With a base MSRP of $37,845, the 2024 Mazda CX-90 is considerably cheaper than the Toyota Highlander ($40,870) and Pilot ($39,190). The Subaru Ascent may appear to be a bargain with its $34,395 starting price, but a look at its equipment list shows that it’s lacking items like proximity keyless entry, push-button start, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert. You’ll have to spend thousands to upgrade to a higher trim for an Ascent with these features. You might also be surprised to learn that the 2024 Pilot LX doesn’t have blind-spot monitoring or cross-traffic alert, either.
More and more automakers are equipping their midsized crossovers with four-cylinder engines to lower production costs. But this choice can come at the expense of performance and responsiveness. The Ascent came with a turbo 260-horsepower four-cylinder engine from day one. Toyota switched over the Highlander to a turbocharged 265-horsepower four-cylinder engine in 2023. The 2024 Mazda CX-90 features a turbocharged 280-horsepower 3.3-liter inline-six-cylinder engine augmented by a mild-hybrid system. There’s slightly more horsepower (285) produced by the Pilot’s V6, but this comes at the expense of much lower fuel economy than the CX-90 (see the next section for details).
Mazda doubles up on hybrid systems for the CX-90. First, the base engine uses a mild-hybrid system that maximizes fuel economy and enables all-electric driving at low speeds (in some cases). The Highlander is available as a hybrid but at a starting price of close to $43,000 (and it’s still a four-cylinder engine). There’s no hybrid option at any cost for the Ascent and Pilot.
The second part of Mazda’s hybrid approach is offering a more premium 2024 CX-90 as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Buyers get the convenience of all-electric operation for local daily driving and the peace of mind of a gas-powered hybrid when there are more miles to go. If you want a Toyota PHEV crossover, you’ll have to step down to a much smaller RAV4 Prime. As for the other rivals mentioned here, Subaru and Honda don’t currently sell any PHEV vehicles.
Thanks to clever and thoughtful engineering, the 2024 Mazda CX-90 tops these competitors with better fuel economy, at 24 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway, and 25 mpg combined. The Highlander does match it with 28 mpg on the highway but falls behind with 21 city/24 combined ratings. The Ascent trails with 20 city/26 highway/22 combined, with the Pilot taking the last spot at 19 city/25 highway/21 combined.
Automakers always want their family haulers to perform well in safety assessments. The CX-90, Highlander, Ascent, and Pilot all received top five-star overall safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). But the rankings differ according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Only the 2024 Mazda CX-90 and Ascent received IIHS Top Safety Pick+ awards, the organization’s highest designation. The Highlander and Pilot received a lower Top Safety Pick rating.
While these four crossovers fall within the midsized category, two dimensions measure in the 2024 Mazda CX-90’s favor. At 200.8 inches long, the Mazda is slightly longer than the Pilot (199.9 inches) and outstretches the Highlander (194.9 inches) and the Ascent (196.8 inches). This difference may not matter to most family-SUV shoppers, but it translates into a substantially longer wheelbase of 122.8 inches for the CX-90. The others have a wheelbase ranging from 112.2 to 113.8 inches. A longer wheelbase helps smooth out rough rides, especially over speed bumps and highway expansion strips.
