CAR and Driver - March 2017

Long-Term Test: When the tires get worn and the factory

warranty runs out, that’s where we come in. Car and Driver is

your source for the 40,000-mile evaluation. And activity books.

2016 HONDA PILOT ELITE

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(^1912)
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(^35)
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illustrations by NATHAN YODER
tion’s blocky exterior for a softer form that
bears more than a passing resemblance to
that other paragon of blandness, a minivan.
And specifically, Honda’s own activity
book, the Odyssey. But both have long been
among our favored means of moving large
numbers of people and great volumes of
junk, and so we lined up a Pilot for a long-
haul test. We opted for the ultimate Pilot,
the Elite. It came loaded with all-wheel
drive, leather, navigation, heated and ven-
tilated front seats, heated second-row
captain’s chairs, two sunroofs, a Blu-ray
rear-seat entertainment system with
HDMI and RCA inputs, and Honda’s full
complement of driver-assist features: for-
ward-collision warning with automatic
emergency braking, lane-keeping assist,
adaptive cruise control, blind-spot moni-
tors, and automatic high-beams. To this
hefty load of equipment we added a trailer
hitch ($360), roof-rail crossbars ($225), and
a rear-bumper appliqué ($70), bringing the
total MSRP to $47,955.
With an abundance of space, comfort,
and luxury, the Pilot completed its 40,000-
mile assignment in just 11 months. It passed
through some 20 states and four Canadian
provinces in our hands, once piling up more
than 7000 miles in a single month.
Those highway miles helped keep our
fuel consumption at an average of 22 mpg,
outstanding for a 4351-pound bus. Honda
redesigned the Pilot’s 3.5-liter V- 6, now
turning out 280 horsepower and 262
pound-feet of torque, for this generation.
Cheaper Pilots back that with a six-speed
auto, while the uplevel Touring and Elite
trims get a nine-speed.
W hen new, our Pilot turned in straight-
line performance that would beat a Dodge
Challenger V-6, with a 6.0-second zero-to-
60-mph sprint and 14.6 seconds in the
quarter-mile at 95 mph. After 40,000 miles,
it slipped a couple of tenths in the quarter,
handing the lead back to the muscle
coupe. Its braking performance—172 feet
to stop from 70 mph new, 178 at the end of
the test—places it among the best family

W

hen practicality is paramount, all other consider-

ations sit even further back than usual, particularly

style. Take three-row crossovers, a genre with

space for all manner of considerations. Once you

package three rows of seats, plump out the silhou-

ette to maximize interior volume, and pull the belt-

line low for the sake of visibility, you’re left with a

fairly bland template onto which to project your brand’s aesthetics.

Not that buyers in the big-crossover class

seem discouraged by their vehicles’ same-

ness—sales success in mainstream seg-

ments often requires automakers to color

inside the lines. That said, the crossover’s

role as a minivan surrogate means that

plenty of its passengers will color all over

t he i nter ior.

When Honda redesigned the Pilot for

2016, it lengthened and lowered the triple-

row SUV, shucking the previous genera-

Arrival: December/2015

Departure: November/2016

—

Color in the following pages to make our

long-term Honda Pilot your own! Just be careful

not to overdo it, like we did. _by Jared Gall

Rants & Raves

Is the cruise-control

system messed up, or

does it just suck?

—Rusty Blackwell

How did this throttle

calibration ever leave

the proving ground?

Low-speed and stand-

ing-start responses are

as bad as I’ve driven.

—J o sh Ja c q u ot

74. CAR AND DRIVER. MAR/2017