2019 Honda Pilot Review

[MUSIC PLAYING] ELANA SCHERR: Got a big family? Not ready for the minivan life? You're probably already looking at the 2019 Honda Pilot. The Pilot is one of Edmunds' top-rated three row midsize SUVs, and it's one of the most-searched vehicles at edmunds.com. Can a big family SUV be both useful and fun? We aim to find out. Ooh, but first, subscribe and visit Edmunds for all your SUV shopping needs. The Pilot is a nice looking machine. It's not too blobby. It's not too square. There are a few updates for 2019, primarily in the LED headlights, which look sleek, and in the tail lights, which look oddly incomplete. This is the top trim for the Pilot-- the nearly $50,000 Elite. It's heavily loaded with options, including 20-inch wheels. Snazzy. Just in case you're watching this Honda Pilot review thinking, ooh it's a hot rod and I'm really going to get some sporty action in this car-- it doesn't even do a burnout. I'm floored right now. It just cuts all the power. [ENGINE REVVING] So you should probably go watch the Porsche versus Corvette review that Carlos and Alistair just did. For the rest of you who actually want a family vehicle, we've got you covered. The Elite is the most expensive trim level you can get in the Honda Pilot. This one that we're driving, which is very heavily-optioned, is $49,000. But they start at $31,000, so the Honda Pilot's really covering both ends of the segment. And you can get almost all the good stuff that the Elite has in the middle at the EX or the EXL level. The Pilot has a 3.5-liter V6 which is rated at 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. It's plenty to move this car around, although it isn't super quick. The higher trim levels are backed by the nine-speed transmission, and that transmission was sort of a sticking point for Edmunds in the earlier years. It really searched around a lot and nobody liked it. Honda has done a great job of retuning that transmission. And while I wouldn't call it sporty, I barely even notice it's there, which is what you want in a transmission. And all of the Edmunds reviewers agreed with me that it's way better. The engine has plenty of power, even in its regular drive mode. On a steep hill like the one we're on right now, you might want to put it in the sport mode. It gives you just a little bit more throttle response so that you don't have to floor it to get moving. Along with having a sport mode, there are four different driving modes. There is one for snow, one for mud, and one for sand. What it does is it changes how the power goes to the four different wheels for the all-wheel drive. It also cuts stability control, so if you're in sand or mud where you want the wheels to be able to spin, it'll let you do that so that you don't get stuck. It's really very smart. If you aren't trying to hot rod in your Pilot, fuel mileage is right in the middle of the segment. It is not the best. I think that might be the Mazda. But it's also not the worst. It gets 19 on the street, 26 on the highway, and 22 combined. I've been kind of joking about the Honda being a hot rod or not being a hot rod. But again, you've got to think about why you want this car, and who's going to be in it. And if it's your kids, if it's a baby, and they're sleeping in the back, you don't want a jumpy throttle or aggressive steering ramp. You want everything to be smooth and quiet so you don't wake up whoever's sleeping in the back. The ride quality in this is exactly what you want. I mean, we're in a really rough road right now, and the video guy's asleep back there. I'm sure of it. Honda, like many of the car manufacturers now, is starting to include all its safety features as standard, no matter what trim you get, which I think is fantastic. So you get a backup camera, you get blind spot warning, you get emergency braking. And it'll warn you if somebody's stopped in front of you with a little flashing "brake, brake." And at first, I was like, what's that going to do? But last night, I was not really paying attention. In fact, I was messing with this Eco button here on the dash, and it did the little "brake, brake" at me. And there was a car stopped in front of me unexpectedly. So I guess the emergency braking system might have saved me from crashing into that car, but we didn't have to test it, thankfully. In commercials for family vehicles, you always see these calm, chic parents. And they look beautiful and put-together, and they've got these beautiful, put-together kids in the back who are super well-behaved. In reality, they ought to show somebody who woke up at 4:00 that morning because the dog barfed, and they're trying to get the kids to school and then get ready for work. And there's yogurt spilled on the console and Cheerios flying around in the back. And I think the dog barfed back there again. The Honda designers really thought about how they could help people weather that storm. So it's full of neat little tricks to help parents. [MUSIC PLAYING] Something I really like about the Pilot is the visibility. It's really easy to see out of, and I can tell where all the edges of the car are. And that makes it really simple to park. Even though it's a really big car, it parks like a small one. I did notice that while it has a backup camera, it doesn't have a 360 camera. It has a couple of different views, including the "don't run over your kid's bike" view. And it has a 360 overhead sensor, but it doesn't actually have a 360 backup camera. But because it's so easy to see out of, I don't even miss it. As a parent/chauffeur, you are basically going to be living in here. Lucky for you, it's a pretty nice place. The higher level Pilots have an eight-inch touchscreen which I really like. It looks nice. It's got this frameless construction, and it's also really easy to use. It's not hard to figure out where you want to be on things. While the screen looks very high tech, I actually really appreciate that Honda put an actual volume knob in. It's so much easier than trying to hit a bunch of buttons-- even the buttons on the steering wheel. Your high tech options like Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, hotspots, are in the high tech screen. And then more traditional stuff, like say, heating and cooling, is a little bit lower down. Also easy little switches-- individual, driver, and passenger. Or you can sync them together. And if you move further down, you've got a Blu-ray player that goes to a screen in the back for the kiddos, or your easily-bored adult friends. And heated or cooled seats for both driver and passenger. Because these days none of us can get all the technology that we need just from the car, there's a lot of places to deal with your phone. I really like the charging pad in the Pilot, because sometimes these touch charging pads are in either a difficult place to get to, or they take up all of your space. And you really don't want to put anything else on top of them, because they get hot. This one's easy to use. It's non-slip, so the phone stays there. And it doesn't really take up the rest of your storage. There's plenty of space here. You've got cup holders and then a big, huge console here that you can keep all of your snacks in. It really is a big console. And it has a little sliding drawer here, so if there's smaller stuff, you can put that here and you don't have to go digging around in the back there. Another thing I like about the console-- excellent bag storage. It won't slide off in the back. The digital dash is uncluttered and customizable, so you can see exactly what it is that you want to be focusing on. The steering wheel is a little bit different from a lot of the cars that I've been driving recently. Normally I find that the radio controls tend to be on this side. But on the Pilot, they're over here on the left. And it's the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist that's over here on the right. The Pilot's available in five different trim levels. And in the lower levels you get cloth seats, and in the upper levels you get a leather, leatherette? I think it's a leatherette. Most of the materials are sort of leathery, rubbery, soft plastic-- easy to clean. Even the console cover, which looks like it has a texture, is actually very smooth. So you'd be able to wipe spilled yogurt off that very quickly. The seats are very adjustable. I had no problem getting into a driving position that fit me. My husband had no problem getting into a driving position that fit him. They move all over the place. There's also plenty of room between you and a passenger, because if you have a big family, you're going to need your space. Everything about the Pilot is meant to make it easier to communicate with your family in the back, and to keep an eye on them. For example, inside this little glasses case is a wide angle mirror. I can see you back there. There's also CabinTalk, which will go through the speakers or the headphones, so your kids can't pretend that they didn't hear you. What's the deal with shifters? They're all different now. Like, I had no problem with the traditional shifter. For a push button shifter, it does have one benefit, which is each button feels different. And it has a different motion to activate it, which means that you're not going to accidentally go in reverse when you want to go into drive. Plenty of room in the back of the Pilot, as you'd expect. If you're an adult, totally comfortable. Got cup holders. You've got charging ports and USBs. And you've got your own climate controls, including heated seats. But really, the backseat of a Pilot is meant for kids. So you can easily fit two car seats here and have room to move around them, which is a big deal. And there's entertainment. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hi. The selling point for a three-row SUV is obviously the third row. So how is it back here? It's actually pretty comfortable. You've got nice, squishy seats. Got big cup holders and a big armrest. And you've got a window, so you don't feel like you're in a dungeon. You could take the whole Girl Scout troop out. However, that little lass in the middle here-- she's not going to be very comfortable for long. There's a big hump of plastic that goes right in the middle of your lower back. Ow. Normally the cargo segment of a review is not very exciting. It's basically, how much is there? 16.5 with the seats up. 83.9 with all of them down. That's not the best in the segment, and it's actually fairly small with the seats up. But it's how they use that space that's really smart. Watch. Looks like a normal trunk, right? Carpeted. Things don't roll around. Ooh, but look. First of all, there's space underneath here. But even smarter-- [TAPPING] They knew that sometimes you're going to be doing things where your gear gets dirty and you don't want to put it on the carpet. So they made this reversible. Now it's easy-to-clean plastic. [TAPPING] Almost everything about the Honda Pilot is perfectly designed for parents, except for how you put the seats down. If you came in here with a baby in one arm and groceries in the other, you're going to have to put something down. A lot of the competitors have a button on the side, which is great, because you can kind of hit it with an elbow or just with a tap of the finger. But this is a strap. You have to kind of lean all the way over so it doesn't thump down. Even worse is bringing it back up. And this is the Elite. You would think it would have a button. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that the Honda Pilot is a fun car to drive. But you know what? It's not meant for that. It's meant to be a safe and reliable way to transport you and your family to do the things that you love. [CAR BEEPING] It may not be a fun car to drive, but it will take you to have fun. It's a good thing you didn't bring a bigger plane. [MUSIC PLAYING] [PLANE ENGINE ROARING] I'm ready. Ooh, it's fast. [LAUGHING] Yippee! Ooh. JIM DESAUTELS: [LAUGHING] ELANA SCHERR: It just spins. Oh, my goodness. [PLANE ENGINE ROARING] For more information on the Pilot and all its competitors, visit us at Edmunds. Make sure you subscribe for more videos like this, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.