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SUVs Acura MDX Acura MDX vs Mazda CX-9
30 messages, Last post on Nov 17, 2009 at 3:35 PM
You are in the Acura MDX Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Replying to: bill124 (Dec 06, 2007 12:30 pm) As pei4life & bill124 indicated, my 'decision' (  ) was made by my wife. My wife, a conservative lady, did not want anything to do with Mazda & as previous owners of Acuras & Mazdas, she knows first hand that Acuras are more reliable. And better resale value. Hence the MDX. We are getting the black/blacl with roof rails & Xbars and running boards. So atleast for the next 2 years, the MDX is 'it'. Thanks again to edmunds.com forum members. Always helpful. |
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Replying to: magesh (Dec 06, 2007 1:02 pm) We are looking for an SUV for our second home in Colorado to replace our Subaru impreza WRX. ( waaaaaay too small and the stick shift is annoying for me and impossible for our sons. Younger son has not yet learned to drive stick shift. Older son, who learned under duress, reckoned he would rather sit at home and starve to death than have to drive the stick shift out to get sustenance.) We purchased 2007 MDX with navigation for our primary residence about 6 months ago. I am pretty happy with it. Overall I like it, but there are minor things that annoy me. The car in Colorado, while not being used every day, needs to fulfill a lot of different needs and functions. It will be doing a lot of highway driving between Denver and the mountains. It needs to handle well in snow. It needs to be cool enough to fit the image of my son, the CU college student. It needs to be big enough to haul disparate groups of people and baggage, boxes, furniture etc as well as all his college possessions when moving. I had not originally wanted to spend over $40 000 on a car which is used only occasionally so had not included the MDX in my research. Looked at Hyundai Veracruz, Subaru Tribeca, Toyota highlander and settled on Mazda Grand Touring CX9. Liked the looks, interior volume, legroom, ease of accessing 3rd row of seats, blue tooth. I LOVED the keyless start and power liftgate trunk. ( That was one of the things I had compromised on when buying the Acura.) My husband wanted to revisit our decision regarding the Acura and rightly pointed out that if we forego the nav package ( which I don't want anyway) it brings the cost down to about $37 000, which is still about $5000 more than what we would pay for the GT with the features we want. Admittedly, I have only briefly test driven the mazda so I don't know if there will be minor things that annoy me about it. I want to buy something this weekend as I can't take another week of having my knees up to my chin while my son's knees poke me in the back in the Subaru. Any input will be appreciated. |
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Replying to: waverley (Dec 19, 2007 7:41 am) The base model Acura MDX, which does not include NAV, starts at $40k. How do you get to $37k--are you talking about invoice price? The CX-9 is nice and sporty, and is one of my top choices. You might want to take a look at the GMC Acadia if you want something that is slightly bigger, and is probably a bit more easier to get into the third row if you get captains chairs. The CX-9 feels more nimble than the Acadia, though.
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Replying to: nxs138 (Dec 19, 2007 10:27 am) Yes, did look at Acadia also before settling on Mazda. Thanks |
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Replying to: waverley (Dec 19, 2007 7:41 am) My needs were very specific. We looked at a wide range & ended up with the MDX. Plus it was the wife's decision ...  After driving the MDX for a week, I like it. I still think about the CX9 in relation to the keyless entry & the blind spot monitoring system. I do miss those two things. CX9 is a good car; but I doubt if it has the same road handling skills/ability has the MDX. Since you have the MDX, try the CX9. You'll notice that the build quality is not in the same league as the MDX. Plus the CX9 is based on the Ford Edge/Lincoln MK platform. On the CX9 the dashboard will look 'cheap' compared to the MDX. ANother thing: you cannot enter destination address in the nav system while driving on the CX9. In the MDX you can. Another suggestion: See if there is a rental place that will allow you to rent the CX9 for a week. Compare it. Good luck.
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Replying to: magesh (Dec 19, 2007 11:24 am)
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Replying to: magesh (Dec 19, 2007 11:24 am) |
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I started to search the second car for my family back in September. CX-9, MDX, and 08 Highlander were on my final list. The original first choice was 08 Highlander because my previous car (now is my wife's) was 07 Camry XLE V6, and I love its smart key, touch-screen Nav, powerful/smooth 3.5L V6, and comfort ride, but I dislike Camry's cheap interior design and plastic/leather seat. The Interior design in 08 highlander looks much better in pictures, but when I sat in, the same cheap feeling coming back to me. The cabin feels small and narrow, the cargo space after 3rd row seat is vert limited. Besides, the MSRP full-loaded Limited model is closed to 42K! Even after discount it still costs 38K. HID is not even an option (very important to me) so It is off my list. Then I saw CX-9 won Motor Trend SUV of the year, and GT model looks very sharp. It also comes with HID and bigger interior room. Fully loaded GT is probably cheapest (36K) and it also has 0% finance. But it didn't win out because: 1. Nav is poorly designed. 2. You can't have moonroof and rear DVD entertainment system at the same time. 3. 20" Alloy wheel looks nice but ride is bumpy. 4. Only one button for both the drive and passenger heated seats.. At last I choice MDX tech/ent for 42.3K (MSRP is 46K). At the first test drive I know it is going to be my car and I didn't even look back. The handling with SH-AWD is the best, and it's suprisingly very comfy and quiet. I feel like driving a sports car! The interior is totally luxury: the leather seats are soft and comfortable, my wife loves 2nd row heated seat and trio-zone climate control. My 10-months old baby falls asleep everytime she gets in it. The ELS 10-speaker surrend-sound system is amazing. Nav is easy to use and voice command system is accurately recognize what I said. However, my only complaints: 1. Gas mileage is not so great. I get 17 in city/20 hwy (coming from 22/31 V6 Camry) 2. Bluetooth is not easy to use. Only AT&T Sony Errison fully supports phonebook transfer..Toyota's bluetooth can allow you edit your own phone book and speed dial on touch screen is so much easier for me. Even though it's 4K-6K more than CX-9 and Highlander, it's totally worthy it!
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Replying to: wtliao321 (Dec 21, 2007 9:13 am)
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Replying to: upstatedoc (Dec 21, 2007 10:29 am) Drumroll please. We went with the Acura MDX . No additional packages this time. Up until 2 weeks ago, we had narrowed the choices down to the Highlander and the Mazda CX9 Grand Touring. Would have been happy with either but chose the Mazda because it had more rear cargo room than the Highlander and the rear seat of the highlander can not be split and folded down.LOved the smart key,( While I did like the heated washer fluid and the snow package on the highlander as this car is primarily for a second home in snow country, the Mazda was the best fit overall) Then, as I mentioned before, my husband wanted to revisit the Acura as we have, at home, the 2007 model with tech package and he likes it, feels it is a known quantity and has the stability, and solid feel he is looking for. I decided that going with his choice was the best decision. As this car will do very low mileage we will most likely keep it a long time. If the Mazda was found to be lacking in any way, I did not want to have to listen for the next 10 years to his plaintive voice saying, " I TOLD you we should have bought the Acura." So everyone is happy. We did not go with the Tech package on this one. Again, if we keep the car for 8 to 10 years, the GPS will be obsolete long before then. For the limited times that we need it,I would rather buy a hand held one which can be upgraded every couple of years. I will miss the back up camera. Hopefully, we won't run over any pedestrians. I won't miss the voice command system as it doesn't understand me most of the time and I end up swearing at the car. ( I am so pathetic!) The base model has a very good package and had everything we needed. Will post what the final price was. Not sure as I walked out and left DH to do the negotiating. Thanks to all for all the advice and input.
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