Its quite a bit smaller than a minivan but we were looking for something other than minivan with reasonable gas mileage and this fit the bill. Bought a roof rack from Thule to handle skis, surfboard ...

I've owned this new CX-9 touring for few months and it handles simply superb and has the power when you need it. The interior is very nice if you opt leather and Bose 10 speaker sound is great.