Superb General Purpose Vehicle

The 2006 Honda Pilot EX-L was my first Honda, and I can tell already it will not be the my last. The Pilot is a confident vehicle with excellent handling, a very comfortable interior, plenty of storage, and a profile small enough to move around in the city. The Pilot has been a treat to drive, and it has demonstrated it is very livable for long trips.

The Review

The Honda Pilot is a two part story for me. We first looked at the Pilot when were looking to replace my wife's Saturn Vue. The main driver was the lack of space in the Vue, where it had been a nice size when it was just the two of us, when we had our first child, it was out of room. The front seat had to be all the way forward to put a rear-facing child seat in, meaning if I was in the vehicle, I was driving or sitting in the back since I am 6' 2" and I can't get into the vehicle with the front seat that far forward. Then, even a compact type stroller filled the modest cargo area in the rear. It was time to get something larger.

Among a fairly long list of contenders we opened the field to, one vehicle did stand out as different from the rest; the Honda Pilot. This vehicle came close to the amount of space offered by the large SUVs in a footprint much closer to the mid-size vehicles. The build quality was absolutely superb. And, we would have been driving one, except for one problem: The rear-facing baby carrier did not fit, simply due to an arch of plastic on the back of the front seat.

That was the end of the first look at this vehicle, but is not the end of the story. My daily driving vehicle has been a Ford Bronco for quite a few years now, and with the vehicle over ten years old and the miles over 130,000, it is starting to show its age and has increasing maintenance. And, with fuel prices where they are, the time seemed right to get a replacement vehicle.

Though the requirements were a bit different, I found myself still very interested in the Pilot. I did look at a few other vehicle, including the Jeep lineup, the FJ Cruiser, and a few others. But what kept me coming back to the Pilot was simple livability. Yes, it was high enough to avoid curb stones and survive some of the dirt roads an astronomical observing trip can entail, but it was also very comfortable, and just seemed to have a lot of space in side.

The Jeep Commander, for example, is about the same size externally, but with the back open, the floor is much higher and there is less free space. In contrast, the Pilot had a lower floor, and at least to the eye, it seemed a lot bigger. Well, it turns out it is: the data on the vehicle says the difference is 47.6 cubic ft. behind the second row on the Honda versus 36.3 cubic ft. And this appears to be true across the vehicle- space has been used extremely well.

The Ford Explorer turned out to be a non-starter thanks to its peculiar door layout, where the door handle is below the armrest, so quite literally it is impossible to close that door while remaining in the seat. Then it has a very strange door handle at the up turned front of the armrest. At the other extreme, the Toyota FJ Cruiser does have a neat look to the interior, but it is a fairly small vehicle and the mediocre mileage and requirement for premium gas combined with limited vehicle choice to make a non-starter, a fact I was very glad of when my mom came to visit and I tried to imagine asking her to get into an FJ cruiser.

The version I ended up getting was the 2006 EX-L 4WD. The vehicle is bright silver, which reflects heat well here in the desert, and just has a very nice refined look. The interior is dark gray, and the windows are limo-dark, also a nice feature in Tucson.

Usage

The Honda Pilot has a few unusual features built in to it. One of them is a drive-by-wire throttle. It isn't obvious what this means until you notice the vehicle goes into full coast when you let off the throttle. One of my friends at work actually did engine testing at Honda, and mentioned what this is is the controller commanding the fuel system completely off to save fuel. What this means in practice is if you see a red light coming up, let off the gas completely, and the vehicle will coast, using its forward momentum up by driving the electrical system and the air conditioner.

But the Pilot is also a surprisingly potent performance vehicle. It accelerates as strongly as anything with an automatic transmission thie side of a sports car. The biggest oddity is when doing low range engine braking on steep hills. Note, you should make sure you have taken the vehicle through its full shifter range several times in a parking lot before you need to do this. The shifter goes from park to drive/overdrive in one straight arc. However, to go to lower range gears, you don't pull the lever all the way back. It results in the lever taking a detour forward to get to the first three gears and make some room for the right knee (in first, it still touches my right knee if my foot is off the pedal).

When going down a steep slope in the Chiricahua National Monument, I noticed first would cause the vehicle to roll and then build up engine braking so its speed didn't go over 15 MPH. Then the throttle would allow the vehicle to roll. So, it was almost as if you were applying brakes periodically, but in this case it was the engine taking up the energy to slow the vehicle. And clearly it was designed to let you move down any usable slope with confidence. In second, the obvious brake-and-release behavior goes away and it feels like any other machine as it tops out between 25 and 28 mph.

In the case of climbing steep hills, the Pilot makes it seem effortless. I for one have started wondering just what its performance limits must be. But I have to admit there is a difference between taking the old Bronco on a Jeep trail versus the new Honda.

The other major new feature for me has been the Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) system, which moves torque between the various wheels to maintain control. This comes with a button on the dash which can turn this off (and turn a warning light on), and has the effect of making the Pilot behave. What I mean by that is it makes some of the most extreme maneuvers seem almost boring. For example, if you are taking a sharp turn to the right and spin the steering wheel and reverse the turn, the results with VSA and without are markedly different. Without VSA, the handling frankly reminds me of the Bronco with an obvious body roll and the threat of the back end loosing traction. With VSA switched on, it has the feel of having done this maneuver with something more like a Miyata; it just sticks to the ground. And, I just leave this feature on.

The cruise control has its on/off switch right next to the VSA button, and nested in amongst the controls for the moon roof and the fog lights. I suggest switching the cruise control on or off based on what you are usually doing and not risking inadvertently switching the vehicle stability assist off.

The 4WD version of this vehicle does have an emergency traction switch for locking the transaxle and making it act like a jeep with locked differntials. I haven't had the occasion to try this yet. I have a sneaking suspicion I will know I have done something very foolish if I ever need this.

The EX-L has the option of XM radio, which I have been using. The only limit I have found is if you listen to something with far bass, the subwoofer in the back can make some of the panels vibrate. The cabin is very quiet, but on mine, I needed to have the doors tightened (and it turns out they can do this), so it is very quiet on a smooth road. On rough asphalt, the Pilot transmits the roar characteristic of unit body construction.

Since I got this vehicle as a part of a "Internet special" the dealer, Chapman Honda in Tucson runs, they gave me the large tray for the cargo area. the cargo area also has a third row of kiddie-seats under it. In everyday practice, this vehicle just easily swallows up cargo. With three adults and their luggage, as well as a baby with additional luggage, the back still had room. The rear hatch is only one piece, so there is no option to open the window to get something out. Instead, the whole back must be opened. The offset side handle does complicate closing the rear hatch, since the springs are powerful enough to take all of its weight. The best way to close it I have found is to push it shut right on the chrome Honda "H."

The rear compartment is fully equipped with tie-downs and side hooks. So, for example, I went to an observing event at the Whipple Observatory, and tying down a NexStar 8 GPS telescope meant threading a suitcase strap through a side ring and through one of the scope arms.

The other features which make this vehicle are little things like the front of the center console which opens up with a mobile phone holder. At night, the lights turn on a small yellow LED in the ceiling which puts soft light on the center area. The roof in the back has holders for the center shoulder belt and the left side third row seats. And the vehicle comes loaded with safety equipment, every bit of which is an expensive option on the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

The only nit I have for this vehicle is it does look a lot like the Toyota Highlander. And, the Pilot has been basically the same vehicle for over three years now. Between 2005 and 2006, about the biggest difference was red tail lights being replaced with clear ones. Between a 2006 and a 2007, I haven't been able to figure out how to tell the difference.

Conclusion

The Honda Pilot is a very solid value for the money. It works well, is fun to drive, and has a surprising amount of room inside. It has turned out to be a willing and nimble vehicle. It does have a few unusual characteristics like VSA button next to the cruise control switch, but this is a far cry from the bizarre layout in the current generation of the Explorer. I am quickly coming to understand why so many people I know love their Hondas.