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2009 Honda Pilot vs. 2008 Mazda CX-9 vs. 2008 Toyota Highlander

549 messages,  Last post on Feb 11, 2013 at 8:48 PM

You are in the Honda Pilot Forum.

What is this discussion about? Mazda CX-9, Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Car Comparisons, SUV

Messages Page 54 of 56

#526 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [luckyseven] by aviboy97

Jul 06, 2011 (10:20 am)

Replying to: luckyseven (Jul 05, 2011 7:56 pm)
HL is also superior in handling to other 2 because it is a bit lighter so I wouldn't call it boring brick on wheels.
 
While the Highlander is slightly faster to 60, it is equal to the CX-9 in the quarter mile. It gets destroyed in the corners. With every media outlet that has tested the road manners of any 3 row crossover, the CX-9 repeatedly beats the Highlander, and every other non luxury 3 row CUV on the market. Nothing has changes in the 4 years the car has been on the market.
 
Here is a quote from a March 2011 comparo from Motor Trend in regards to the Highlanders handling: "The faster you go, the more this thing wobbles."
 
In contrast, the same article praised the CX-9: "As a high speed, canyon-carving seven-seater, the CX-9 is severely gifted. It actually inspires confidence when you push, quite unlike the rest of the field"
 
I'm not trying to bash the Highlander in any way. It is a really good car, but lets not call it what it's not...which is a better handler than the CX-9.

#527 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [aviboy97] by davicho

Jul 06, 2011 (11:01 am)

Replying to: aviboy97 (Jul 06, 2011 10:20 am)
Thank you aviboy...precisely my point!

#528 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [luckyseven] by davicho

Jul 06, 2011 (11:12 am)

Replying to: luckyseven (Jul 06, 2011 9:09 am)
Luckyseven, let me let you in a dirty little secret too...I have been a Honda Certified Parts Proffesional for about 12 years now and have worked for a few dealers including my current position with an auto group that includes the following:
Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ford, Lincoln, GM, Chevrolet, Buick, Honda, Toyota and Scion.
 
I certainly consider looks for my purchases among other considerations. Did you notice that I own a Mazda CX-9 which we (the Auto Group) do not carry as one of our makes? Precisely my point...I was not impressed witht he offerings all these makes provided in the CUV segment...including (again) the ho-hum boring and ugly looking HL (again, my opinion). However, given that you say that " no one buys these cars for looks" I can see why your choice was to go with an HL.

#529 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [davicho] by luckyseven

Jul 06, 2011 (11:48 am)

Replying to: davicho (Jul 06, 2011 11:12 am)
There is a little more add to it... I owned a Protege years ago and my customer experience was really bad with it, what a money pit. I also owned Civic, Accord(s), Camry, and HL and will not likely ever go back to Mazda. Even if Toyotas and Hondas are not the prettiest cars on the road they do deliver.

#530 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [luckyseven] by davicho

Jul 06, 2011 (2:21 pm)

Replying to: luckyseven (Jul 06, 2011 11:48 am)
Now here is a statement I agree with you on. Although my CX-9 has had 88,xxx problem-free miles (knocking on wood).

#531 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [luckyseven] by aviboy97

Jul 06, 2011 (2:45 pm)

Replying to: luckyseven (Jul 06, 2011 11:48 am)
"Get burned once, shame on you. Get burned twice, shame on me". I really cannot blame you for not wanting to invest in Mazda again, however, your issue was not the norm. The Protege was a really good car.
 
All car companies have cars that do break down from time to time, even Honda's Toyota's, Mazda's etc....Working in the industry, I can attest to every brand of vehicle go through my service department and needing a boat load of work.
 
On a side note, my 2005 Mazda6 is around 80,000 trouble free miles.

#532 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [davicho] by sixth_gear

Jul 06, 2011 (4:13 pm)

Replying to: davicho (Jul 05, 2011 4:19 pm)
Isn't this so often the case. The genius marketing team turns a half-useful product to successful must-have, or an incompetent marketing team fails a talented engineering team.
Latter seemed to have happened in the case of Mazda. Engineering department did a great job besting Pilot and Highlander in almost every aspect (per major reviewers), but all I, a representative of the ignorant masses, knew about Mazda before I started delving deeper, was a stupid "zoom zoom" catchphrase. Noway as a prospective buyer would I have ever known that CX-9 is arguably better (let alone close) to it's Honda and Toyota competitors. I wouldn't even know the intent behind "zoom zoom", apparently they are trying to convey that Mazdas are sportier and faster than most other cars.
Mazda should seriously think about dumping their marketing team if not the upper management too, considering the disparity between on paper ratings and on the road presence.

#533 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [sixth_gear] by aviboy97

Jul 07, 2011 (6:44 am)

Replying to: sixth_gear (Jul 06, 2011 4:13 pm)
Mazda should seriously think about dumping their marketing team if not the upper management too, considering the disparity between on paper ratings and on the road presence
 
Mazda has a new marketing partner. Their new tag line is "We build Mazda's. What do you drive?" They have a new slew of commercials out as well.
 
In any event, Mazda has a difficult task when it comes to marketing because they do not have the marketing budget to go toe to toe with Honda, Toyota, GM, Ford and Hyundai. So, Mazda relys on the Internet, word of mouth and owner loyalty.
 
Mazda build a great product, but, they do have trouble brining attention to the brand...

#534 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [aviboy97] by citivas

Jul 07, 2011 (7:00 am)

Replying to: aviboy97 (Jul 07, 2011 6:44 am)
I can’t speak for other areas but at least around where I live their dealer network is also part of the problem for Mazda. For one, they have fewer dealership around by far than Toyota or Honda which factors into both convenience once your servicing your vehicle, consumer choice, if you don’t have a good experience with a particular local dealer, and competitive pricing when shopping. In the same range of a 12 mile radius where I can chose from 4 Honda or Toyota dealers there is 1 Mazda dealer and it is a small, shabby dealership in a building that looks like it hasn’t been touched since the 1970’s, and not in a direction I would ever have reason to travel unless going to the dealership. And three years ago I went to the trouble to specifically negotiate for all three vehicles mentioned here – Pilot, Highlander, CX-9 – to see what kind of pricing I could get in comparison to the “real world” pricing posts I was reading here and other online tools. With Honda I quickly had multiple offers within the range of the deals I was reading online. The local Toyota dealerships were all over the map with at least one being as competitive as online deals and at least one being ridiculously high. But I only had one local choice for Mazda and they were not very competitive. Consequently I was able to get a fully loaded Pilot Touring for thousands less than the comparably equipped CX-9. In the end price wasn’t my only deciding factor. But the lack of dealer options and the un-impressiveness of the Mazda dealer definitely was a huge check against it. That combined with the Nav system collectively probably killed it for me.

#535 of 549 Re: If CX-9 is so great, how come.. [aviboy97] by davicho

Jul 07, 2011 (1:52 pm)

Replying to: aviboy97 (Jul 07, 2011 6:44 am)
Mazda's are great vehicles. The lack of marketing can be viewed in many different ways depending on personal opinions. My take is that marketing money goes into engineering/design making Mazda's (IMHO) one of the best handling non-luxury vehicles. This doesn't mean I agree with the minimal or lack of marketing for their line-up because I think that if more people ventured outside of the norm (Honda, Toyota) square they would realize what an awesome ride these Mazda's provide. I kid you not, my very first Mazda was a 2006 Mazda5 "Micro-van" and that little thing was fun to drive and handled better then my 2003 Honda Accord coupe sitting on Tokico shocks and Eibach springs. I was so surprised at how agile and precise that little wagon was compared to my Accord and that was on stock suspension brought to you by Mazda.
 
Anyway, if Mazda can spend a little more resources on marketing and their dealer network and customer service but still remain true to their "Zoom-Zoom" motto like they have been doing so. I bet more people would make the change and never look back at Honda and Toyota.

Messages Page 54 of 56

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