2023 Honda Pilot vs. 2024 Mazda CX-90: Head vs. Heart in This 3-Row Battle

Car people, professional reviewers, and family experts alike are used to the question. It can come from friends, family, readers—even strangers: What car should I buy? If they don't already have something in mind, we'll ask our own questions about their priorities and then make a recommendation. Sometimes their response is as simple as "that one's ugly." But most are looking for a logical answer, or a logical answer that also fits an emotional need. For those more discerning types of buyers in the market for a three-row SUV, two of our unequivocal top answers would be the 2023 Honda Pilot and the 2024 Mazda CX-90.

One is for the pragmatic thinker and analytical planner who'll make a spreadsheet and follow the facts wherever they lead. The other is for the person who may be just as analytical but is still swayed by the whims of the heart. One is clearly the better buy for the person looking for maximum space and practicality, and the other is for the person willing to compromise a little for a product that connects with them on an emotional level.

One of our two contenders is the new 2024 Mazda CX-90, in this case the top-shelf Turbo S model with the Premium Plus package, all-wheel drive, and the optional six-passenger configuration with a fixed second-row center console. It rocks an entirely new turbocharged and hybridized inline six-cylinder engine that makes a combined 340 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque feeding an also-new eight-speed automatic transmission and rear-wheel-drive-based all-wheel-drive system.

This is the most powerful iteration of the new CX-90 drivetrain, and it's good for a 6.5-second sprint to 60 mph in our testing and an EPA-estimated 23/28/25 mpg city/highway/combined.

The other contender is the slightly less new 2023 Honda Pilot, seen here in its fully loaded Elite trim level and sporting all-wheel drive and the standard eight-passenger seating arrangement with a removable second-row center seat. Under the hood is a new and surprisingly not turbocharged or hybridized V-6 engine good for 285 hp and 262 lb-ft. It drives a new-to-this-model 10-speed automatic and a front-wheel-drive-based all-wheel-drive system with actual mechanical torque vectoring.

Being down on power is a mixed bag when it comes to this competition. On the plus side, the Pilot is only slightly slower than the CX-90, getting up to 60 mph with a time of 6.9 seconds. On the other hand, it's working a lot harder and its EPA-estimated fuel economy suffers for it at 19/25/21 mpg.

It's not a clean win for the Mazda, though. The CX-90 prefers premium fuel, and in fact it needs it to make its maximum horsepower number (it'll run fine on regular, but it'll only make 319 hp if you do). As such, the EPA estimates it'll be slightly more expensive to fill up over the course of a year compared to the Honda, which is perfectly happy with regular. Running the Mazda on regular would flip the script, reducing fuel cost but also slightly sacrificing performance.

The Mazda isn't just quicker and more powerful. It's a statement piece. It's Mazda planting a flag in the ground and declaring that driver fulfillment is a core brand value and it will be the cornerstone of every product, even a three-row family SUV. One editor who drove it likened it to a three-row Jaguar F-Pace. If you care about driving, you buy the Mazda.

If you're on the fence about how much driver involvement you want, understand there are trade-offs. The Mazda rides firmly but not flinty like a sport sedan. Its steering is unusually heavy for an SUV, and the brake pedal is firm and a bit too touchy, especially at parking lot speeds. The engine is powerful and delivers immediately with a bit more noise in the cabin than your typical family SUV, but it's a pleasant growl. There's a heavy, hewn-from-granite feel to the CX-90 as it goes down the road, much in the manner of the best German sport sedans. It goes around a corner flatter and more confidently than anything else in the class, especially the Honda. If that's what you're looking for, please proceed to the Mazda dealership.

The Honda, by comparison, drives like you'd expect a three-row family SUV to drive. It rides nicer, the steering is super light, and the brakes feel just right. The engine is powerful enough but not assertive, and it feels sluggish off the line when compared to the torquey Mazda. The Pilot is lighter and nimbler going around a corner, with more pronounced body roll and perfectly acceptable handling. The engine is quieter, and the sound it makes is nothing special, which contributes to a quieter cabin than the Mazda. If you're just looking for a nice, respectable family hauler, this is the one for you.

We do also have to give Honda credit for offering some actual off-road capability on the Pilot. The Mazda actually has better ground clearance, but Honda offers a Trailsport trim that significantly improves the Pilot's capabilities, if you actually need that. Either will get you down a dirt road or through the snow.

Both have their foibles, and they're primarily related to the drivetrains. The Mazda's coasting feature, which will shut off the engine when you're going downhill or coming to a stop to save gas, works great when you're moving but doesn't always re-engage the engine smoothly at low speeds. The new eight-speed transmission struggles in the exact same way.

The Honda's engine, meanwhile, is an impressive bit of engineering but feels outclassed here. It just doesn't have the bottom-end torque of the turbocharged and hybridized Mazda and, indeed, much of the rest of the class. Honda's 10-speed automatic is a welcome replacement to the clunky old nine-speed the Pilot used to be saddled with, shifting much more smoothly and smartly. Unfortunately, it failed to address the nine-speed's most annoying quality, the distance the vehicle rolls forward or back after you put it in park before it actually stops and stays. It seriously feels like a full foot, and it's disconcerting every time.

Enough of the car enthusiast publication stuff. You're buying a three-row SUV for a reason. You have lots of humans of various sizes and ages to haul, plus all their stuff. The second and especially the third rows matter most, not to mention the cargo area.

This is where the Pilot shines. The two cars are almost exactly the same size on the outside, but Honda's well-deserved engineering reputation for finding more interior space remains unmatched. The Pilot is simply bigger in virtually every dimension save front-row legroom, where it gives up 0.7 inch to the CX-90.

From the inside, it seems like a lot more than an inch here and a fraction of an inch there. The Pilot's interior design feels open and airy compared to the CX-90's snugger fit, with far more storage space for your phones, keys, purses, chapsticks, and more. The second row likewise feels more spacious than the Mazda, and not just because it has three seats. The simple push buttons that release the second row are far easier to use (especially for children) than the Mazda's handles, and the seats move further forward, easing third-row access. Back there, even adults will be fine in the Pilot on a longer drive as long as you don't put anyone in the third-row middle seat.

It's not a total homerun for Honda on the inside, though. Although the second-row middle seat is removable, it's a better idea on paper than in practice. The seat is heavy and awkward to remove (those with bad backs beware), and when it's gone the outer captain's chairs have no inside armrests. It's nice there's space under the rear cargo floor for the removed seat and a strap to tie it down, but we'd rather have that space for storage.

We're also disappointed by choices made up front. It's nice of Honda to put a knee airbag on the passenger side, but it takes up so much space below the glovebox that the front-seat passenger will never be able to stretch out their legs. The rest of the dashboard is very familiar if you've seen a modern Honda, but it's oddly specced. The company has a newer, bigger screen in the Accord that would look more appropriate in the big Pilot, but it isn't available here. The all-digital instrument cluster is nice, but it's not nearly as customizable as those in other Hondas. Most baffling is the decision to retain USB-A ports, especially for the data connection that enables Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It's 2023, Honda.

Qualms aside, it says something that multiple editors who drove the Pilot referred to it as an excellent minivan alternative and meant it as a compliment. Minivans, as we've long held, are the best family vehicles, so making a successful alternative is no small feat.

The CX-90, meanwhile, scores high on style at the expense of some functionality. First, if you want seating for seven you have to go down two trim levels, which will save you money (assuming you don't add it all back in options). The top two trim levels are six-passenger only, and you'll have to decide if the second-row center console is worth an extra $3,500 up front, but it does come with heated and cooled second-row captains chairs (the Honda's are heated only).

Climb further down the price and trim ladder, and the CX-90 offers seven- and even eight-passenger options, but with 3 to 6 inches less shoulder room in the second and third rows. We don't recommend going there unless your kids are young—especially those in the way back. As equipped, the Mazda's second-row room is quite nice for two adults, and the center console is genuinely useful if you don't need the extra seat. The third row is just big enough for adults, but there's very little space for their feet, and their legs will block the air vents, so we wouldn't recommend it for long drives.

Lack of interior space is our biggest frustration with the CX-90. This is the first vehicle on a completely new platform, so Mazda had the opportunity to address this concern and didn't. It only gets more aggravating the further back you go; the cargo compartment is significantly smaller than the Honda's with all the seats up and any combination of seats folded. At least Mazda figured out how to do front knee airbags that don't take away legroom.

What the Mazda gives you in return is an interior that feels $10,000 richer than Honda's. The design and materials are a class above the utilitarian Honda and reflect the premium positioning Mazda strives to achieve. We're especially enamored with the interesting cloth trim on the dash and its unique stitching pattern. Pretty as the white leather interior is, we'd choose another option because, as one editor put it, "My kid could tie-dye this interior in five minutes."

Up front, the CX-90 has its own hits and misses. We're not huge fans of the infotainment systems in either of these cars, but the majority of editors who drove both preferred the Mazda's with its rotary controller and other hard button controls. The menu structure still has a steep learning curve, but so does the Honda's. We also preferred the CX-90's digital instrument cluster, which was both more visually interesting and more customizable.

The big miss is the new electronic shifter, which requires you to go into reverse whether you want to or not. To get out of park, you have to tilt the lever to the right into reverse, then pull it back two notches if you want to engage drive. Getting back to park requires pushing it forward into reverse, then tilting it left to park. Mark our words, someone is going to forget and put the car in reverse thinking it's in park, take their foot off the brake, and drive backwards into something. It's a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen. Just ask Stellantis what happens when you make the park function easy to miss.

On the flip side, we're happy to see Mazda finally incorporate a full set of advanced driver aids, and we're even happier to see they're pretty good. The Honda's suite is still better and remains the class leader, but Mazda has come out of nowhere with a system that's nearly as good. We especially like how both systems' instrument clusters show you all the nearby vehicles the computer is tracking.

Were the Honda Pilot Elite and Mazda CX-90 Turbo S the same price or close to it, we'd have a hard time choosing between what the heart wants and what the head says is logical. We love the way the Mazda drives and can barely remember the Honda's driving experience, but the Honda delivers what three-row SUV buyers want in ways the Mazda totally whiffs on.

Knowing what these two top-shelf trims cost, though, it's an easier call. The CX-90 checks in at $61,920 as tested, almost $8,200 pricier than the $53,375 Pilot. As well as the Mazda drives and as pretty as it is inside and out, it would be difficult to tell a family with three or more kids to spend $8,200 more on a vehicle with less space.

If you're cross-shopping premium three-row SUVs like the Infiniti QX60 or Acura MDX, the Mazda might seem an incredible bargain, but we've seen no proof the market is actually treating Mazda like a premium automaker yet. When we're talking about consumer brand shoppers where budget matters, the Mazda is just too pricey unless you're looking for exactly the experience it's selling, and we think that's a niche market. For the typical family buying a new three-row SUV for kids and commutes, the Honda Pilot just makes more sense.

Verdict: The best driver-oriented, premium three-row family SUV.

Verdict: The best minivan alternative for the family on a budget.