WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
The push-button shifter is maddening and silly. Given how much space is allotted to those buttons, why isn’t it just a regular shifter? Instead, there are buttons of different sizes and shapes situated in different planes for various functions. Push a button for the park, drive, or neutral, but to engage reverse, you tug on a switch. And, since the Pilot so strongly resembles a minivan now, the packaging compromises relative to the Odyssey are that much more frustrating. But maybe, as designers try to pack more space into crossovers built on car and minivan platforms, crossovers will slowly start to morph back into their original shapes, and we’ll see a slow migration of buyers toward the uncompromised practicality of the hatchback and the minivan. Or perhaps not.
WHAT WENT WRONG
In the sort of Washington, D.C., parking garage where you might expect to find a Law & Order villain lurking in the shadows, one of our contributors encountered a far more real menace: a pipe obscured by a support column. The pipe scraped along the left-rear fender, with the damage fortunately mainly confined to the plastic trim piece around the wheel well, although it did dig into the quarter-panel and the bumper cover. Had more metal been damaged, the bill undoubtedly would have been higher than the $986 the mishap cost us. Our 10,000-mile service, an oil change and inspection, came to just $46; our second service, at 20,000 miles, added a tire rotation and a variation of the rear differential’s fluid and set us back $242.
WHERE WE WENT
It was a busy May and June for the Pilot. Copy chief Carolyn Pavia-Rauchman and her family used it to cross the Kentucky Derby off their bucket list. It was home for just a few days before heading down to Washington, D.C. From there, it proceeded to the northern reaches of Michigan and then went straight into a return trip to Virginia, shuttling people and gear to C/D’s Lightning Lap X (coming in the October issue!). On the return trip, it detoured through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, for reasons we’re not quite sure about. By the time it returned from this trip, it had accumulated more than 7000 miles in just one month. We don’t expect the remaining 20,000 to pass quite as quickly, but the Pilot is reserved for road trips most weekends between now and the end of August.
Months in Fleet: 6 months Current Mileage: 16,672 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 21 mpg Fuel Tank Size: 19.5 gal Fuel Range: 405 miles
Service: $288 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $986
Honda’s Pilot has been among our favourite ways to move lots of people and gear ever since it first appeared shortly after the dawn of the century. And we’ve also always liked the Odyssey minivan, so when the new Pilot debuted for 2016 looks an awful lot like the Odyssey, we immediately put in our order for a long-termer. (Okay, we probably would have wanted one no matter what it looked like.)
There are Odyssey bones beneath that Odyssey-aping skin, but there’s also a new, 280-hp V-6 paired with the first nine-speed automatic ever to pass through our long-term fleet. The nine-speed is standard on the Touring and the top-of-the-line Elite trim levels.
We chose that latter because it comes with a two-place second row that limits occupancy to seven persons—and then only if the three of them in the rearmost seat typically state their ages by holding up fingers. We have concluded that this is the maximum occupancy threshold for maintaining driver sanity.
At a base price of $31,045, an entry-level front-wheel-drive Pilot LX includes a rearview camera, push-button start, a tilting and telescoping steering column, and a stereo that includes Bluetooth and USB connectivity. By the time you’ve ascended to the penultimate $42,070 Touring, you’ve added remote starting, second-row seats that fold at the touch of a button, three-zone automatic climate control, LED ambient lighting, a 10-way power adjustable driver’s seat, four additional USB ports (for a total of three in the front and two in the second row), leather upholstery, navigation, and a Blu-ray rear-seat entertainment system. The last step up to Elite adds all-wheel drive, heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats, an extra-large sunroof, and the most feature-heavy version of the Honda Sensing package. Highlights of the latter package are a forward-collision warning with automatic braking, blind-spot monitoring, and lane-keeping assist. The total price came to $47,955 after accessories such as a trailer hitch receiver and roof-rail crossbars were tacked on.
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