The News Wheel
No Comments

MotorWeek Awards CX-9 Title of Best Large Utility

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

Mazda 2017 CX-9

You really have to hand it to Mazda—since its break with Ford, it has set about reinventing itself and creating the kinds of vehicles that people want to drive, and now, if the awards that continually come in are any indication, the company has reached that goal.

The latest of these awards comes to the Zoom Zoom brand from MotorWeek, the automotive television network—at MotorWeek’s annual Drivers’ Choice Awards, the editorial team gave the Mazda CX-9 the title of Best Large Utility.

The Drivers’ Choice Awards are intended to be an annual review of the new vehicles on the market, which the editorial team evaluates from the “buyer’s point of view”—that means that each of the more than 150 vehicles that the editors look at are evaluated for certain qualities which MotorWeek feels buyers value most—driving performance, technology, practicality, and dollar value. By the end, MotorWeek has created a practical guide for car shopping.

The Mazda CX-9 likely set itself apart from the other three-row SUVs on the market in a number of ways. First, the SUV is equipped with a 2.5-liter turbocharged engine, producing 227 hp (or 250 if you fill it with premium, according to Mazda) and 310 lb-ft of torque, while delivering fuel economy of 22 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway (for FWD models—AWD drops that to 21 mpg in the city and 27 mpg on the highway).

Plus, with technology like three-zone automatic climate control (on the base level trim) and an engine that delivers most of its torque at only 2,000 RPM, the CX-9 was clearly the right choice.