2009 Honda Pilot First Drive

dsteve303 submitted on 04/15/2008 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 12:31 PM
from: www.edmunds.com

Tags: 2009 Honda Pilot

2009 Honda Pilot

2009 Honda Pilot First Drive

A Crossover With More Utility, Not Less

Honda knows the difference between revision and improvement, and you can see the evidence in the 2009 Honda Pilot. It looks different, only the same. Or maybe it's the same, only different. But what you can't see are the dozens and dozens of places within this utility package where the Honda engineers have fiddled with the details.

It's easy to imagine the Honda engineers swarming over the 2009 Honda Pilot, relentlessly improving space-efficiency, utility, fuel economy and performance. It is the Honda Way, the thorough refinement of a mechanical device into a form that is supremely functional, pure and simple.

Only these particular Honda engineers are a bunch of guys from Ohio at Honda R&D Americas, and they've tried to make the 2009 Honda Pilot into the right kind of crossover for Americans.

Die, Minivan, Die
As with the first-generation 2003 Honda Pilot, the new Pilot is derived from the platform of the Honda Odyssey, a vehicle that is the responsibility of Honda R&D Americas. This responsibility is a matter of pride for the engineers in Ohio, and they've done the usual Honda thing by asking people what they want from a utility vehicle, only they've been even more scrupulous about it than usual.

These Americans predictably asked for a utility vehicle, not a minivan in a sport-utility wrapper. You know, more like the Honda Ridgeline, which also shares the Odyssey platform. As a result, the Honda engineers have worked hard to enhance the truck-style aspects of the Pilot's personality, from its 4,500-pound towing capacity (3,500 pounds for 2WD models) to a passenger space scaled for full-size humans in all three seating rows.

So the Pilot's wheelbase has been stretched 2.9 inches, body rigidity has been improved and there are lots of clever places to stash stuff. This Pilot will even ford a stream 19 inches deep. (Well, that's probably a lot compared to a minivan.)

And yet the Honda guys have also done their best to maintain all the good things about the Pilot — the smart-size dimensions, the useful packaging and the intelligent mechanical specification.

The Look of Utility
The 2009 Honda Pilot tries hard to look more like a utility and less like a minivan. It has a cleaned-up boxlike profile (you'll want to reference the Ford Explorer) that looks bluff and hearty, like an American wearing a simple white T-shirt. Of course, it's matched with a self-consciously truck-style grille that strikes the same note of authenticity as a sumo wrestler wearing a belt buckle from the Salinas Rodeo.

Well, it's the interior that counts in a utility vehicle anyway, and this is the Pilot's strength. This eight-passenger Pilot makes good use of its new 109.2-inch wheelbase — a stretch of 2.9 inches — by affording a doorway to the second-row seat that's 2.6 inches taller and 1.8 inches wider than before. Once you're inside, you'll discover 38.5 inches of rear-seat legroom, an increase of 1.1 inches.

Once you flip the second-row seat forward, access to the third-row seat is wider by 2.6 inches, and Honda has also managed to carve out an adult-size space by raising the hip point of the seat itself, so there are 1.9 inches more legroom and a far more comfortable seating position.

While they were about it, the Honda engineers also managed to carve out some useful storage nooks throughout the interior. The glovebox is divided into three spaces, the center console is spacious (and naturally configured for a mobile phone and the usual audio accessories) and there are bins and cupholders and power outlets and tie-down hooks everywhere you look. There's even a storage box integrated into the driver side of the cargo area, while another 2.8 cubic feet of storage has been created beneath the cargo floor.

Honda says there are 174.5 cubic feet of total interior volume inside this box, although it cheats a little by including the 2.8 cubic feet of under-floor storage. But we're not complaining, because you can flip, slide, fold or tumble almost everything, creating a magic box of miraculous space-efficiency.

The Wheels on the Bus
You can't say that driving the 2009 Honda Pilot is particularly memorable, yet it doesn't drive like a minivan, either.

As you'd expect, the Pilot's revised unibody is lighter and structurally more rigid, yet it also reflects a refined appreciation for its physical integrity, so the box feels particularly composed and even quiet. The wheels also have a better sense of where they're going thanks to a track that's 1.4 inches wider in front and an inch wider in the rear, while the front and rear subframes have more structural integrity. Further suspension detailing enhances handling precision while improving compliance and reducing vibration.

The Pilot rides a little more like a truck and less like a soggy old minivan, something Pilot owners had asked for, and it works out. At the very least the Pilot feels like it's had some extensive development miles over a wide variety of American roads, which is not something that can be said of all recent Honda vehicles.

The VDM 6-4-3
With as much as 4,600 pounds to motivate, Honda figures you'll need something useful from under the hood, so its 3.5-liter V6 delivers 250 horsepower at 5,700 rpm and 253 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm. The power arrives a little farther around the tachometer dial than you'd like, and since there are only five speeds in the transmission with which to find it, you have to work the throttle pedal kind of hard to get there.

The 2009 Pilot's V6 features the updated version of Honda's variable displacement technology, which switches among six-, four- or three-cylinder modes depending on throttle load to help maximize fuel-efficiency. (The Pilot's previous VDM-equipped V6 switched only between six- and three-cylinder modes, and came only with two-wheel-drive models.) Special ignition timing, engine mounts and transmission calibration help disguise the transitions between different modes, but you can feel a bit of inoffensive surging from the transmission as the VDM goes about its business.

When you step up to all-wheel drive, you can have some VTM-4 to go along with your VDM. The Borg-Warner device engages the rear wheels with a pair of fast-acting electromagnetically operated clutches according to what the computerized controller learns from its wheel-mounted sensors. Up to 70 percent of engine torque can be directed to the rear wheels depending on the amount of tire slip registered. Like so many things from Honda, the system is exquisitely simple and completely affordable, if not exactly trail-rated. There's no low transmission range, but a push of a button directs maximum torque to the rear wheels in the low gears in case you get stuck.

Smart Utility
The 2009 Honda Pilot is not a truck (unless you're the kind of person who thinks a Honda Ridgeline is really a truck), but it'll tow a boat or a trailer of ATVs on a family adventure, and you can pick up a lot of stuff from a loading dock at the home improvement store. It's not a car, but you can carry as many people as one of the full-size GM crossovers and still tote enough stuff to keep everyone happy on a vacation, plus there's a new Touring model that delivers all the comfort amenities you might find in something wearing an Acura badge.

In a way, Honda's product planning has been caught between hops here, as the 2009 Honda Pilot has gotten serious about its utility mission just as so many other crossovers have wimped out and simply given in to being little more than all-wheel-drive station wagons. Comfort and fuel-efficiency are the watchwords now, and hardly anyone seems to be talking about cargo volume and all-wheel drive.

Yet the 2009 Honda Pilot sets itself apart from the crossover competition because it values real utility, not just comfort and convenience. It gets there by applying truck-think — appreciation for practical, intelligent function. In the end the Honda Pilot never forgets that trucklike utility is part of its job description.

Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report. Read Article

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theoptimisticpessimist - 4/15/2008 1:22:04 PM

+9 Boost

This thing is an ugly step backwards.

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JUGNU - 4/15/2008 1:47:39 PMView My AgentSpace

-4 Boost

revise the headlights and styling is fine.

JUGNU

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answer - 4/15/2008 1:49:09 PMView My AgentSpace

+9 Boost

Interior looks funky, but cool.

Exterior is ugly thanks to the grille design.

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theoptimisticpessimist - 4/15/2008 3:19:08 PM

+2 Boost

Just read a review where the complain about hard cheap plastic and bad seams.

SpicyMikey - 4/15/2008 2:30:07 PM

+4 Boost

Honda/Acura seem to be going for the shock factor now with their new grills. I don't like it.

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bigmotov - 4/15/2008 2:42:07 PM

+2 Boost

I agree. That's a grill that tries way too hard. However, I've seen more pics of this and it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be (grill is still bad). Interior is nice and well thought out, like most Hondas.

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Reason - 4/15/2008 2:45:01 PM

+3 Boost

Apparently Ugly Betty and Courtney Love are heading up Honda's design department. WOOF! This car should only be allowed to be driven at night during a solar eclipse and in the midst of a power outage. Let's hope that Betty and Courtney don't put their treatment on the Ridgeline update as well.

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answer - 4/15/2008 4:23:40 PMView My AgentSpace

+5 Boost

I agree. Honda's own Odyssey with the touring package and in black with a black interior looks pretty nice.

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BMW4me4ever - 4/15/2008 3:02:31 PMView My AgentSpace

-2 Boost

lmao ... that and the subaru are the ugliest crossovers.

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S4cabriofoxone - 4/15/2008 5:26:52 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

Obviously you haven't seen the revised 2008 Subaru Tribeca.

http://www.edmunds.com/media/roadtests/roadtest/08.subaru.tribeca.limited/08.subaru.tribeca.340.jpg

BMW4me4ever - 4/15/2008 3:04:05 PMView My AgentSpace

+3 Boost

Medieval Times is looking for one of the shields. Someone seems to have misplaced it on the Honda

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Whelan - 4/15/2008 3:38:38 PM

+5 Boost

LMAO at the comment above, Medieval Times HAHAHAHA. *wipes the tear from his eye*

Moving on, it's the new Honda Box! I can't believe they went from have a nice classy set of projector lenses on the freshened current Pilot to these things, wtf!

Just like the last Accord with LED tail lamps, suddenly switches back to regular bulbs? LEDs are better in 1000 ways so why ditch em?

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aeyjay - 4/16/2008 3:26:25 AM

+2 Boost

I was thinking the same exact thing. It just saddens me when Honda or any manufacturer takes steps back like that.

Here are a few small other examples...

The GMC Envoy USED to have Xenon headlamps until it was redesigned.
The Infiniti M45 used to have LED mirrors until it was redesigned.
The GMC Yukon Denali used to have projector lenses until it was redesigned.

I'm sure there are many others...

Honda should've at LEAST kept LED tail lamps on the Accord to show that the vehicle is progressing.

carguy68 - 4/15/2008 3:52:06 PM

+3 Boost

ha ha this thing look's like it's scared

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g2ok - 4/15/2008 3:54:31 PM

0 Boost

The Honda Odyssey is a better vehicle. How could Honda ruin the Pilot with such a terrible design. The interior is okay, but not great. I don't care for the open compartments on the passenger side. Would $10 worth of plastic to make a cover be asking too much for a $30-40 SUV ? I think sales will drop like a brick on the Pilots. The previous model had a classy look and based on current MDX, better quality than the cheap crap coming from the Ohio plant. Honda has now successfully copied Toyota in poor design and build.

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g2ok - 4/15/2008 3:55:32 PM

-2 Boost

all that complaining from a Toyota and Honda Fan

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g2ok - 4/15/2008 3:57:42 PM

+1 Boost

it looks like a wannabe Ford Expedition

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07G35J - 4/15/2008 4:27:08 PM

+2 Boost

This is such a step backwards for Honda. I like the 1st. generation a lot more than this atrocity. It's like a mutation of Jeep Liberty sides (notice the squared rear quarter windows), with a Nissan Pathfinder tailgate, and a front straight from hell. That grill is just awful. It looks like they wanted to clone one of those SUVs, but couldn't make up their mind on which one, so they tried to do both at the same time. I really expected something better from Honda.

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lexusrox123 - 4/15/2008 6:07:41 PM

+3 Boost

bring back the previous gen headlights and grille!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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lexusis350 - 4/15/2008 6:14:20 PM

+3 Boost

I think I'm coming around on this design. At first I was wondering what Honda was thinking but now I think it looks pretty nice. I'm not a fan if the shifter, though. It's too much like a chick SUV shifter.

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EL34 - 4/15/2008 8:06:54 PM

0 Boost

Looks like a sea going sponge :-/

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Star - 4/15/2008 8:24:25 PM

+1 Boost

Another mutant built by Honda...American buyers are going to love it. Put a s**t on a stick, add a V-tech sticker and it will sell like hot cakes.

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olscuul - 4/15/2008 8:29:58 PM

+1 Boost

i have an '02 explorer, which is a very practical suv.
small size, carries up to 7, real rear bias 4wd.
the 'pileup', as i like to call it, has good row 1 and 2 seating. row three is a failure. only good for 3 kids, not good for 2 adults. capacity behind row 3 looks pretty good.
up front, the shift is very weird and when in 'drive' compromises whatever the controls are in the lower center dash area.
4600 lbs is a lot of weight for the drivetrain. either the cyl deactivation won't work on anything but level ground, or it will put a lot of strain on the transmission.

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adamsaf723 - 4/15/2008 11:15:31 PM

+1 Boost

Maybe some of that time should have been better spent on changing the grille.

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richard112360 - 4/16/2008 10:38:04 AM

+3 Boost

That grill just has go!!!!!!

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aeyjay - 4/16/2008 1:31:54 PM

+1 Boost

I've owned more Honda/Acura vehicles than any other marque and must say that they are disappointing me as of late.

I have an S2000 right now and absolutely love the car. I was at Honda of Hollywood recently and saw the Honda S2000 CR and thought to myself, "WTF?". Honda and Acura designs are really getting wierd and tacky as of late. It sorta pisses me off because I really love their cars.

The new Accord is such a step back in design - I don't care what anyone says. I think Honda and Acura were on a roll in the early 90's (when I was around 10 years old LOL). The Legend coupe is still a sexy car; the NSX was hot but got long in the tooth; Even the Accord had a timeless look...

I could go on, but would rather forego a headache LOL

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aeyjay - 4/16/2008 1:33:05 PM

+1 Boost

forgo*? (sp*)

Milton - 4/16/2008 2:52:23 PM

+3 Boost

This has got to be the lamest design ever...

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dano100 - 4/18/2008 1:17:08 AM

+1 Boost

A Super Sized Honda Element, that is what it looks like to me. Put some suicide doors on that pig. BTW my sister has the Accord with the 6-4-3 and it sucks. I can feel the cylinders drop off and it that is very disconcerting to me. I was really interested in the Accord too but after driving hers I bought a year old Infiniti G35X for the same money. Wow!!! What a car!!!

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