Mazda CX-9 Sport v Holden Captiva LT v Kia Sorento Si 2016 Comparison

Mazda CX-9 Sport v Holden Captiva LT v Kia Sorento Si
Comparison Test

These days there is never a bad time to launch a new SUV, especially one as widely anticipated as Mazda’s second-generation CX-9. The innovative Japanese brand’s sole seven-seater is all-new and expected to find lots more homes than its predecessor. But it has stern competition in the large SUV class from a wide range of vehicles that vary from hard-core off-roaders to people-movers in light disguise. Here we pitch it against the latest and highly regraded Kia Sorento and the ageing – but popular – Holden Captiva.

There’s no doubt SUVs have become default family transport for the 21st century and large seven-seaters the choice of those amongst us who decide expansion of the species is more important than mere continuation.

So there’s good news here for enthusiastic reproducers with the arrival of the second-generation Mazda CX-9.

Bigger and more spacious, yet also more economical, better equipped and a tad cheaper, it shapes up as formidable competition for the heavyweights of the category, including the models pitched against it here – the new Kia Sorento and popular Holden Captiva.

So where’s the Toyota Kluger, the Ford Territory, the Hyundai Santa Fe, the Nissan Pathfinder and the rest of a very competitive group? Well, they have all been tested before whereas the Sorento has yet to take part in a comparo, while the Captiva has been freshly – albeit mildly – updated.

We debated adding the Santa Fe as the victor of the above comparo but after a spirited discussion at motoring HQ agreed that the updated Sorento was at least the measure of the Hyundai. Hence the three-car line-up.

Dollars and sense
Being the new entrant on the showroom floor, we’ve used the CX-9 as the baseline to set this test up.

We’ve started with the entry-level front-wheel drive Sport priced at $42,490 (plus on-road costs). As detailed separately there are now four spec levels of CX-9 and each is available with a choice of front or all-wheel drive mated to a new 2.5-litre turbo-petrol engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

The logical Sorento alternative is the front-wheel drive 3.3-litre naturally aspirated petrol V6 and six-speed auto Si, priced at $40,990 (plus on-road costs).

The Captiva LT is easily the cheapest of this lot at $37,490 (plus ORCs) for the combination of 3.0-litre nat-atmo petrol V6, six-speed auto and light duty all-wheel drive.

Both the Sorento and the Captiva can also be had with a turbo-diesel engine, but not the CX-9, which has been primarily designed and targeted at the gasoline guzzling USA.

One further feature the Holden alone has in this comparo is driving all four wheels, although AWD is available at additional cost for both the Kia and the Mazda if you want to pretend your seven-seater is an off-roader rather than a camouflaged people-mover.

This is one of the few equipment areas where the Captiva has an advantage, at least in the brochure. Its standard fitment of Google CarPlay and Android Auto is another, meaning satellite-navigation – among other things – is available to most smartphone users; provided they’re within a mobile phone coverage area.

But the other two cars have sat-nav standard anyway and top the Captiva in many other areas of safety and comfort equipment. Much of that is a function of the Korean-built Holden’s age, which is now up to an elderly 10 years. It’s so old the young Wheels magazine staffer I remembering attending the media launch in 2006 is now director of Holden corporate communications…

By contrast, the Mazda is sparkling new, eschewing its old Ford-sourced technology for integration into Mazda’s SKYACTIV chassis, engine and transmission family.

With that comes an all-new electrical architecture which makes some important driver assist systems standard; blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and smart city brake support, which brakes the car autonomously when it senses an impending collision in forward or reverse.

And we can give a practical thumbs-up to that system as one of our road testers nearly got caught out reversing in a car park only to have the system clamp on the brakes. Tick the box for one confirmed believer.

The Mazda is also alone in offering tri-zone climate control, daytime running lights, push button start, a cruise control speed setting display and access to the Pandora, Stitcher and Aha apps through MZD-Connect. But it misses out on a digital speedo and roof rails.

The Kia, which is based on a modified version of the Carnival people-mover’s architecture can’t match the Mazda’s high-tech. But while there’s no new-gen driver assist systems it has the most versatile second-row seat (more on that later) and is the only vehicle here fitted with front parking sensors, static cornering lights and a full-size spare tyre fitted to an alloy wheel.

There’s another very important area where the Sorento stands head and shoulder above the other two and that’s after-sale support. Kia wins the games on this front with seven years breakdown assistance, warranty and capped-price servicing. Mazda comes next with a lifetime servicing deal but only a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and no included roadside assistance, while Holden offers one year’s breakdown assistance, a five-year capped-price servicing plan and a three-year/100,000km warranty.

The Captiva lags in other areas too. The architecture is so old it doesn’t even have three-row airbags to look after the people in the back in a side-on collision. That’s simply not good enough. But it does have two more speakers than the others (eight), some faux leather added to its cloth trim, side steps and a sunroof is a no cost option.

The Mazda is the best place to put people in row three. While the Kia has better ventilation and both provide acceptable access, storage, seat raising and lowering and ride, the CX-9 pulls clear of the Sorento because it has better headroom, vision and enough luggage space when those seats are in use to still fit a bit of shopping or a couple of bags. It retains that space advantage when used as a five-seater, where 810 litres are available.

But the Kia edges ahead when both row two and three are folded, offering 1662 litres versus 1641. The Captiva manages a measly 930 litres.

In the middle row the Kia gains further kudos for its flat floor, whereas the CX-9’s middle seat is compromised by a raised transmission tunnel. The Sorento can also fold 40:20:40 as well as 60:40. There is also more plastic trim than cloth, which aids with cleaning. The CX-9 fights back by being quieter, having a more comfortable ride, extra air-con vents (as well as controls of course), wide opening doors and a quieter ambience.

Up front the CX-9 is presented very differently to the other two, partitioning the cockpit with a high-rise centre console that places the gearshift and MZD-Connect controller close at hand. The touchscreen is also the closest to the eyeline, meaning less time spent looking away from the road.

The centre stack angles and falls with a modern elegance; the presentation and operation of controls and the high quality and soft-touch materials simply make the Mazda’ cabin perceptibly more prestigious than the other two. The CX-9’s front seats also strike the best compromise between the unforgiving Captiva and plush Sorento. Side support is not a highlight of any front seats though.

The Sorento’s dashboard design is slabby, conservative and utterly competent, eschewing fashion sense but retaining ease of use. The backlit white-on-black instrument panel gauges really pop, the graphics are better than the Mazda and the buttons in the centre stack are big and easy to read.

The steering wheel – itself an overly large diameter – mounted controls are the most ergonomically sound here and the infotainment system the easiest to navigate.

But it is a long reach to the far-side of the touchscreen for the driver and left-foot rest is canted at an odd angle.

And the Captiva? Uninspiring… unsurprisingly. It feels hard and cheap to the touch and was the only vehicle here with an obvious quality issue, the electric park brake switch fouling on its plastic surround. The lack of left footrest didn’t help when trying to find a comfortable driving positon and like the Sorento it had an over-size steering wheel (one of the changes for MY16). On a positive note, Apple CarPlay continues to impress with its ease of access and of use.

Storage is plentiful in the front row of all three vehicles, although a water bottle did fall out of the centre console cupholder into my lap mid-corner in the CX-9, suggesting it’s a bit shallow.

That delivers one obvious downer compared to the 3.0-litre Captiva and 3.3-litre Sorento – power. While the Kia tops out at 199kW at a heady 6400rpm and the Holden makes 190kW at an extraordinary 6900rpm (will any one ever rev one of these things that hard?), the CX-9’s new-age engine makes only 170kW at 5000rpm.

But the Mazda more than gets its own back, its forced induction helping boost all-important torque to a heady 420Nm at 2000rpm. Meanwhile the Kia clocks up 318Nm at 5300rpm and the Holden an underdone 288Nm at 5800rpm.

On the road all that translates to a clear advantage for the Mazda, which makes so much more pulling power down low it simply feels in a different league. That’s backed up by the best auto calibration here, including a Sport mode that obviously changed the characteristics of the drivetrain to a more aggressive stance.

Just as importantly, the CX-9 is so much quieter than the other two – even when revved hard – it’s actually astonishing. Conversations from row one to row three were possible without raised voices, something that couldn’t be said about the Holden in particular.

The Sorento’s engine is a smooth example of the V6 breed but simply had to be revved harder – and therefore more intrusively than the CX-9 – to gain a similar result. The Hyundai/Kia Group auto also lacked the smarts of the Mazda when under duress, something exacerbated by the lethargic calibration of the floor-mounted accelerator.

The Captiva’s drivetrain was by far the most disappointing. It kicked from idle but lacked guts, was ungraciously noisy, was mated with an auto that hyperactively made obvious changes and never showed much enthusiasm for the task at hand. The manual shift was too heavy and didn’t seem to make much difference. Our 0-100km/h and in-gear figures – albeit recorded in variable damp conditions – show up the Holden’s issues (see break-out below).

The Mazda followed up its superior response with better fuel consumption, aided by standard fuel saving functions i-stop (idle-stop) and i-ELOOP. From best to worse the respective combined claims are 8.4 (CX-9), 9.9 (Sorento) and 10.7 L/100km for the all-wheel drive Captiva.

In the real world on a varied drive loop our returns were 10.5 from the Mazda, 10.8 for the Kia and a miserable 13.8L/100km for the Holden. All three will take 91 RON ULP.

The Mazda is the most frugal yet by far the biggest vehicle here. It is the only one that extends beyond 5.0m in length (5.075m), beyond 1.9m in width (a road-hogging 1.969m) and is the tallest at 1.747m, albeit by only 20mmm over the Captiva. Understandably the Mazda also has the longest wheelbase at 2.930m, 150mm longer than the Kia and a massive 223mm longer than the Holden.

And yet, impressively, the Mazda parlays extra size into the lightest weight, albeit still a hefty 1845kg. Both the Kia and the Holden are close to 80kg heavier.

The Mazda drives like it’s the lightest, but also the one with the stiffest body-shell. There’s signature Mazda tautness at very low speed but that resolves into more compliance as speeds rise. However, there’s also better body control and a decent level of grip from the Yokohama Geolandar tyres.

The electric-assist steering is an issue though, with a surprising amount of torque steer and kickback. Mazda front-wheel drive and turbo engines… hey, it’s not MPS bad. But it is more intrusive than the Sorento, while the AWD Captiva had none of these traits.

The Kia’s electric steering is heavier – without being wearisome – than the Mazda and the ride almost as good. Local tuning work of this large, high, heavy vehicle makes this an almost unrecognisable drive compared to the previous Sorento. It could be even better if the standard Nexen tyres were traded in for better rubber. They did not inspire confidence in the sometimes streaming wet conditions we tested these vehicles.

The Captiva has also been tuned for local conditions, but without the same success as the Sorento. It has a harsh ride, gluggy electric-assist steering, plenty of body roll and lacked the confidence-inspiring brake pedal progression of the other two. It feels like the local engineers have tried to compensate for a weak body by stiffening up the suspension. They have ended up with nothing much good to show for it.

Narrowing the focus to ultra-low speed work in car parks and the like and none of these three stand out for vision or manoeuvrability. The Kia has the best turning circle, but the Mazda’s lighter steering helps it as do the more advanced assist systems.

The verdict
Forget the Holden. It’s old, tired and has too many shortcomings, even at its cheaper price.

The Sorento is impressive and by no means a bad choice. It cannot match the refinement, interior smarts and equipment level of the CX-9, although it isn’t a huge distance behind. It is ahead when it comes to after-sales support as that 7-7-7 deal is pretty much unbeatable.

But the move to a new generation drivetrain and platform has been utterly worthwhile for the big Mazda. It is spacious, well-equipped, agile to drive and the easiest on the wallet when it comes to the bowser.

Yes, it is the most expensive vehicle here, but you can really see where the extra spend has gone. The CX-9 is deservedly the winner of this comparison, one of the best vehicles launched so far in 2016 and assuredly another sales success for Mazda.

2016 Holden Captiva LT pricing and specifications:
Price: $37,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 190kW/288Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.7L/100km (ADR combined)
CO2: 251g/km (ADR combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

What we liked:
>> Price
>> Google CarPlay
> AWD for the price of FWD

Not so much:
>> Horrible old-tech driveline
>> Harsh ride
>> Noisy and cramped third row

2016 Holden Captiva LT performance figures (as tested):
0-60km/h: 4.6sec
0-100km/h: 9.3sec
50-70km/h: 1.9sec
80-100km/h: 2.7sec
60-0km/h: 16.9m
dB(A) @ 80km/h: 76
L/100km (AVG): 13.6

2016 Kia Sorento Si pricing and specifications:
Price: $40,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.3-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 199kW/318Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.9L/100km (ADR combined)
CO2: 230g/km (ADR combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

What we liked:
>> Modern, smooth V6
>> Spacious interior
>> Outstanding after-sales care

Not so much:
>> Auto loses composure under pressure
>> Third-row seats lack headroom
>> Nexen tyres compromise promising dynamics

2016 Kia Sorento Si performance figures (as tested):
0-60km/h: 4.3sec
0-100km/h: 8.3sec
50-70km/h: 1.7sec
80-100km/h: 2.3sec
60-0km/h: 17.9m
dB(A) @ 80km/h: 73
L/100km (AVG): 10.8

2016 Mazda CX-9 Sport pricing and specifications:
Price: $42,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 170kW/420Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.4L/100km (ADR combined)
CO2: 197g/km (ADR combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

What we liked:
>> Smooth, quiet, responsive drivetrain
>> Classy, spacious interior
>> More important safety gear

Not so much:
>> Steering kickback and torque steer
>> No digital speedo
>> No turbo-diesel option

2016 Mazda CX-9 Sport performance figures (as tested):
0-60km/h: 4.6sec
0-100km/h: 8.6sec
50-70km/h: 1.5sec
80-100km/h: 2.3sec
60-0km/h: 17.6m
dB(A) @ 80km/h: 72
L/100km (AVG): 10.5