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Carmel to LA: Our Mazda CX-9 Road Trip
One of the reasons we launched Car & Caboodle started with a road trip we took when our daughter was just seven weeks old. We were offered the chance to try out a new 2007 Mazda CX-9 and drive it from Carmel, California to Los Angeles. Despite concern about how our newborn daughter would take to a 6-hour car ride, the CX-9 was one of the cars we were considering to buy, and this seemed like a great way to see if we really liked the car.
You see, since the birth of our daughter, my wife and I were just beginning to consider what kind of new car we should get. Some of the questions we asked ourselves included:
- What is the right size car for us? A bigger car means more room for stuff, but you gotta wonder if all that stuff is necessary to schlep.
- What's the gas mileage? Should we go hybrid? With gas prices over $3 a gallon, this seems important.
- Can we stay hip and how do we avoid a minivan? We're not going to be one of those families, are we?
- Will the car have room for both our baby and Labrador Retriever? Pre-baby, we took our dog to the beach, on hikes, and to dog parks. Is it possible to still do that in one car with our baby?
- Does it have driver side memory seats? For us, this is a highly personal issue, maybe not for you, but we love it when we don't have to readjust the seat, mirrors and steering wheel every time we switch drivers.
- Does the car seat fit in the back row? We found out that in some cars, a car seat in the back meant sacrificing passenger legroom in the front.
As for our road trip, there are reasons why the CX-9 won Motor Trends SUV of the Year. The design details, the power, and the room for lots of baby gear makes this a good car choice for families. With its third row option, there's room for your children's friends, and still some usable storage behind it. My one drawback is that the car's sleek design lines and powerful engine doesn't necessarily match the softer steering feel. When I mentioned this to Mazda, they told me that their smaller CX-7 had a sportier ride while the CX-9 was designed for a more luxurious ride. Overall, we enjoyed our road trip, took longer breaks to feed our daughter along the way, and thought that the CX-9 was a worthy choice to consider for our family.
Best of all, the road trip started the conversation that launched Car & Caboodle.
Related CX-9 Links:
Official CX-9 Website [Mazda USA]
Our Road Trip Photos [via Flickr]
CX-9 lets suburbanites ditch safari dreams [MSNBC]
Rigors of Extreme Camping No Match for Crossover [Mother Proof]
in | by Robert | Car Reviews | Permalink |
Tags: cx-9, mazda, road trip
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