Well, this was a fun two tests... the CX-9 and Veracruz are both fine automobiles, but obviously, for us motorheads... there's only one thing that matters... excitement. And the Veracruz just doesn't have any. But the backseat of the Veracruz is a fine place to be if you're taking a long road trip out and can afford a driver.
The CX-9 is fantastic, though... the sound, the power, the driver-oriented stance. It doesn't give up much (if anything) in the way of comfort to achieve its sportiness. Handling is, like the BMW X5, very muscle-car-ish... except that the X5's AWD system allows for a little more tail-happiness than the CX-9, which acts more like a front-driver most of the time. The CX-7 would probably be a better drive, but, sadly, we don't get that here. Too bad, a CX-7 with a 2.0 CRDi would sell like hotcakes.
