usable as it would hold seven shopping bags.
Using seven seats you wouldn't want to put a dog in the boot but using five seats you would be able to put your large dog in the boot space!
The downsides of the CX-9 are the visibility is very poor for the driver out of the sides and back especially when loaded with people and child seats! I really couldn't see back past the front seats!
The media system feels dated, there is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and I didn't find it the easiest system to navigate especially using the control dial in the central console.
The CX-9 drives beautifully, it is smooth and quiet as a BabyDrive however it does wheel spin when pulling out of junctions, which was a real disappointment as it is All Wheel Drive.
If you need a car that will really comfortably take five child seats without them being crammed in then this is a fantastic BabyDrive!
The Mazda CX-9 scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2016 and has six airbags as standard. I love the fact the CX-9 has curtain airbags that extend to the third-row seats too, which they don't in some competitor vehicles!
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
When only using five seats, I can fit 18 bags of shopping in the boot of the Mazda CX-9.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres ia not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
The Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fits in the boot of the CX-9 with 10 shopping bags around it.

The Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle stroller also fits in the boot with 10 shopping bags around it.

The Mountain Buggy nano stroller fits in the boot with 15 shopping bags around it.

When using all seven seats the boot space is still a usable size. I could get seven bags in there.

I could just fit the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle in the boot on its side with a wheel removed and one shopping bag.

I could fit the Mountain Buggy Nano stroller in the boot with one shopping bag.
In the boot of the CX-9, there are plastic lined wells on either side of the boot, they are a really good big storage areas. I found them great for sandy beach clothes and separating Tulsi's little things so they don't disappear into the lost forever depths of the car!!

The boot floor is nicely carpeted and even when using all seven seats I found there was enough room for an emergency nappy change.
There are bag hooks on both sides of the boot and a 12V socket on the right.
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
The parking sensors in the CX-9 can be turned on and off from a button by your right knee. You can turn them off and they will stay off, you do not need to select it every time which is a FANTASTIC BabyDrive feature!!

If you do turn the sensors on the beep is not too loud! Also on the reversing camera screen in the top right corner, there is a sensor visual and next to it an arrow, you can press the arrow to turn the sensors on and off too.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
Lane departure warning is just a vibration in the CX-9 and it is not a car shaking vibration like some I have tested so it would not disturb the other passengers. You can turn this on and off on the control panel by your right knee also.

The indicators have a nice dull, quiet sound that I have not found disturbed my sleeping daughter.
The sat-nav voice volume can be turned up and down or off through the screen settings, it is not a simple press button on the map screen.

The map directions also show in your head up display which I found very useful when the voice was turned off.

I didn't find the media system in the CX-9 easy to connect my phone to, there was no Apple Car Play or Android Auto and the media system just seemed a little outdated.
The media screen can be navigated using a dial and buttons in the central console or using the touch screen and I just found the two don't work together that well, that you just need one or the other. The touchscreen also beeps with every press and it is difficult to find the option to turn it off!

The windows open and close quite quietly, there is a little thump when it closes but not too bad!
With baby asleep you can get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy. The same for the windows their mechanism is not too noisy and I didn’t notice them having a loud opening or closing sound.
With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up!
I found that if you don't slam the doors they don't close properly and the doors of the CX-9 do feel a little heavy.
You can lock the windows from the driver's door control panel but not the doors. They seem to lock automatically and the driver has to open their door to unlock the others, there is no obvious button to release the other doors.
There is a button by your right knee labelled i-stop to turn on and off the auto engine cut out. You have to press this button for a long time to make it function. I thought for the whole week of testing that it didn't work as when I pressed it nothing happened but found out on the last day that if I held it for maybe five seconds then it activated!!

The road and engine noise in the CX-9 is great, it is lovely and quiet and smooth the drive.
The seatbelt removal alarm will alert you with beeping if a seatbelt is removed while driving and a light comes up on your display.
I found I could come to a stop and with the engine still running take my seatbelt off and get out of the car without any alarms sounding!
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
The CX-9 is a seven-seater that I have managed to easily and very comfortably fit five lovely big Britax child seats into the back of! It is AMAZING!!!
There are top tether anchor points in ALL five rear seats!! It is the first car I have tested with top tether points in all three of the second-row seats AND in both the back row seat backs as well! They are all easily located in plastic guides on the seat backs apart from the central seat in the second row. This one is labelled on the seatback but the anchor point is a metal bar just under the back of the seat. It is just a little confusing having it labelled in the same place as the other seats but then not in the same location, it doesn't give you confidence when using it.

There are ISO Fix in the two outer seats in the second row. The ISO Fix are not within plastic guides, they are just metal bars within slits in the leather of the seat back and base. This makes them just slightly harder to attach to because the leather gets in the way sometimes and you have to line them up accurately.

I fitted the five child seats very easily really, considering the number of them, into the CX-9. My biggest consideration was which seats to put in the central seat so that I could access the third-row seats.
All the second row seats slide forward and back to adjust legroom distribution, however, the outer seat in the second row, behind the front passenger, has a mechanism to allow you to bring that seat forward WITH a child seat installed )only if you are using the ISO Fix not the seatbelt), giving a lovely big step through access to the third row seats.

This meant I had to consider which child seat I put in the central seat, making sure it wasn't too wide to allow for the seat to slide forward and back freely.
I decided upon…. the Britax Unity infant capsule (rear facing) in the third row access seat using the ISO Fix points, the Britax Kid Guard Pro booster seat next to it, in the central seat and the Britax Graphene (rear facing) in the other outer second-row seat using the seatbelt.

In the third row I fitted two really wide child seats, the Britax Maxi Guard Pro (forward facing) and the Britax Platinum Pro (also forward facing). Forward facing seats make sense in the third row because the children would be of an age and size they could climb in themselves and all the adults need to do is reach in and do up their harnesses.

Installing the child seats was simple, top tethers for the third row were easily reachable from the boot, the cabin is so spacious you have plenty of space to move around and get to the second row top tethers. The seats are lovely and wide so the child seats have space and the seatbelts are well positioned so the buckles are not underneath child seat bases.
With the second row seats in their furthest back position, I could sit in the back with a comfortable amount of leg room (I am 162cm) and there was enough room for child seat occupant legs to hang down too.
Having also installed rear-facing child seats in the second row, the front passenger still has 21cm of knee room, which is an impressive amount. In my testing, a 180cm adult could fit comfortably into the driver or front passenger seats with the back filled with child seats!
As the second row seats are very high up, reducing headroom and space to post Bub into their seats from inside and outside the car, so this is not as easy as it should be.

This also makes the ceiling a bit low for rear passengers and visibility is very poor for the driver to see behind and rear passengers to see forward.

I did sit between two forward facing child seats in the second row for a journey and I found the middle seat extremely uncomfortable and high up!? The seat back is very hard because of the armrest but the base was very hard too. The backrests do recline, though.

With two child seats installed in the second row, outer and central, you would have room to feed Bub in the second-row seats.
That said, these are the most impractical car seats ever for a BabyDrive!! They are cream perforated leather!! Good job Mazda also offers them in black!
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
The front seats in the Mazda CX-9 don't seem to have any lumbar support, making them really uncomfortable. You have to sit in a kind of ‘C' shaped position. The passenger one is worse as it doesn't have the lumbar adjustment that the driver's seat has, but even with that, it is still uncomfortable!

The headrests will not allow for a ponytail either!
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get it just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
In the second row of seats, the two outer seats are much more comfortable than the middle seat, which I found unbearable on a journey sitting in it. The second-row seats seem to be very high up and in that position, I felt my head was close to the ceiling. The seat base and back were both very hard and I was bouncing around on top of the seat.

The third-row seats are actually the most comfortable of them all, they do feel slightly angled towards the centre of the car as if you are rolling inwards.

I could sit in them very comfortably with the second-row seats in their furthest back position and I am 162cm. The seats also feel like they sit lower down than the second row which feels nicer and gives you more headroom.
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.
I found the cruise control in the Mazda CX-9 was very simple to use but it did run away with itself a little and was not especially accurate.

There are four air-conditioning vents in the front dashboard, two in the centre and one at either end. The second-row seats have two vents in the back of the central console box, which is great because they can be reached and controlled by the driver. The third-row seats do not have any vents.

The controls for the air-conditioning are located on the central console dash, and they are really nice and easy to use. The airflow is good and not too noisy and I found it cooled the cabin down quickly.

A FANTASTIC BabyDrive feature are the built-in rear door window blinds! I LOVE them!! You can put them up and the whole window is screened from the sun, you don't have to worry about rear passengers.

Visibility in the CX-9 out of the front is very good, however with child seats installed and because the second-row seats are high up, the visibility backwards is very poor. I really could not see out from behind the front car seats!

For little passengers in the second row the visibility is good because you sit so high up, however for adults you feel like you are ducking your head a little to see out, especially from the central seat.
In the third row, the second-row seats really obscure your forward vision, but the large side windows give a good view out.
There are lit vanity mirrors in both the front visors.

There are press on lights in the front ceiling and in the second row, they are in the ceiling between the front seats, which are reachable by the driver, in the third row there is one in the ceiling too. There is a button in the front light panel to turn all the rear lights on and off.
I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
I really enjoyed driving the CX-9, it is smooth and quiet and feels easy. The only problem I have had with it is accelerating out of junctions it quite often wheelspins, which I found surprising being an all wheel drive car.
Even though the CX-9 is big it feels fine to drive around town where space can be tight. I did find when parking I relied on the reversing camera and side mirrors a lot as the visibility is so poor out of the back. Also, the CX-9 is long so I could not really gauge where the perimeters were.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get the big cars and utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the CX-9 wasn't the easier car to reverse park but it was very enjoyable to drive!
There are handles above both rear doors but I found they were positioned too far forward of the rear facing child eats when they are in the furthest back position. I could really do with moving those handles back 8cm!
There are two 12v sockets in the CX-9, one in the passenger footwell in the front and the other in the boot.
The CX-9 I think is a stunning looking car on the exterior and the interior is very nice too!

The cream leather looks fabulous with the silver handles and door trims.. however… the reality of that with children is the cream leather of our pretty new test car was already very marked. The worst part is the back of the front seats that also cream leather, which cop a lot of forward-facing childrens' feet and damage very easily! Same goes for the seat backs with rear-facing child seats installed! The perforations t ofrap a lot crumbs, spills etc too and are difficult to keep clean!
Tulsi, sorry Baby Rabbit as she is going by at the moment!! Had a sick bug while we had the CX-9 and projectile vomitted as I was got her out of the car, luckily all over me and not inside the car as I just do not know how we would have got it out of those perforations!! These are the realities as parents and you want to make life easy for yourself!
Also the door handles and panels are cream leather which is a nightmare as that is where everybody grabs with their hands and it would be impossible to keep it clean!

There are carpet floor mats throughout the CX-9.
There is keyless entry and a powered tailgate. The tailgate does give a loud single beep when you first press to open or close the boot.
I LOVE powered tailgates now I am a mum! When I go out to the car carrying my daughter, with my arms laden with everything I now appear to need even just to nip to the shops for some milk!! I can press a button and it opens without me having to do some weird contortionists move to open it manually whilst trying not to drop anything (especially my child!!) It is fabulous!! The only downside is I have sometimes thought I could get something out of said boot when my daughter is asleep in the car and the beeping has woken her up!
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
The Mazda CX-9 has six airbags as standard. Dual frontal, side chest and side head-protecting curtain airbags. All three seating rows (outer seats) have head-protecting side curtain airbags.
The Mazda CX-9 scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2016. It got an overall score of 35.87 out of 37. Getting 14.87 out of 16 for frontal offset test, 16 out of 16 for side impact and pedestrian protection was rated good .
As standard the Mazda CX-9 comes with anti-lock brakes (ABS), emergency braking(AEB), blind spot monitoring (BSM), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), emergency stop signal (ESS), daytime running lights (DRL), hill launch assist, reversing collision avoidance, roll stability system, pedestrian collision detection in the forward collision autonomous braking system.
Hi there, I found your reviews really useful when looking for a 7-seat SUV and we decided on the CX9 as I’ve driven Mazda’s my whole driving life so why not get another trusty Mazda! Question regarding the car seat via isofix behind the passenger seat, can this be a rear facing carseat and the whole car seat still move forward enough for someone to climb into the back or did you only try it on a forward facing car seat? The salesman I deat with did it believe it could be done with either but clearly it can as you did it. Thanks in advance!
It looks like she had the front passenger seat moved quite far forward for her to be able to push that seat far enough forward as it appeared.
We bought this car last week and have my daughter rear facing in that seat with iso fix and it does not move as far forward as hers did. I’m face it hardly moved because her rear facing seat just touches the front seat. So unless you push the front seat all the way forward it’s a tight squeeze.
Hi Justine, yes you definitely have to move the front seat forward, I would prefer that though than uninstalling and re-installing a child seat every time 🙂
I have a 2019 Mazda CX9 Grand Touring which unfortunately I have to sell. It has about 8500 miles on it. We need a work truck and can’t afford both.It is charcoal grey with tan interior.
Please let me know if you or anyone you know may be interested.
951.334.1139
Hi
Oh this review is brilliant because I’m looking at purchasing the Britax Platinum Pro Plus car seats! I love how they fit in the third row!
My question is; did you try putting 3 of the Britax Platinum Pro car seats in the middle row, side by side? Or even, 2x car seats next to each other in the middle row? So 1 car seat in the central seat and 1 car seat behind the driver? I want to know how 3 child seats sit in the middle row, all of the same size. Because I know infant carriers are smaller or slimmer than a reversible child seat. So I’m wondering if there is enough room for 3 to fit in the middle row? I would like to avoid using the third row as I think my eldest child would need to get in via the boot as middle row of seats won’t fold with forward facing child seats in them.
Check this guide to the seats we use and dimensions
https://babydrive.com.au/articles/will-my-child-seats-fit-in-my-car/
Does a double pram fit in this boot with the 7 seats in use ?
We didn’t manage to. Here are some lists of cars that can!
https://babydrive.com.au/articles/which-seven-seat-suvs-can-fit-a-twin-stroller-in-the-boot/
https://babydrive.com.au/articles/which-seven-seat-suvs-can-fit-a-tandem-stroller-in-the-boot/