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2021 Mazda CX-9 Review | The driver's family crossover

So you need a big family SUV, but you really don't want one. You'd definitely miss driving your smaller, sportier car, and frankly, you'd rather not hold a grudge against your kid(s) and significant other for forcing you into some vast, cumbersome beast of an automotive pachyderm. Well, there might be a happy medium: the 2021 Mazda CX-9. The CX-9 may be a three row, seven-passenger crossover, but it prioritizes driving enjoyment and interior ambiance over providing maximum space and practicality. Now that does mean it has less cargo space than those vast, cumbersome beasts and bigger kids will struggle to fit in its third row. It also can seat only seven passengers. In that way, it's better to think of the CX-9 as a two-row SUV with a bonus row for rare occasions. Honestly, that's what most people use their three-row crossovers for anyway, and if that fits your needs, then the CX-9 is a great way to go. It's a rewarding, comfortable and capable people-hauler that doesn’t feel like a punishment for parenting.   What's new for 2021? Though largely unchanged from when this generation debuted for the 2016 model year, the Mazda CX-9 gets a few small but significant enhancements for 2021. Headlining these updates is an all-new infotainment system with a larger screen and more advanced rotary control system. It makes a big difference. Mazda also updated the design of the wheels and grille on the top-end CX-9 Signature, and now offers a Carbon Edition model that slots between the Touring and Grand Touring trims. The Carbon Edition adds "Polymetal Gray" exterior paint, gloss black door mirrors, a unique gloss black front grille and 20-inch black metallic aluminum alloy wheels. Inside, it adds red leather seats and black interior trim on the dash, door panels and handle bezels. What are the CX-9 interior and in-car technology like? The interior varies by trim level, but with Mazda making moves to grab customers from some of the luxury brands on its "path to premium," the higher grades do look and feel like a high-quality, comfortable place to spend time. There are some rally nice materials in use, depending on the trim level, including Nappa leather and something called Santos Rosewood. It's all laid out in a straightforward, traditional way though crafted with care and attention to detail. Mazda's tech interface, which had been a liability in the CX-9, is upgraded for 2021 to the same one featured in the smaller CX-30. The dashtop screen is large and easy to see.

Did Mazda designer Derek Jenkins leave to head up a 'Stealth Project?'

Not long after Derek Jenkins officially gave the 2016 MX-5 Miata to the buying world, he's left the Mazda building. Jalopnik reported that the head of design for Mazda North America changed the current job description on his LinkedIn profile to "Stealth Project." Mazda backed up the discovery with this reply to Jalop's inquiry: Derek left Mazda last Friday. He left on great terms in order to work on a new endeavor. We wish him the best of luck. He will be missed, but we are sure that he will do great things in the next chapter of his career. That "last Friday" would be July 17. Emphasizing the "stealth" bit in his new position, as far as we can tell, Jenkins still hasn't publicly answered any question about what he's doing. Every automaker has secrets, but traditional automakers usually make a hubbub about hiring big-name designers, especially one with Jenkins' resume. For his new employer to go all Ghost Recon with all information, well that's the kind of mystery this summer needs. The obvious culprit would be a certain fruit-named company in a certain Cupertino, CA office park. If that ends up being the case, Jenkins would be the second chief designer at Mazda NA to go electric: he replaced Franz von Holzhausen in the position after von Holzhausen went to Tesla. Various other Apple Project Titan hires have made the news, though. For all we know, Jenkins' project might not be automotive. So let's just go ahead and cue the speculation. We're looking forward to whatever he's got coming, and to whoever gets nominated to keep the full head of Zoom-Zoom going at Mazda NA.

Electric Miata smokes Tesla Model S at the track

Yes, folks, you read that headline right. A souped up battery-electric version of a Mazda Miata took down a Tesla Model S on a quarter-mile drag strip. And it wasn't even close. Road Test TV was kind enough to post a video of a forest-green Miata (and its very stoked driver) doing a quarter-mile run in a rather brisk 9.27 seconds, beating the Model S sedan by a whopping 3.5 seconds in the process. And the Mazda crossed the finish line moving at 142 miles per hour, or 40 miles per hour faster than the Tesla was going when it finished the race. It's a good thing for the Tesla owner that they weren't racing for pink slips. Granted, the comparison is probably an unfair one because the Tesla was a stock, production vehicle (the P85 Performance model, but still), whereas who knows how the Miata was juiced up and how much cash it took to do the job. It's sort of like putting, say, an automotive writer against Usain Bolt because we ate the same breakfast and share 99 percent of our DNA. Still, the video does lend a certain credence to the idea that a battery-electric, super-light, rear-wheel-drive Miata would be a lot of fun, or at least a heck of lot more fun than any other Mazda out there. We're just sayin'. Check out the 100-second video below, and remember not to blink. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.