Mazda: New CX-9 will be better than Toyota rivals - Motoring
Mazda has bullishly predicted the second-generation CX-9 will be a better vehicle than the two Toyotas that dominate the large SUV class – the Prado and the Kluger. At the same time, Mazda Australia managing director Martin Benders has made it clear the new CX-9, which is expected to debut at the Los Angeles motor show in November and go on sale in Australia next year, will be the only seven-seat SUV from the... au was told by Mazda sources the CX-7 badge would be revived in 2016 in the form of a stretched CX-5 medium SUV with a third row of seats. With Mazda also already making it clear it won't be using the basis of the BT-50 pick-up to develop an equivalent of the Ford Everest ladder-frame SUV, the CX-9 is left unchallenged as the company's largest SUV. But it is under the skin where the CX-9 is expected to make big gains, trading its thirsty Ford-sourced 3. 7-litre petrol V6 engine in for a more efficient new SKYACTIV-G 2. 5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine. "Even today the CX-9 still gets really good raps and the only complaints we really get about it are fuel economy," said Benders. "So if we can deliver a similar drive experience and torque experience and bring the fuel down to manageable levels then I think we are on to a winner, because from a packaging point of view when you stack a CX-9 up against a Prado it's a lot more... Source: www.motoring.com.au
