Thanks to a few small changes inside, outside and under the hood for 2012, the Honda Pilot remains a top performer among large SUVs with three rows of seats.
When compared with six other vehicles in our $37,000 SUV Shootout — including some newer and more recently redesigned models — the Pilot took first place. The secret of its success is doing virtually everything well and offering more standard features than we've come to expect in a Honda at this price.
The Pilot starts at $28,470 for the LX trim level and also comes in EX, EX-L (the "L" is for leather) and Touring trim levels. The car we used in the comparison test was an EX-L with one option added, for a total of $36,170.
New for 2012
The Pilot's enhancements for 2012 prove that little things mean a lot. Adding 1 mpg to its gas mileage in the city and 2 mpg to its highway figure made the Pilot the second most efficient model in our Shootout, with an EPA-estimated 18/25 mpg (21 mpg combined) with front-wheel drive. The smaller Kia Sorento is rated 20/26 mpg (22 mpg combined). The all-wheel-drive Pilot rates 17/24 mpg (20 mpg combined).
None of our editors are wild about the Pilot's boxy styling, but a few of the previous model's detractors celebrated the grille's new horizontal cross-members. (Apparently all an automaker has to do to win praise for a mundanely conservative grille is supplant it for a few years with a giant branding iron.)
The standard alloy wheels on EX and higher trim levels are now 18 inches rather than 17, which looks nicer but likely will translate to more expensive replacement tires.
Honda addressed two of my complaints in the space of a square foot by redesigning the dashboard's center control panel. The cheap-looking silver plastic has been replaced by a darker, patterned material, and order has come to the previous model year's dizzying hodgepodge of buttons. The controls are more logically laid out, and knobs have replaced some of the ventilation-control switches. Even the multifunction controller, which comes on higher trim levels, has fewer buttons and functions.
A Family-Friendly Ride
All these improvements rest on a strong foundation. Though the Pilot is one of the shorter models in its class measured from bumper to bumper, its boxy shape pays off in interior space, and it's one of only two models in our test that seats eight. It also has a feature we found critical in this SUV class: sliding second-row seats. There are two benefits: the flexibility to apportion legroom between the second and third rows (or choose between passenger space and cargo space), and ease in accessing the third row. The second row's tilt-and-slide motion is just easier than some competing models' fold-and-tumble routine. That being said, the Pilot's third row isn't the easiest to get into overall. Though headroom is workable for adults, the floor is relatively high, so even if the second row is scooted forward enough for those adults to fit, their knees will be raised.
We were thrilled to see that three child-safety seats fit in the second-row seat. Visit MotherProof's Car Seat Check for full details on the second and third rows.
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