Wheels Australia — June 2017

132 wheelsmag.com.au

OurGara

WEEK 12

4444

333

003051

URBAN COUNTRY SPORTS FAMILY MOTORWAY

TWO days. That’s all it took out on the street

for the reigning Wheels Car of the Year to

succumb to thousands of dollars of damage.

For the first five weeks at Chateau Hagon

the still-new CX-9 long-termer had been

tucked safely away in my carport. But the

arrival of an MX-5 RF test car saw it relegated

to life on the streets, which is when things

went wrong.

The culprit? Ice. Big chunks of it falling

from the sky. I wasn’t even home when

the biggest hailstorm in years hit Sydney’s

north, destroying thousands of cars and

stripping leaves from trees.

To be fair, the CX-9 wasn’t destroyed.

Golf ball-sized stones left more than a

dozen dings in the roof and bonnet, but no

windows were smashed. From 10 metres

away you’d struggle to spot the damage.

Still, for $63K of new car it’s less than

ideal. And the aluminium bonnet is likely

requiring replacement due to the metal’s

reluctance to be beaten back into shape.

From now on, though, the Azami AWD

will be back under cover, something that

often provides a source of excitement for my

kids. They love it when I reverse towards

the plants at the back of the carport and let

the auto braking system grab the anchors

hard, which is accompanied by a graunching

sound as the ABS does its thing.

My wife isn’t as enamoured and refuses to

take part in such skylarking. She’s a bigger

fan of the 12-speaker Bose sound system

(complete with a subwoofer in the boot)

coupled to the digital radio tuner. There’s

decent bass and crisp treble, making for

great 80s blasts.

However, the digital radio reception isn’t

as strong as it is in a Toyota, Holden, Audi or

Mercedes-Benz. You can be happily bopping

along to Whitney Houston (the missus, not

me...) on full bore, proud of how in-tune you

are and how well you’re hitting the high notes

... before being hit with the sound of silence

when the reception strikes a black hole.

Somehow the CX-9 finds plenty of them.

It’s then you realise how out of tune you

are. And how you’re at least two octaves shy

of hitting those high notes.

TOBY HAGON

Ice, ice baby delivers a punishing pounding to CX-9’s panels

Hail to the chief

Boost juice

Fuel thirst is a hot topic among owners of seven-seat SUVs and Mazda

acknowledges the original CX-9 (powered by a 3.7-litre V6) was no

saint. The turbo four-cylinder second-gen CX-9’s official combined

cycle consumption drops to 8.8L/100km, which is more miserly than

petrol-powered V6 competitors but falls short of all-paw diesel rivals

(7.8L/100km for the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe) and the

Pathfinder hybrid (8.5L/100km). Our best effort on a 110km/h

freeway run is 8.2L/100km, but around town it’s solidly in the 12s.

DA CX 9 AZAMI

cquired:January 2017

as tested:$64,695

month: 899km @ 12.2L/100km

ll:2048km @ 11.2L/100km

SOCKET

SET

Dual USB ports in

rear centre arm rest

are our new favourite

feature, perfect for

keeping tablets

topped up

00 3

MAZD

Datea

Pricea

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Overal

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