Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Now... here's my dilemma. The wife will be driving the CX-9 on a daily basis. She works at a mall and leaves the car parked there all day. Without any side guards on the doors this car is going to sustain some serious 'ding' damage.
Does anyone know if Mazda plans on releasing body side moldings as an optional accessory? If so, do you know if it will be color coded to match the vehicles color or just black?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!
-Kevin-
If you install them yourself, be aware that there's definitely a wrong way to do it. The wrong way is to install the strips parallel to the ground ... looks awful.
The right way is parallel to the bottom edge of the doors.
I used blue painters masking tape to provide a reference, then installed the molding along the bottom edge of the tape.
link title
Just carefully follow the installation instructions
My caution on the installation ramains. Make sure the moldings are parallel with the lines of the vehicle (door bottom edges) else they just won't look right.
Lots of others haven't found out about CarSpace yet, so that's my excuse for tagging on to your post to plug the albums.
Steve: How do we find it?
Or will this do it?
http://www.carspace.com/lateralg/Albums/lateralg's Album/Body Side_0705.jpg/page/photo.html#pic
Thanks!
3-M Adhesive backed. They've been on for more than 2,000 miles & all kinds of weather ... AZ to MI, and still securely mounted.
I added a dab of Pliobond contact cement at the pointy ends.
By the way, there's no way to protect against all dings from adjacent cars. The large variety of rear door shapes makes the "target area" on our car about 2 feet from top to bottom.
Be sure to eyeball your installation line and location with masking tape prior to application of the real thing.
I love the way the car rides, handles and brakes. So far ( First 500miles ) gas milage is averging about 18mpg with a 50/50 split of city and highway.
My only complaint with the car is the seat bottom. I am a big person 6'-4" 230lb. The Rolled edge seam where the dark panel meets the sand leather on the side bolsters of the seat bottom get kind of uncomfortable on a long trip. The seam pokes me right in the back of my thighs. ( I drive 4-6hr per day ) Mazda should have made this a blind or french seam in my opinion. I hope it gets softer, otherwise I will probably have to have the seat coveres re-made. It is NOT somthing that you would notice on a short test drive. Any larger than normal person might want to spend some time in the seats before you purchase one...
I ask because I had a 2001 Lexus and a 2003 Lincoln LS with the Denso system. They were far superior to the CX-9 Denso system in voice recognition. On a 1-10 scale, I rate the CX-9 as "2" ... almost worthless.
Blind spots are created by the driver via improper, yet popular, outside mirror aiming.
"The new 3.7L engine will be a very significant upgrade to the CX-9. It will be between 275-320hp. However, more significant is that it will have about 25-50 more ft-lb of torque. The current 3.5L is a little weak on low end torque. This new engine will make it accelerate alot more enthustiacly. Since the vehicle is performance orented, it will make the car a lot more fun to drive. The direct injection will most likely make it more fuel efficient as well.
Unfortunately, the fact that the engine gets a significant upgrade less than an year into production will significantly lower the re-sale value of the 2007 models. It will probably drop the 4 year resale by a few thousand as the 2007 will always be a less desirable year model.
I just wish I got to enjoy it more more than one day before I found out it was already the "weak engine model"...
"I got my info from another web site. I later comfirmed it with my dealer. ( Most dealers should have the 2008 ordering infor by now ) It seems that Mazda has been testing the new 3.7L engine for Ford for some time now. It can be tuned to make between 275hp - 320hp without forced induction. However, the 300+ versions require a high compression ratio and premium gas.
For now Mazda has comfirmed that the 3.7 will be in the 2008 but has not said what hp level it will be at. On regular gas I suspect that it will be in the 280-290hp range. However, it is the extra torque that will make the car feel more lively. It will accelerate from a stop much better ( also helps with towing ). Even if it is only a 10 more hp, the extra torque will be worth the wait..."
Ralph L.
HAH! The voice activates it, but rarely in the way desired ... unless the '08 is a BIG improvement over the '07.
Thanks.
I would like to ask all of you CX-9 Owners what you think about the seat comfort. I am 6'-4" and about 230lb. In other words I am about 20-25lb over weight...
Initially, I found the seats to be quite comfortable. However, I spend several hours a day driving. I noticed that after long 1.5+hr trips the side bolsters on the seat bottom get a little uncomfortable on my rear end. I think it is becasue the sides are deeply bolstered and the padding is a little thin tword the rear of the seat.
Have any of you guys/gals noticed a simmilar issue? If no one else has noticed this, there may be a problem with the padding in my seat.
Thanks...
By the way, I am the one that posted ( on another forum ) about the new 3.7L engine. I am quite dissapointed that I did not find out about the new engine until a day after I bought my CX-9. That combined with the uncomfortable seat bottom, I am really starting to regret my decision to buy a CX-9. It is really quite depressing....
Again, this is for Canada. I will update the CX-7 Board as well if the info is not already there. Cheers
If you really want to get crazy, you can actually take off the seat cover and add some foam padding. Not sure what's involved with the CX-9...probably have to take out the seat or something...
I was a bit disappointed though :-( as I was wishing they would put a V6 on it after seeing the change in power plant in the CX-9 (from 3.5 to 3.7) after only 1 year. Changing from 'Premium Required' to 'Premium Recommended' doesn't mean much to me, as 'Recommended' means there's a difference, and I wouldn't put regular in it only to see a drop in power. :confuse:
Which V6 would you rather have in the CX-7? The 3.7L? I think that may go against the intended purpose of the product, although, I wouldn't say it's a bad idea.
I am completely sick about the whole thing. I can not tell you how horrable I fell at this moment. I am going to lose thousands of dollars, but I cannot stand it any longer. I spend 4-6hr a day driving and this is just intolerable. I had an upolstry guy look at it and he said there is not enough padding tword the rear of the seat bottom and the frame is too narrow in the rear. tehre are two part sont eh fram of the seat bottom that are just under the cover and they put two pressre points on the sides of my rear end.
I HIGHLY RECOMED THAT you NOT buy a CX-9 if you are a larger than mormal person. I cannot believe that anyone over 200lb would find these seats to be comfortable on a long trip.
PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.....
I'm a Texas big boy... 6'2 and about 260. I've had nothing but comfort from our CX-9.Currently, my wife and I have amassed about 6,500 miles since we leased ours in February.
We have pretty good mixed driving between our Mazda6 and our CX-9.
Really, what it comes down to is each person's own personal comfort level, most likely based on unique body characteristics. To generalize that everyone larger in stature will be uncomfortable is misleading and untrue.
ZOOM-ZOOM
Good warning for all those considering purchase, to extensively test drive, or possibly even rent before buying. Probably a good precaution on any purchase, but this is not the first comment I've read about seating comfort on the CX-9.
How much would the upholstery guy charge to fabricate a new driver's seat. Surely that would be cheaper than taking the hit on selling a new car.
I stopped by and talked to the upolstry guy today and I am going to bring it in on Monday mourning. He is going to take the seat bottom apart and see if there is anything wrong with the construction of my seat or any defect in the materials. He felt around on the seat bottom and said that there appeared to be a lot of excess leather behind the two seams where the two colors meet in the seam on the side bolsters. He said that the amount of leather he could feel under the seam seemed unusual. He said it was probably not trimmed off properly before assembly. He thinks that the extra wad of leather might be what is poking into the side of my hips. He did note that he did not feel the same wad of leather on the passenger's seat bottom.
He also suggested adding about 5/8 - 1" of foam in the bottom rear section of the seat. He thinks that I am sinking too far down in the seat at the back and that combined with some excess leather in the seam is causing my discomfort. He said if this is the problem, It would be an easy fix and I should not be able to see any difference in the seat.
I'll let you guys know how it goes...
Dealer in San Jose (Oak Tree) mentioned Nov or Dec 2007. It sounds a bit too late but considering that 2007 entered the market only in Feb, they might be delaying the 2008 entry.
Any reliable info out there?
Also, the dealer mentioned that he already has about 3 orders placed for the new model and requires a $500 down payment.
Is it even a good idea to put money down on a model that is not even seen yet although it wouldn't be much different from the specs posted already and exterior will obviously remain the same as 2007?
Any input ?
The 3.5L -> 3.7L engine change might delay things a little bit...
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=108454
BTW, the only reason I wanted to look at the GT was for the NAV, but the NAV was quite bad - very unintuitive, the display/text were too light and the fonts had too much jagged edges. The one in my 6 yr old Honda was a much better system. The bluetooth setup/integration was a breeze and worked at first attempt with my Moto Q. (But didn't work with my wife's Moto V710)