- When I'm reviewing a car like the 2023 Honda Pilot,
it's really important for me to get the family in the car.
I have a two and a five year old, so young kids
and just see how we fit and how comfortable everyone is,
and you know, if we do a day trip, just how successful
that day trip is really does depend a lot on the car
that we take.
So I found seven things that I really appreciate
about the Honda Pilot and I think families will too.
The Pilot has this really nifty shelf
on the passenger side dashboard.
Now if you've bought previous generation Pilots,
it may look familiar because this was used on the 2009
to 2015 Honda Pilots before it disappeared for the redesign.
But it's back and I've found it just so useful.
You know, you have your toll transponder, key,
sunglasses and while the driver has a sunglasses holder
up top, passenger wears sunglasses too.
So when you have someone sitting shotgun,
then they can put their sunglasses case there too
and perhaps most importantly, for road tripping with kids,
a spare water pen because you know the ones that they have
in the back are gonna find the black hole
underneath the seat.
So always keep a spare up front.
You have a lot of charging options in the Pilot.
You have a USB-A.
You have a slightly more powerful USB-C.
You have your 12 volt DC,
and then you have the wireless charging pad.
This didn't work that well for me with my phone in the case
or outside of the case.
Not sure what's going on
but wasn't a consistent charging experience.
What's also nice and I use this when we had
the kids' devices charging,
that the AC outlet in the back.
Now this doesn't come on all trim levels,
but it does on the TrailSport
and I could have a tablet charging
in the center console storage
and had plenty of juice for the return trip
and that was just a nice touch.
I was really excited about the beverage holder situation
in the Pilot, perhaps disproportionately so
because it's a goofy thing to get excited over.
But we test a lot of SUVs,
and not many fit these big 32 ounce water bottles
and what's unique about the Pilot is it's not only just
in the front here, which is also done well
because both beverage holders up front will fit these
'cause sometimes they have a smaller holder for one
and they only give you one.
But it fits the big bottle, it fits the small bottle well
and what I really like is over in the door panel,
it fits it too and it has this holder
in the middle of the door panel,
which makes it really easy to get to while you're driving,
and like I said, it's kind of a goofy thing
to get excited about because if you're shopping for a car
that you really like,
and it doesn't fit those bottles well,
you buy another $30 bottle
and then you're good rather than a different $50,000 car.
But if you're already stacked like these,
it's one of those little things that counts.
When I'm reviewing a car
and I have to take the kids somewhere,
and especially if I have to nap them in the car,
I don't like taking test cars that ride poorly
and that is not the case with the Pilot at all.
It is actually one of the nicest riding three row SUVs
out there and proved no problem with napping the kids.
There are bumps on the road that I would look at
and get all cringey and tightened up
and it would just absorb it with no problem at all,
without upsetting the cabin
and I think some of that has to do with this being
the TrailSport trim level,
which is the off-road oriented trim level.
It has smaller wheels, really tall tires,
off-road oriented tires, but I didn't observe any detriment
to other ride characteristics.
The tires aren't noisy.
The car doesn't drive sloppily, it's very composed.
It almost drives more like a luxury car
than what you would expect from a family three row SUV
and it was one area I was highly impressed by.
Three row SUVs have to get child car seats right,
and in the Pilot, that's no issue.
There are actually improved lower latch anchors here.
They are more exposed than before, and in real world use,
I found them super easy to use,
and as a bonus there is a set of those in the third row
but only on the passenger side seat.
And then if there is a booster seat installed
in this outboard seat,
it actually overlaps the buckle in the middle
and this just shows that on paper,
yeah there may be room for three people in the back,
but this should best be considered for two people
to sit on the outboard 'cause that middle seat,
I really don't see much of a use for it.
Three row SUVs like the Pilot often suffer from
not a lot of cargo space behind the third row
unless they're really, really big,
and looking at the cargo space,
you kind of see how that would be the same in the new Pilot.
But underneath the trick cover is this giant cargo tub
and there's just a ton of room down here
and you can use it for taller items, you could use it
for under floor storage that you wanted to hide things
and what's nice is this cover tucks down in
and stores right in the bottom.
So it's a really nice approach
and in our cargo measurements really helped the room
behind the third row be much more competitive
with some larger vehicles in the class like the Alice.
There's one feature I didn't get a chance to test
but I'm really excited about
and that is the removable center seat in the second row
that this version doesn't have,
but it kind of seems to be the best of both worlds,
where when the kids are younger you could put an infant seat
in the middle and then when they're older,
you can take that center seat out
and then have captain's chairs and room for the third row.
The bummer is that it only comes on the Touareg
and Elite trim levels, so this TrailSport can't get it.
After my time in the Pilot,
it was very clear where Honda was thoughtful
about making improvements for families.
What was most telling however
was as a Volkswagen Atlas owner,
I was looking for TrailSport inventory on cars.com.
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