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2019 Mazda CX-9 gets Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, slightly higher price

Now that Mazda finally launched Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the 2018 Mazda6, the company isn't wasting time proliferating the infotainment upgrade to the rest of the lineup. The next on the list is the 2019 Mazda CX-9 large family crossover SUV. It's standard on Touring, Grand Touring, and Signature trims. But if you choose to go with the most affordable Sport trim, it's an option. Up-to-date infotainment isn't the only upgrade to the new CX-9. Every version receives thicker floor mats and a thicker headliner meant to further reduce the amount of noise that enters the cabin. The transmission is also retuned, and Mazda says the new tuning is meant to provide a smoother, quieter driving experience. We'll be interested to see how effective it is the next time we have a CX-9 in the office. Each individual trim level also gets some new options and features. The base Sport trim has a Sport Package available that adds heated front seats, a power driver's seat, heated mirrors, lane-keep assist and departure warning, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking. The package rings in at $1,290. The Touring trim gets the fewest new features with its only new addition, besides the infotainment, being a frameless rearview mirror. The Grand Touring trim receives the 7-inch screen in the instrument panel also found in the Mazda6, along with new power side mirrors and a 360-degree camera system. The top-level Signature trim gets new badges, rosewood interior trim, and accent lighting in the grille and around the shifter. With all these new features come new prices, which are naturally higher than last year's. The smallest price increase is between base Sport models. The new one is just $150 more than the old one. The largest increase comes with the Signature trim, which now costs $1,050 more than the 2018 model. You can see the entire price list and changes below. Trim 2019 2018 Sport (FWD) $33,275 $33,125 Touring (FWD) $36,325 $35,955 Grand Touring (FWD) $41,835 $41,465 Signature (AWD-only) $46,360 $45,310 AWD Option (Sport-Grand Touring) $1,800 $1,800 Related Video:

Miata is always the answer, but not always the best one

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a surprisingly versatile car. Not only is it hilariously fun on back roads and closed courses, it can also be a decent daily driver thanks to its solid gas mileage and usable trunk. But, it doesn't excel in every driving situation. Specifically long trips at high speeds, and those involving canine companions. This weekend, I did a roughly 500-mile round trip to my parents' home in Indiana to pick up my recently adopted dog. The trip was 90-percent highways, and I heard every single mile. Our MX-5 Miata Club has the minimally insulated top also found on the base level trim, and at highway speeds the wind and road noise fills the cabin with a loud, steady roar. This likely won't be a problem for fans of white noise, and it can be overcome by the stereo. However, over a few hundred miles, it starts to get old. The suspension, while superb for carving corners, also gets tiresome. On rough Rust Belt highways, it would become a bit overwhelmed, and the whole car would shiver and shake. On the plus side, nothing squeaked, rattled, or fell off in these instances. There are a few other quirks that show up on long trips. The small pedal box and floor-mounted throttle means that there isn't a particularly comfortable place to rest your right foot when the cruise control is set. Neither the door nor the center console have much padding either, so leaning your knees against them for long periods of time isn't advisable. The good news is that the seat itself was surprisingly comfortable, and never once was I feeling any back pain. Plus, when not using the cruise control, the seating position is great, allowing me to stretch out and relax. When I picked up my four-legged compatriot (a 7-year-old mix of unknown breeds named Ruby, pictured above), things became a tad tight. Standing up, she thoroughly filled the passenger compartment. For reference, she's a little over 50 pounds and stands a little more than 2 feet tall. Much bigger dogs, like my family's coonhound and German shepherd mix, won't really fit. This also made her prone to nearly face-planting on the dashboard anytime the car slowed down. She eventually figured out that simply curling up on the seat bottom was the best choice, and then slept for most of the trip. So it worked out, but I think I may have found the limit of a Miata's dog capacity. Would any of this make me want a Miata less? Certainly not. That is if I had a second car.

Crash test videos show how rust compromises safety

These recently released Swedish videos serve as a reminder that rust isn't just a cosmetic flaw, when it comes to cars. The insurance company Folksam and the homeowner organization Villaagarnas Riksforbund gathered examples of two relatively popular, but by now rusty cars, and then performed crash tests with them at the Thatcham Research facility in Britain. The results are sobering. The rustier cars chosen for the tests were first-generation Mazda6s, cars that have a reputation for early-onset rust in salty surroundings, such as the Nordic countries in Europe or the Salt Belt in the U.S. The cars in the other end of the spectrum were fifth-generation Volkswagen Golfs, which thanks to their body treatment only really start to show rust at over ten years old. But rust isn't just on the surface, it goes bone deep. While the Mazda did decently well in Euro NCAP testing as a new car, there's now a 20 percent higher risk of death in the 2003-2008 Mazda due to the degradation of its bodyshell. In the rusty car, the chassis rail separates from the floor, the footwell ruptures, the sill gives way, the seat mountings move and the dummy's head hits the B-pillar; all important failures, despite Thatcham saying the cars actually performed better in the crashes than they expected with all the rust. But still, the corroded structure isn't able to transmit loads in the way it was originally designed to do. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The Golf does significantly better — despite rust flakes flying when the Golf hits the wall — as the years have only caused it to lose a single point. An important thing to remember is that the cars aren't tested in comparison to corresponding new, 2018 cars: the tests are in reference to the crashworthiness standards in place when they were new. The cars' airbags inflate like they were supposed to, but on the Mazda the dummy's head bottoms out the airbag due to the car's structure failing, meaning the airbag cannot perform as designed. Driven cautiously, an older car is still mostly fine for driving around. But tests like these remind us that it's not enough that a car runs and drives, if the body has turned into Swedish knackebrod. And if you repair the visible rust and the structure underneath remains as compromised as ever, there's an ugly truth under all the bondo. Perhaps it isn't such a bad idea to have yearly roadworthiness inspections.