Over the last couple of weeks, we have done a fair amount of traveling.
We hit the beach for Memorial Day and the next weekend we bounced back through Columbia and up to Greenville/Clemson for my niece’s high school graduation.
I was loaned the Mazda CX-9 for two weeks free of charge for the purposes of this blog and social posts. All opinions are my own, as always!
Mazda was kind enough to lend us their CX-9 AWD for our adventures, and I definitely felt like I was on another level! Our regular car is a 2004 Nissan Quest with almost 250,000 miles on it, so I’m not used to this sort of luxury!
The two tone leather seats were comfortable and the front came equipped with heating AND COOLING, while the back seats were heated as well.
The CX-9 was definitely tricked out with all the extras: DVD screens, Sirius satellite radio, rear and front cameras as well as a satellite view, a sunroof, electric seats, USB ports, retractable sun shades, and my personal favorite…the heads up display. It projects things like speed limit, your actual speed, stop signs, and even navigation onto the windshield. There’s so many awesome features that come with this Mazda!
You can see for yourself by visiting a Mazda dealership and taking one for a test drive! In the mean time, check out this video my car fanatic husband made where he talks about some of the cool features of the vehicle. (Bonus: A great South African accent)
As far as my personal opinion after driving/riding in this car for two weeks…
It’s very comfortable to ride in. The seats have so many different settings that it’s easy to find the sweet spot, which is especially great on long road trips! The Mazda CX-9 is easy to drive, and rides really smooth. With the adaptive cruise control turned on, it practically drives itself!
We put two car seats in the back, one forward facing and one rear facing. They fit pretty well in there with leg room for my almost 4 year old. He did manage to kick our seats though! When the baby started crying on the long ride to the beach, I was able to squeeze myself between them. It wasn’t easy or comfortable, but I did it!
The Mazda was a good car for a short trip, but for anything longer than a weekend getaway, I don’t know if we could have fit all the things we needed in there! It has an amazing amount of trunk space, even with the third row up, but for us it just wasn’t quite enough.
After two days of driving the Mazda around town, I couldn’t stand the thought of going back to driving my van. After about two weeks, I honestly missed having so much space and was a little more okay with moving our crew back to the huge mini van.
The Mazda CX-9 is a NICE car. It’s got plenty of room, drives well, and has all the bells and whistles. But in the spirit of full transparency, it wouldn’t work for us as a daily family car right now. Once our kids are out of their car seats…definitely.
Thank you SO MUCH to Mazda for letting me see how the other half lives for a couple of weeks! I felt so classy getting in and out of my shiny new car! It was absolutely perfect for our road trips and my son almost cried when he found out we had to give it back!
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