Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

If you're like us, you're probably not fond of all those SUV drivers who never have more than a Starbucks cup to haul in their high-profile, low gas-mileage vehicles. This month we decided to get totally crazy and actually put the Pilot's utility ability to the test. Of course, we carried some vertical blinds in it last month, so we've already proven its ability to fold the second- and third-row seats down for extra storage. This month, however, we made two (count 'em, two!) long-distance treks with a fully loaded Pilot.

The first run came after packing our Pilot with the final pieces of furniture from the apartment of our dearly departed Brent Romans. For those of you who don't yet know, Brent abandoned us for a girl in London (OK, she's actually his fiancée — but still!). The furniture in question consisted of two chest of drawers (each one about four feet tall) and one shelf unit (about four-and-a-half feet tall). Happily, we were able to fit all three pieces into the Pilot's 90-cubic-foot cargo area. In fact, we even had enough room left over for the six drawers (three each) that had been removed from the two chest of drawers to reduce their weight (and the likelihood of back injury).

About a week later, on Brent's last day at Edmunds.com, Mr. Romans grabbed the Pilot keys and loaded two shelf units into the cargo hold (again, with both rear rows of seats folded down). One set of shelves was plastic and the other metal, but they were each about five feet tall. By placing the metal unit on the Pilot's cargo floor and sliding the plastic unit over the metal shelves he could once again shut the rear cargo door and still have room to spare.

And people wonder why SUVs sell so well. Here's a hint for those who still don't get it: eight-passenger seating and 90 cubic feet of cargo capacity…in one vehicle! Don't try that in a Volvo V70, Mercedes-Benz E-Class or even a Honda Odyssey (the Honda minivan can only carry seven people, and removing those second-row seats, while relatively easy, is a much bigger pain than simply folding the Pilot's down).

This month's Pilot activity wasn't all about moving Brent's cra…uh, stuff around. We also used it to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Downtown Los Angeles. No, we're not getting cultured or nothing, but there was an automotive event at the museum; we entered the address in our DVD navigation system and headed east from our Santa Monica offices. As with most major cities, Downtown L.A. is a twisted maze of one-way streets. We were warned beforehand that finding MOCA can be tricky, but we knew our nav system would steer us in the right direction…or would it?

We made it downtown with no problems, but once there the system seemed slow to respond. On several occasions it had us backtracking or going around the block. Again, with the one-way streets this might have been necessary. But when it had us driving down the same block three times in a row, we knew something was wrong. It also wasn't keeping up with our current position and this led to several missed turns because the instructions came well past the intersection where we were supposed to turn. Like a bad (but far too common these days) Denver Bronco defense, the previously faultless Honda navigation system was crumbling before our eyes.

We finally stopped listening to the navigation system when a sign that read "MOCA," with an accompanying arrow, appeared. We made the indicated turn and rapidly closed in on our destination. As you might expect, the navigation system finally sorted itself out just as we were pulling up to the museum entrance. "You have arrived," announced the soothing female voice. "Yes," our driver responded to the computer-generated navigator, "and no thanks to you!"

We will continue to monitor our navigation system's performance, but were we to grade it purely on this experience it would receive a less-than-stellar score. Let's hope the museum run was a fluke caused by L.A.'s short downtown blocks and tall (potentially GPS signal-blocking?) buildings.

The only other item to report this month is an occasional rattle that comes from the front door panels. We actually noticed the rattle while driving away from the Honda dealership back in August, but it was so intermittent that we didn't bother mentioning it. The rattles from either front door panel continue to be few and far between, but the fact that we keep hearing them (very occasionally and only over specific types of bumps) is cause for concern. It almost seems like the panels are fully snapped into place, but pushing on them has produced no satisfying "click" to support this theory. We'll keep our eyes (and ears) focused on this one.

Current Odometer: 3,657
Best Fuel Economy: 19.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 17.4 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 18.0 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: Very occasional rattle from front door panels, confused navigation system.