2025 Toyota Grand Highlander vs 2025 Mazda CX-90: Which is the Better Family SUV?

When you’re shopping for a family vehicle, you want to make sure you’re getting the best model possible. After all, you’re not just thinking about your needs as a driver but also the needs of your entire family. It’s important to get a comfortable back seat so everyone can enjoy the drive, especially if you like to bond over road trips. It’s important to have plenty of cargo space, which can come in handy in all kinds of situations, from buying new furniture after one of your kids has a growth spurt to picking up extended family from the airport without having to stress over playing Tetris with their luggage. It’s important to have the latest safety and infotainment features so you can stay connected while on the go and avoid accidents, even when you’re surrounded by distractions.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a look at two midsize SUVs and see what each of them brings to the table. We’re proud to offer the 2025 Toyota Grand Highlander for sale here at Marietta Toyota because we know that it stands up well against its competition and has plenty to offer families. The 2025 Mazda CX-90 is a sleek model with an elegant interior design, but does it have the practical features your family needs day in and day out? Let’s dig into the details and find out.

Passenger Space

Let’s start with something that’s easy to compare objectively: measurements. When you’re looking to keep the whole family happy with a single vehicle, it’s important to have enough interior space for everyone and everything. You can prevent a lot of arguments by making sure that you choose a spacious SUV. Which of these two models gives you more to work with?

Just by looking at the profiles of the Grand Highlander and the CX-90 side by side, you can probably guess that the Toyota offers more space inside, and you’d be right. The Mazda’s sleek aesthetic comes at the cost of precious interior space. This difference in shape explains why, although the two have very similar overall measurements (the Toyota is 0.6 inches longer and 1.9 inches taller while the Mazda is 0.2 inches wider), they have some substantial differences when it comes to passenger and cargo volume.

In the first two rows, the Grand Highlander offers only slightly more space than the CX-90. Each row gets an extra cubic foot of volume, delivering slightly more headroom, shoulder room, hip room, and leg room. But head back to the third row, and you’ll find a more substantial difference: the Toyota has an extra four cu.ft. of volume compared to the Mazda. Growing kids can enjoy an extra three inches of all-important leg room, two inches of hip room (making it possible to fit three passengers in the back without making them feel like sardines), and four inches of shoulder room, so they can read or access their devices in peace without bumping into their neighbors.

Cargo Space

The Grand Highlander doesn’t cut into rear cargo space in order to deliver better passenger comfort. In fact, it gives you an extra four cu.ft. of volume to work with behind the third row, compared to the CX-90. With the third row folded, the Toyota offers an extra 18 cu.ft. compared to the Mazda. And with both rows of rear seats tucked away, you get 98 cu.ft. in the Toyota compared to 75 cu. ft. in the Mazda, a difference of 23 cu.ft. That can easily be the difference between bringing home a new appliance or piece of furniture yourself and paying an exorbitant fee to have it delivered (during a three-hour window where you’ll have to wait around at home, of course).

Infotainment

A good infotainment system can be a big help to a busy parent. Being able to connect your smartphone to your car lets you stay connected while you’re out and about, so you can send and receive phone calls and texts hands-free without getting distracted by looking at and holding the phone itself. Wireless connectivity makes this whole process even more convenient because it still works, even if you’ve forgotten to take your phone out of your bag or pocket because of a sibling squabble or a tough time wrangling a toddler into a car seat. The bigger the touchscreen a vehicle has, the easier it is to see camera views, navigation directions, and various settings at a glance, so you can get your eyes back on the road ASAP and keep you and your precious cargo safe.

The Grand Highlander and CX-90 offer fairly similar infotainment systems. Both come standard with a seven-inch digital gauge display behind the steering wheel on their entry-level trims while offering a larger 12.3-inch version on higher-tier trims. Those same premium trims will also come standard with wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and a large 12.3-inch central touchscreen display, no matter which model you choose. However, one significant difference is that Toyota makes wireless smartphone connectivity and the large 12.3-inch touchscreen standard equipment available across all trims, while Mazda does not. You don’t have to worry about upgrading to a higher trim to get basic features that make your day-to-day errands and commutes more convenient.

Safety

As a parent, safety is obviously a high priority for you, especially when you’re shopping for a new family SUV. Luckily, automotive technology has progressed rapidly in recent years, and you don’t have to look too hard to find a 2025 model that has a variety of features designed to keep you aware of your surroundings and help you avoid danger everywhere, from city streets and parking lots to fast-moving highways. Both the Grand Highlander and the CX-90 come standard across all trims with driver assistance suites that include automatic front emergency braking, blind spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure alert, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high beam headlights.

Both models also have LATCH hardware to make it easy to anchor a car seat for young children so you can strap the little ones in for the ride easily and safely. Both also have safety features running quietly in the background, like stability control and traction control. To help you get uphill without slipping backward while switching from the brake to the gas pedal, both also include hill start assist.

The Grand Highlander is Designed With the Whole Family in Mind

When you’re choosing a vehicle for the whole family, it’s important to look at the big picture. Zoom into safety features, and you might see a tie. Look at infotainment, and the Grand Highlander will start to have a slight edge. But look at the package that all those features come in, and it’s clear that the Toyota is the better choice for a family on the go. Growing kids are going to get too big for the back seat more quickly in the CX-90, and you’ll have significantly less room for cargo when heading out for an airport run or a long road trip. If you want to see the Grand Highlander, its airy interior, and all of its comfort and convenience features for yourself, come and see us here at Marietta Toyota. Once you take a test drive, we’re sure that you’ll see just how much this SUV has to offer your family.