CLEARLY, “airborne pandemic” wasn’t on auto makers’ 2020 bingo cards. Companies like Kia, Hyundai and VW were prospering in North America, shilling luxe-y midsize SUVs with seven or eight seats—just the thing for large families, carpoolers, or soccer mums and dads. Now the very idea of packing seven people in one vehicle, breathing the same air—in the case of our Mazda CX-9 test car, 135.8 cu. ft.—horrifies me. It was gross enough when all you had to worry about was runny noses and ringworm from shared footwear.
This is all…
