The Mazda CX-9 is one of the industry’s three-row SUVs being sold on the market today. Finding the right combination of features and equipment for your CX-9 will make or break your Mazda SUV experience. 

Since there are several trims to choose from, picking the one that matches what you need will help your purchase be successful. To help you out, Kelley Blue Book reports what each trim level brings to the CX-9, so you’ll find just what you want in your SUV purchase.

What do the Sport, Touring, and Carbon Edition trims offer?

The Sport trim is the Mazda CX-9’s base model, and it comes with a price tag of approximately $33,960 without the destination charge. The features it includes are the iActivesense driver aids, rain-sensing wipers, 18-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. 

The Touring trim is the next step up in the CX-9 lineup. It offers a power slide/recline second-row seat, leather seating in rows one and two, a self-dimming rearview mirror, a power-adjustable front passenger seat, and a powered tailgate. The MSRP for the Touring is $36,850.

The Carbon-Edition is the newest trim to come out for the Mazda CX-9 in the 2021 model. It offers 20-inch metallic-black wheels, heated and ventilated front seats, second-row captain’s chairs, heated steering wheel, and adaptive headlights. The MSRP of this model is $42,180.

What comes with the Grand Touring and Signature trim levels?

The two top-of-the-line trims are the Grand Touring and the Signature. The Grand Touring includes a navigational system, driver’s attention alert system, 360-degree camera, road sign recognition, and 20-inch alloy wheels. The MSRP of this trim is $43.040. AWD is an option, but it will set you back about $1,900. 

The Signature, the top trim level, has all-wheel-drive as a standard feature. It also has Nappa leather material for the seats, Santos Rosewood interior wood trim for accent, and a LED grille lighting for stylish accents. The price for this top-tier level is $47,705. If you add the Soul Red Crystal body paint, the price goes up by $595.

An overview of the Mazda CX-9

The Mazda CX-9 is a three-row SUV with great maneuverability and can seat up to seven people if you choose a powered split-bench for the second row. There’s plenty of head- and legroom for the driver and some of its passengers. However, the third-row isn’t as accommodating to adults as some of its rivals. Children should find the last row comfortable, though. 

The cargo area only gives you 14.4 cubic feet of space behind the third row, which isn’t much when you compare it to its competitors. If you fold down both the second and third-row seats, you’ll have 71.2 cubic feet of space to use – plenty of room to haul a large piece of furniture. 

This SUV has a 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that runs like a V6 with its 320 lb-ft of torque if you use 93-octane fuel. Otherwise, you can expect 310 lb-ft of torque. Running alongside it is a six-speed automatic transmission. 

Fuel economy rates are pretty average for this size of vehicle. The Mazda CX-9 gets 28 mpg on the highway with the front-wheel-drive version. The AWD model drops to 26 highway mpg. 

The Mazda CX-9 has some pretty impressive points, but one of the biggest limitations it has is the fact that it can only tow up to 3,500 lbs. This could be a deal-breaker for some who need it to haul heavy trailers or other equipment. Otherwise, it’s a decent three-row SUV.