2020 Mazda CX-9 vs Subaru Outback

What's the difference?

Mazda asks a lot of money here at the top of the range, but a Toyota Kluger Grande costs more and isn't anywhere near as economical, nice to drive, or to look at.

The unique blend of a turbo petrol four-cylinder and devastatingly good looks, along with the kind of driving and riding experience that puts a smile on your face, make it a winner.

There is little wrong with the CX-9 Azami but really, you get most of the truly useful stuff in the GT and, if you're less fussy, the taller-tyred Touring. But at the same time, if you do choose this variant, you won't feel like you've failed to get your money's worth.

In other words, four years after launch, the big Mazda is holding up very nicely indeed.

The Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium is exceptionally good in terms of value, practicality, its design and build quality, safety and in the way it drives. Many might overlook it as just a station wagon and go for a tall SUV instead, not realising that the Outback is exactly what they need.

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I still find the CX-9 strikingly pretty, four years after I first drove it. Big cars like this are hard to make attractive while also delivering on the seven-seat promise, but a clever mix of detailing, effective concealing of its true size and the simplest interpretation of Mazda's Kodo design language really delivers.

Nothing has changed for 2020 looks-wise, apart from the new 20-inch wheels, and that's quite all right by me.

The cabin is huge and, given how much glass there is to work with, unusually light for a Mazda. The materials are well thought through and the new leather on the seats is very pleasant.

There is a huge amount of space in here, obviously, but nobody got lazy in the design studio - there's nothing clunky or out of place. Even the wood surround on the centre console is acceptable, and it's probably not real wood, so that's okay. The metallic finishes keep things nice to look at and the judicious use of chrome means none of it looks cheap.

Is the Subaru Outback a wagon or an SUV? Well, it’s sort of a cross between them and it could be the perfect vehicle for people who don’t want an SUV but still want the elevated ride height, extra ground clearance and practicality of a sports utility vehicle.

The Outback shares much of the Subaru Liberty sedan’s underpinnings and this is good for its ride comfort and handling, but more on that in the driving section below.

I’m a fan of the Outback’s tough plastic wheel guards and chunky side skirts, oversized fog lights and hardcore looking roof racks. The seriously dark privacy glass to the rear and back windows looks great and so does the roof top spoiler.

What are the Outback’s dimensions? The Outback is large at 4820mm long, 1840mm wide and 1675mm. Ground clearance is 213mm. Regular cars normally have around 170mm and the Toyota RAV4’s is 195mm.

'Crystal White Pearl' was the colour of my test car, but there are 10 hues to choose from including 'Crimson Red', 'Wilderness Green', 'Dark Blue' and 'Crystal Black.'

The 2.5i Premium’s cabin feels sumptuous with soft-touch, high-quality feeling materials and an excellent fit and finish.

There are hints that the cockpit is starting to age from a styling perspective and the new generation Outback coming by 2021 will surely see the interior move to a more modern look.

To those new to Subaru it can be a bit confusing working out where the Outback fits into the brand’s SUV range, which can look a bit samey. So, what you need to know is that the XV is the small SUV, the Forester is the mid-sized one and the Outback is the large SUV-ish station wagon.

With all three rows in use, you start with 230 litres of boot space, or about the same as the CX-3. Fold down the third row and you get a startling 810 litres. Mazda doesn't offer a figure for all the seats down, but it's going to be a big one.

You're well set for cupholders, with a total of six spread across the three rows. Each of the doors will hold a bottle, too, for a total of four.

The third row has always been reasonably accessible for kids and nimble adults, but now it's easier to escape with a new lever to flip the middle row, just in case you've forgotten someone/trapped them in there.

Middle-row passengers get a very good deal, with plenty of room in each direction, including plenty of foot space under the front seats.

The Outback is a spacious five-seater wagon with excellent head and legroom in the second row. I’m 191cm tall and could sit behind my driving position with about 40mm to spare. Space up front is good, too, with plenty of elbow and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is great, with four cupholders (two up front and two in the second row), large door pockets, a deep centre console storage bin, map pockets in the seat backs, and a covered area in front of the shifter which houses two USB ports and a 12-volt outlet.

There are two USB charging ports in the second row and directional air vents. Another 12-volt outlet is located in the boot.

The cargo capacity of the boot is 512 litres with the second row in place, and 1801 litres with the rear seats folded down.

Large, tall and wide opening doors along with the raised ride height makes getting in and out a breeze, and also means putting little kids into their seats is easy on the back.

The roof racks are standard on all Outbacks and their toughness (I’ve danced on them – see the video) and design means they’re more than just for show.

Take a look at the front and rear door sills, too . They’ve been widened for you to stand on while loading your kayaks/mountain bikes/queen-sized mattress onto the roof.

Under the boot floor is a full-sized spare alloy wheel, and this pleases me big time. Many SUVs seem to promise adventure but only come with a space saver spare which will limit you to 80km/h and a few hundred kilometres at the most.

Finally, here’s something that not many people know about the Outback – you can lock and unlock it without a key, using a PIN number. To find out how watch my video above. You’ll also see me lock myself out of the car while the keys are on the dashboard.

The 2.5i Premium sits in the middle of Subaru’s Outback range with its list price of $43,940. The standard features list is extensive and includes an 8.0-inch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat nav, digital radio, six-speaker stereo, CD player and Bluetooth connectivity.

Also standard are leather seats in 'Ivory' or as in our test car black, power adjustable and heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, paddle shifters, privacy glass, adaptive LED headlights, roof rails, an electric sunroof, 18-inch alloys wheels with a full-sized spare.

For less than a $40K list price that’s excellent value and I haven’t even mentioned the impressive array of safety equipment. Well, I have now, but you can read more about that below.

Rivals to the Outback include all-wheel drive wagons such as the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack, but also regular SUVs such as the Toyota RAV4 Cruiser and, wait for it, the Subaru Forester 2.5i-S.

Mazda's SkyActiv 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo drives the CX-9 along with 170kW and 420Nm. In the AWD it, obviously, drives all four wheels via Mazda's own six-speed transmission. 

It's just as well all that torque is on board because the CX-9's kerb weight is a chunky 2006kg. Towing capacity is rated at 750kg unbraked and 2000kg braked.

The Outback 2.5i Premium has, you guessed it, a 2.5-litre petrol boxer engine making 129kW of power and 235Nm of torque. Personally, I prefer the much more powerful and torquey 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine in the Outback range, but you’ll have to step up to the pricier 3.6R grade to unlock that beastie.

Boxer engines are different from traditional ones in that the pistons move horizontally like a boxer punching rather than up and down. One of the benefits of this is a lower centre of mass which improves handling.

All Outbacks are all-wheel drive and have a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which isn’t my first choice when it comes to automatics as they seem to take the torque and just turn it into a droning noise.

That said, if I had to live with a CVT for the rest of my life I’d choose a Subaru CVT as they seem to get the drive to the wheels better than those made by other brands.      

The Outback 2.5i Premium has a braked towing capacity of 1500kg.

The official combined cycle figure for the CX-9 is 9L/100km, a few tenths of a litre more than the front-wheel-drive car. The reality is that you'll get closer to my figure of 11.1L/100km, although my loan of the car was slightly abbreviated when an errant pensioner swiped the front bumper while it was parked outside my home.

The fuel tank is a big one, with 74 litres.

Subaru says the 2.5-litre engine with the CVT should use 7.3L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

I drove 213km in my test car doing urban commutes into the city, as well as forays onto dirt trails and country roads, and used 26.6L measured at the fuel pump, which works out to be 12.5L/100km.

There weren’t many motorway kilometres in there and I should point out there were only 646km on the odometer when I started the test, which may account for the high fuel usage.

Back in 2016, I said the CX-9 was the benchmark and the only reason it isn't the absolute top of the heap now is the arrival of the new Hyundai Santa Fe last year. It's still way better to drive than the segment's runaway hit, the Toyota Kluger, and shades the Kia Sorento in most areas, except perhaps ride quality.

The Mazda really is a very nice thing to drive. The smooth 2.5-litre turbo revs readily under a heavy foot, delivering a nice flat torque curve. Mazda's G-Vectoring system now has a Plus version, which means it also uses brake-based torque vectoring to help tighten the line when physics overcomes the admittedly middling tyres.

My previous complaints about the tyres hold true, too - they're still a bit lame in the wet, with the fronts spinning up, the only difference being the all-wheel drive and traction control cutting in to spoil the dance.

In the dry, however, the combination of G Vectoring and a fine chassis tune means the high-riding SUV is always in control, with a good balance between ride quality and handling finesse. It feels like a bigger CX-5, but not that much bigger.

The CX-9 has that unique Mazda feeling of not being overtly sporty, yet you still get out thinking, "Gee, that was pretty good."

A couple more gears - like most of its rivals have - would be nice and perhaps a little more steering feel. These are really nitpicks,  because there's so little to complain about.

The Subaru Outback feels like a car to drive but has the ground clearance to go where a regular car can’t. And when I say 'like a car to drive' I mean the Outback doesn’t feel tall and wobbly like an SUV.

The Outback’s boxer engine combined with a relatively low overall height gives the car gives a low centre of mass. This, and sharing the Liberty sedan’s platform means it handles better than almost every SUV in this segment, and feels planted with only modest body roll in the corners.

The ride is also composed and comfortable, the steering is accurate and well weighted, and pedal feel is excellent, too.

While the Outback isn’t a traditional four-wheel drive (with transfer case, diff locks, etc) and wouldn't be the ideal choice for serious off-roading, its 213mm ground clearance and full-time all-wheel drive system make it impressively capable on dirt and gravel roads.

The Outback has what’s called 'X-Mode' which is activated by pressing a button and manages the engine, transmission and all-wheel drive system to maintain optimum traction on loose surfaces.

There’s also 'SI Mode' which allows the driver to switch between a sports mode or a more fuel-efficient setting.

The Subaru Outback was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2015.

Coming standard is an extensive list of advanced safety equipment including AEB with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, lane sway warning and adaptive cruise control.

The 2.5i Premium grade adds more safety tech such as blind spot warning, lane change assistant and rear cross traffic alert. Joining the rear-view camera are side and front view cameras.

For child seats there are three top tether points and two ISOFIX mounts.  

Since my first drive in 2016, the warranty has gone from three to five years, as well as offering unlimited kilometres into the bargain, plus roadside assist.

Service intervals are Mazda's customary 12 months/10,000km, the latter number being a bit on the short side for average-mileage owners. The first five services are capped, ranging from $356 to $400, for a total of $1868 for five services. I hesitate to average that out over five years because, as I say, 10,000km per year is a bit on the short side. The prices also don't include things like filters and brake fluid.

The Outback is covered by Subaru’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, and Subaru recommends servicing the Outback 2.5i Premium every six months or 12,500kms.

A five-year/125,000km capped price servicing plan covers the Outback and you can expect to pay $316.38 for the six-month service, then $316.38 for the 12-month visit, $404.64 for the 18-month service, $549.74 for the two-year check-up, and so on.

Over five years the total routine service bill should come to no more than $4560.49, according to Subaru.

The Outback also comes with 12 months of roadside assistance.