Mazda CX-9: 2017 Car of the Year Winner

Japan, the SUV and Mazda triumph against a stellar COTY ’17 cast.

THE road grime has settled on the proving ground pounding and countless road kilometres at the core of Wheels’ prestigious Car of the Year award, yet the embers of fiery debate are still aglow.

We have a winner: the 2017 Wheels Car of the Year is the Mazda CX-9.

It also marks Mazda’s second consecutive COTY, following the ND Mazda MX-5’s triumph in 2016, making it one of just five brands to back up (with Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen).

The CX-9’s victory also comes precisely four decades after the first for a Japanese car – the Honda Accord in 1977. Mazda’s first, with the 323, came three years later.

The 2017 Car of the Year was announced at a gala event in Melbourne tonight.

The rigorous COTY process saw a 28-strong field culled to a sensational six over three days at the Ford You Yangs Proving Ground in Victoria.

On Stage Two’s road loop, the heat was on the Mazda among fierce competition from the Holden Astra, Subaru Impreza and Volkswagen Tiguan, persuasive models from brands with multiple COTYs to their credit.

“The CX-9 blitzes the category for interior comfort and versatility, despite being smaller (and more than 130kg lighter) than the model it replaces,” wrote Wheels senior journalist Nathan Ponchard in Wheels’ bumper 194-page Car of the Year issue, which is on newsstands now and also available as a digital edition.

“This seven-seat SUV is so vastly superior to the competition, you’d need to stretch to a premium SUV like Audi’s superb Q7 to try and better it – for double the price…”