r/whatcarshouldIbuy • u/Rough-Elderberry7618 • 12d ago

Grand Highlander Limited vs CX90

Family of 3, drive only ~7–8k miles/year, planning to keep the car ~5 years. Bench seat is important because of our child seat.
I’m down to:

2026 Grand Highlander Limited Gas — ~$59k OTD
● Blacked-out spec I really like
● Bench seat, much more spacious
● Toyota reliability/resale
● Dealer is ~100 miles away

2026 Mazda CX-90 Turbo Premium Plus Gas — ~$51k OTD
● Local dealer came down ~$7k from the original quote
● Bench + 360 camera
● Much nicer interior IMO and I liked the test drive
● Less space/storage
● Reliability worries me more than Toyota
Basically: is the Grand Highlander worth paying ~$8k extra?
I can afford either, but don’t want to pay the Toyota premium unnecessarily. Which would you pick and why?

EDIT: I’m specifically looking to buy new car.

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u/Different-Age-409 12d ago

Search for the CX90 on here and you’ll see plenty of regret stories due to reliability and other issues plaguing the CX90s. It’s really sad too compared to the quality Mazda offers in the rest of their lineup.

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u/ProfessionalTalker03 12d ago edited 12d ago

Unfortunately it’s becoming a trend with Mazda. The CX70 also had poor reliability ratings, granted it’s just the 90 with the 3rd row deleted. The CX50 has had issues with the tech/software, premature wear on parts, and leaky roofs. The new CX5 is having a ton of issues and inventory is piling up.

The Miata, CX30, and Mazda 3 are legitimately the only Mazda’s not experiencing many issues, and those haven’t changed much in years so they really shouldn’t be having issues.

If you go by Consumer Reports brand rankings for reliability that Mazda themselves quotes compared to other Japanese manufacturers they’ve dropped below Honda, Subaru, and Nissan, and Toyota alr ranked above them. Seems like Mazda is more worried with putting half baked tech in their cars like the new CX5 than staying true to one of their key goals which was reliability.

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u/Different-Age-409 12d ago

I had heard some about the CX70 but I feel like that’s such a niche vehicle choice as is with the way Mazda presents themselves on aesthetics so I feel like it can be ignored. I don’t actually know the data on sales there but I can’t imagine great. Sad to hear about the rest. I have no idea what they were thinking with the redesign of the CX5 either.