On the Cover Review: 2010 Mazda CX-9

Go anywhere there are young kids—school parking lots, soccer fields, parent’s night out—and you are going to see Toyota Siennas, Honda Odysseys, and Chevy Suburbans as far as the eye can see.  These people love minivans and SUVs.  And yet, you can’t pick up a car magazine that doesn’t remind us how much people hate the stigma of driving minivans and SUVs, so that’s why we have all these crossovers.  Somebody must be buying them, though, because there sure are a lot of choices.  The CX-9 is one of them.  It seats seven passengers.  You can buy it with front- or all-wheel drive.  Turning your two or four wheels is a 273-hp, 3.7-liter V6.  The CX-9 shares its basic platform design with the Ford Edge.  It doesn’t exactly drive as nice as a car, but it isn’t as top-heavy as a minivan, and anyway, most cars can’t carry seven people.  It isn’t as practical as a minivan, but hey, people can’t stand those things.