Which SUV should I look into getting. Differences. Main worries are longevity of electronics, transmission (Will be going up 6,000 feet and down 6,000 feet quite often) as well as braking performance and handling. Room to sleep in the back is important, but not a deal breaker. The ability to tow a trailer and or boat is good. Reliability and price for what you pay for. I am limited to either of these as they are sold at the dealership Galpin in Los Angeles, CA. This will be a new vehicle and may lease based on trade in and credit. Thanks
The Pilot will be more reliable. The newer 2018 2019+ CX-9's have a different philosophy from Mazda with turbos and all that fun stuff that fall apart. You will be better off with the Pilot. Mazdas are good too but not at the level of Honda.
For climbing steep gradients (as you've mentioned you'll be doing frequently) the Honda will be better since it has a very capable V6. The Mazda has a turbo 4-cyl that behaves like a diesel essentially. Meaning, it's high in torque but low on horsepower. Therefore, it'll definitely be strained and feel sluggish on inclines. It's a great motor if you're doing stop and go and need to get up to speed, but for consistent power output the Honda's the better choice. Both are excellent, well handling and reliable cars, but the Honda is better suited for your driving patterns.
Mazda used to put a 3.7 V6 in the cx-9s which were very reliable but the newer turbo 4 cylinders and the Miata manuel transmissions from like 2018 2019 on are somewhat weak they have tons of problems and under stress I would say that neither company has amazing automatic transmissions so Honda makes the best engines especially V6 ones so I would go Honda.
If reliability is very important to you, then certainly also consider the Toyota Highlander. I would go for the Highlander over the Pilot in terms of reliability.
{black}:hi: Thank you all. I like to watch Scotty Kilmer on youtube for suggestions, and it's how I found this forum. Thank you again!