Automotive

2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD Review

2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD Review

The 2017 Mazda CX-9 offers up three-row seating, abundant features, and plenty of safety tech for growing families. But it’s the driving dynamics that set this family hauler apart from the seven-passenger SUV segment. In the top Signature trim, the CX-9 is exploring new territory, and that puts it up there with some of the luxury brands.
It’s the most luxurious in this class.
We recently drove the 2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature trim with all-wheel drive.
What’s New For 2017
Not much has changed except for the Mazda CX-9 Touring trim now comes standard with Smart City Brake Support. On the Signature trim, it comes standard as well.
Features & Options
The top-of-the line 2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD ($44,315) comes standard with plenty of features for families. It has 20-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights, tri-zone automatic climate control, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, 60/40-split folding second-row seats, 50/50-split folding third-row seats, and a rearview camera.
It also comes with heated mirrors, a power lift gate with adjustable height stops, keyless ignition and entry, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, low-speed emergency braking (Smart City Brake Support), heated front seats, premium leather upholstery, an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat (four-way front passenger seat), an 8-inch infotainment display, and two USB ports in the second-row center armrest.
Other features include LED fog lights, automatic wipers, roof rails, a sunroof, and adaptive cruise control.
Safety tech includes lane keeping assist, rear parking sensors, upgraded frontal collision warning and mitigation systems, and a heads-up display. Driver-seat memory functions, retractable sunshades for the middle-row seats, aluminum interior trim, and additional interior lighting are also included. Navigation, a 12-speaker Bose premium audio system, and satellite radio are standard; the Signature variant also adds exterior LED accent lighting and rosewood interior trim.
Total MSRP including destination: $45,855.

Interior Highlights
Comfortable and upscale are the two best words to describe the cabin of the XC-9 Signature trim. This top-trim makes liberal use of plush materials on the inside that we usually see in premium luxury vehicles. The fit and finish is tight, and the quality of materials are the best in this three-row crossover class. The CX-9 feels larger than it looks on the outside, and there’s plenty of room for taller adults.
The front seats are extra comfy and they won’t leave you tired at the end of the day, as we found out on two longer trips to Colorado Springs this week. The interior is extra comfortable for those long commutes, and for taking the family on a trip to the mountains for a weekend ski trip. The second row will easily accommodate two adults, and the third row is ideal for kids. There are two complaints we have, however: The front and rear doors are relatively short and we found ourselves hitting our head when we got out. There’s no heated steering wheel, which is a surprise for this top trim.
The CX-9 will hold as much cargo as most families will need, although it’s less than competing SUVs and crossovers. The power liftgate made it easy to load the extra cargo we had this week.

Engine & Fuel Mileage Specs

The 2017 Mazda CX-9 is powered by a 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, producing 227 horsepower and a healthy 310 lb-ft. of torque. It sends power to all four wheels by way of a six-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is standard on the Signature model.
EPA fuel mileage estimates are 20/26 city/highway and 23 combined mpg.
Driving Dynamics
We think the CX-9 drives much smaller than its actual size. It has Mazda’s sporty nature, which driving enthusiasts will appreciate. It’s nimble in city traffic and has a smooth, comfortable ride on the open highway. The cabin is especially quiet due to the raked body style with very little wind noise even at 75 mph.
On curvy mountain roads west of Denver this week, we experienced some body lean, but overall, the CX-9 powers around the tight curves with little effort. The 2.5-liter turbocharged engine has more power than you would think for an engine this size and will satisfy most drivers.
The CX-9 had no trouble passing slower traffic, even at altitude in the rarefied air near Evergreen, Colorado. We had no trouble accelerating quickly when merging – the 6-speed automatic transmission with Sport Mode is smooth and executes quick shifts when you need the extra boost. We had a heavy snow storm hit the west side of Denver that left us shut down for over an hour when they closed I-70. The all-wheel drive worked flawlessly and we had no trouble in the slick ice and snow that left others by the side of the road.
That said, we would characterize the CX-9 as one that gives the driver a feeling of confidence.
Conclusion
The 2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD trim delivers a level of luxury often seen in more expensive brands. Those who need a three-row crossover for commuting or taking the family on a ski trip on snow-packed roads will find the CX-9 will meet their needs. It delivers an impressive degree of comfort thanks to a smooth ride, quiet cabin, and a stylish raked design.
For more information about the CX9’s different trim levels, visit this page here.
Denis Flierl has invested over 25 years in the automotive industry in a variety of roles. Follow his work on Twitter: @CarReviewGuy
2017 Mazda CX-9 Gallery

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2017 Mazda CX-9 Official Site
Photos: Mazda North American Operations

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2018 Dodge Durango SRT: Not Your Father’s SUV

2018 Dodge Durango SRT: Not Your Father’s SUV

Well, Dodge has finally done it. The mad monks from the SRT Division have gotten loose, and got their hands on an innocent, mild-mannered SUV, the 2018 Durango. In this case, they have gone and stuffed a 6.4 Hemi into it and called it the “Dodge Charger of the Full-size SUV Segment.”
We at Automoblog couldn’t be happier. Look, we wear our biases on our sleeves here. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t speak for all of us (although I’m 99% sure of this) but at least I think that any car that’s good (as it is) can be made better by more power.
In the case of the 2018 Dodge Durango SRT, that turns out to be a lot of power. Specifically 475, which strikes me as both “a lot” and “quite adequate” amounts of horsepower.
Powerful Dialogue
Does any other car manufacturer do this? Are their any other hot rod SUVs out there? Porsche makes some pretty hairy Cayenne models, as does BMW with their X Series and Mercedes with AMG-plastered this and that. But when it comes to American iron, the 2018 Dodge Durango SRT is pretty much it, and the 2018 Dodge Durango SRT is about as ‘Murican you can get with a capital M.
Like seemingly all Mopar products, the discussion starts, and pretty much finishes under the hood. There you find the aforementioned 475 horsepower engine. The plant is, of course, a Hemi (or as Dodge prefers it: HEMI, in all caps, like it’s justifiably screaming at you). In this case, it’s displacing a healthy 392-cubic-inches. Dodge says the new 2018 Durango SRT is the most powerful three-row SUV and I am not going to quibble with them.
Torque? 470 lb.-ft. The exhaust system is new and tuned to sound like all high-performance Mopars.
“This is what you get, when you take everything great about the Durango and combine it with the performance of the Charger SRT: a 12-second quarter mile, toy-hauling, three-row muscle car,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands, Dodge, SRT, Chrysler, and Fiat – FCA North America. Photo: FCA US LLC.
Stamped & Certified
Even though the Dodge Durango weighs slightly less than a UPS truck (I’m guessing) Mopar says it’s the fastest SUV you can get. Oh, I’m sorry, Dodge doesn’t say that, the friggin’ NHRA says that. Yup Dodge went and handed the Durango SRT over to the National Hot Rod Association, the people who run professional drag racing, and the NHRA certified that the Durango SRT can pull quarter-mile times of 12.9 seconds, and hit 0-60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds.
I’ll let those numbers sink in – go ahead and compare them to what your car (your current car, not your truck) is capable of laying down – while I ponder the fact that, when I was in high school, up the street from me was one of the local hot shoes who thought he was the business with his Pontiac GTO. He was turning quarters in the mid-14s.
This is a truck, gentle readers. This is something with utility.
It just doesn’t just haul you know what; it can also haul things. And people. The Durango SRT has best-in-class towing capability of 8,600 pounds. It has three rows of seats. You can pick up the kid’s soccer team, realize you’re late for the match, step on it, and make it on time. Think of the unabated joyful screaming from the little nippers as garnish on the side of the plate.
The 2018 Dodge Durango SRT has functional center air-inlet ducts, flanked by heat extractors on the hood that keep the engine bay cool by removing hot air from the engine compartment. Photo: FCA US LLC.

Style & Design
It is not exactly a sleeper, however. There are new exterior bits and bobs like a wide body exterior design and a functional SRT hood – that’s the one with the center air inlet ducts and heat extractors off to the sides. The front fascia is new and the lower valence houses a new cold-air duct and LED fog lamps. A new SRT-inspired, body-color lower fascia with Gloss Black accents decorates the rear.
The 4-inch dual exhaust pipes are finished in Nickel Chrome and make for a very pleasing touch.
The Durango SRT is also has unique badging on the liftgate that denotes the new performance AWD system, and it’s available in 11 exterior colors, so you should be able to find something that suits your fancy.
On the inside, there’s standard leather and suede, with available high-performance Demonic Red Laguna leather seating. Cute, huh? There’s also new carbon-fiber trim to distinguish Durango SRT’s performance interior. Other interior treatments come in the way of technology and connectivity with the Uconnect 8.4-inch touchscreen. In there, driver’s will have access to Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and many different apps.
The Uconnect system also houses the SRT Performance Pages, where the Durango’s various performance stats and specs can be viewed in real-time.
The TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission takes into account variables, including engine torque gradients, kick-down events, longitudinal and lateral acceleration, grade changes, tire slip, and downshift detection to determine the appropriate transmission shift map. Photo: FCA US LLC.
Transmission Tech
The SRT’s transmission is the venerable TorqueFlite, only this one has been seriously monkeyed with. It’s an eight-speed automatic slush box specifically calibrated for the Dodge Durango SRT, with optimized shift points to deliver maximum torque to all four wheels. The transmission is operated via a new, driver-oriented electronic T-shifter. This is standard on all 2018 Durango models and provides you with instinctive gear selection – there’s also paddles behind the steering wheel to make choosing ratios easy and fun.
Drive Modes
The Durango SRT has an all-new, seven-mode drive system to give the driver (that would be you) the capability to adjust the settings to exploit performance or comfort. Out of the seven, there are two really worth mentioning: Sport Mode and Track Mode. The Sport Mode, which is new, reduces shift times by up to 50 percent versus Auto Mode and delivers up to 65 percent of the 392 HEMI engine’s torque to the rear wheels. Sounds fun, yes?
The Track Mode, also new, delivers all-out, track-oriented performance with shift times lowered to 160-milliseconds, and up to 70 percent of the engine’s torque to the rear wheels – this for for a more, a-hem, pronounced rear-wheel drive experience.
See, that sounded rational, didn’t it? Reading about “Track Mode” on an SUV! Just how bananas are these guys? They seriously have accounted for the possibility of you taking a truck out on the track.
The 2018 Dodge Durango SRT rides on a short-and long-arm (SLA) independent front suspension with coil springs, specially tuned Bilstein adaptive damping suspension (ADS), upper-and lower-control arms (“A” arms), and a stabilizer bar. In the rear, a specially tuned multi-link suspension design features coil springs, Bilstein ADS, aluminum lower control arms, independent upper links (tension and camber), plus a separate toe link, and a stabilizer bar. Photo: FCA US LLC.

Suspension & Braking
It’s not all just a big whompin’-stompin’ engine though, oh no. The performance-tuned AWD system is new and there’s a complex Active Damping System that opens and closes damper valves, according to which driving mode you choose. The springs are stiffer all around, 3 percent up front and 16 percent out back, along with an 18 percent stiffer rear sway bar. Dodge says this gives Durango SRT drivers “outstanding high-speed cornering capability.”
Okay, but you go find out whether that’s true or not first, then I’ll take it for a drive.
They also point out the 120-inch wheelbase and how it works in conjunction with the AWD system to deliver solid performance.
Yes, you can stop this thing. New Brembo high-performance brakes are fitted with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers at the rear. Yes, they are vented rotors at all four corners. Yes, they are roughly the size of pizzas, measuring 15 inches up front and 13.8 inches out back. Oh and the fronts are slotted.
Availability
Here’s a nice little bit Dodge throws in when you sign on the dotted line, purchasing one of these rides: All who buy a new Durango SRT will receive a full-day session at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Nice!
The 2018 Dodge Durango SRT will arrive at dealerships during the fourth quarter of this year. I’ve told the rest of the staff here at Automoblog they can get in line behind me, and then eat my dust.
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.
2018 Dodge Durango SRT Gallery

Photos & Source: FCA US LLC

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Aston Martin AM-RB 001: Airflow, Energy & Art

Aston Martin AM-RB 001: Airflow, Energy & Art

Giving Adrian Newey a clean sheet of paper and a functionally unlimited budget is sort of like giving the same to J. Robert Oppenheimer. Unsurprisingly, the results will be pretty similar: A considerable crater on the desert floor, and the sand turned into glass.
For those of you that don’t know, Newey is the head tech guy at Red Bull Racing, the F1 team funded by that anti-freeze/caffeine drink that makes you shake for the next 34 hours. Before that he was at Jaguar’s F1 team. Before that, McLaren. Before that, Williams. Before that, he designed a Leyton House March F1 car that nearly won.
Air Time
Now, I’m not going to say that Newey has made a pact with devil or anything, but he is a master of the dark art of aerodynamic engineering. Gifted doesn’t begin to describe the guy’s ability. Kelly Johnson, a fellow who knew a thing or two about aerodynamic engineering, is famous for saying, “aerodynamics is easy, once you can think like air.”
Near as I can tell, Newey is air.
Look at any of the competition crushing cars he made for Red Bull or McLaren or Williams. Want an even more up to date specimen? Have a look at the AM-RB 001, the hypercar he’s designed for Aston Martin. I swear, I’ve seen more irregular-shaped dolphins. From certain angles, there seems to be more space than car. The underbody and wheel treatments alone are staggering in both beauty and aerodynamic intent.
Photo: Aston Martin The Americas.
Beating Pulse
The company says “the heart of every Aston Martin is its engine,” which Newey probably has more than a few quibbles with, but hey, the badge does say “Aston Martin” and not “Adrian Newey,” so the Gaydon, England company gets to call the shots.
In the case of the AM-RB 001, Aston pulled out all the stops and went with Cosworth to design and manufacture the AM-RB 001’s bespoke, high-revving 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine. No power specs have been given, but I’d be very surprised if the 6.5-liter Cossy put out less than 700 horsepower.
The mill is bolted to a 7-speed paddle-shift transmission, designed and manufactured by Ricardo, to Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ specification. In other words, the transmission is not going to be that much different than what Ricardo builds for Red Bull’s F1 cars.
Synergistic Design
Oh, and did I mention this thing is a hybrid? Well, it is. The AM-RB 001 lightweight hybrid battery system is supplied by Rimac. Lightweight is also the watchword for the carbon fiber chassis. The AM-RB 001’s MonoCell (that’s Aston Martin’s term for the monocoque chassis) is constructed from carbon fiber by Multimatic, long term racing supplier. Multimatic also worked with Aston Martin on projects such as the One-77 and Vulcan. All this profligate lightness is focused on the goal of a power-to-weight ratio of 1:1 – in other words, one bhp for every kilogram of weight.
You wanna stop? Say hello to Alcon and Surface Transforms, who will supply the lightweight, high performance brake calipers and carbon discs required to whoa this brute up. Bosch gets the nod to handle the control units. Engine Control Unit (ECU), Traction Control Unit (TCU), and Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) are all specific to the AM-RB 001.
Photo: Aston Martin The Americas.

Innovative Art
“Much like Formula One, designing, engineering, and building a car like the AM-RB 001 is a massive team effort. To achieve great things you need to surround yourself with the best people. Experience, creativity, energy, diligence, and perfectionism are absolute must-have qualities in every area of the project. Having great technical partners such as those working with us is both reassuring and motivating. Together we aim to produce an innovative piece of engineering art,” Newey said.
This was just before he disappeared in a puff of purplish smoke, like a fluttering of a raven’s wings.
When? Soon. How much? A lot. How many? Not many. Only 150 AM-RB 001s are planned, including all remaining prototypes, with 25 additional track-only versions. The first deliveries are expected in 2019.
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

Photos & Source: Aston Martin The Americas

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The new bonkers Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE is here to rip your face off

The new bonkers Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE is here to rip your face off The 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE virtually one-ups the standard ZL1, making it the “most track-capable Camaro ever.”
What’s going on?
Chevrolet revealed the all-new track-focused Camaro ZL1 1LE, an upgraded version of the already insanely capable Camaro ZL1.
And yes, if you were thinking of it as a more intense Camaro ZL1, you’d pretty much be spot-on.
Boy-racer in looks, complete with a ridiculous, but functional giant rear-wing, all revisions actually function to improve the Camaro’s aerodynamics at speed. Though interestingly, power remains unchanged. Instead, the upgrades are focused in the chassis, suspension, and aerodynamics.
Ok, so it gets the same 6.2L supercharged LTA V8 as the standard ZL1. What’s new then?

Yea…that wing actually works.
Like the standard ZL1, the Camaro ZL1 LE gets the same supercharged V8 with 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. So the extras go on and inside the body, and mainly the suspension.
The rear wing is made entirely of carbon fiber, as are the added air deflectors on the bumpers. The latter are said to help increase downforce in the corners. Paired with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3R tires, a max lateral grip of 1.10g was measured.
The suspension is adjustable, with the front axles utilize adjustable shocks and camber plates. The rear stabilizer bar also features three-way adjustability. Rounding it off is a diet of around 60 pounds.
But, yet, you still get a Bose sound-system, air-con, heated and cooled front seats, and a heated steering wheel.
No word on pricing yet. But it will go on sale later this year.
– By: Chris Chin

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2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD Review

2018 Dodge Durango SRT: Not Your Father’s SUV

Aston Martin AM-RB 001: Airflow, Energy & Art

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