Late-entry Pilot leads SUV niche

Midsize traces lineage to front-wheel Odyssey

BY TONY SWAN
DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Being last to the party rarely pays off in the car business. But Honda is certainly making the most of its tardy arrival, the new Pilot sport-utility vehicle.

SPECS
Rating: ... FOUR stars out of four
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive midsize sport-utility

Key Competitors: Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Dodge Durango, Ford Explorer, Isuzu Rodeo, Toyota Highlander

Base price: ... $27,360

As tested: ... $32,480

Standard equipment: Antilock brakes, all-wheel drive, AM/FM/CD audio, power windows, power mirrors, power locks, tilt steering, rear defroster/wiper

Specifications
(Manufacturer's data)

Engine ... 240-hp, 3.5-liter V6

EPA fuel econ ... 17 m.p.g city

... 22 m.p.g. hwy.

Curb weight ... 4,426 pounds

Length ... 188.0 inches

Width ... 77.3 inches

Height ... 70.6 inches

Where assembled ... Alliston, Ontario, Canada

The stunning popularity of midsize sport-utility vehicles like the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee caught Honda by surprise during the '90s.

Eight years ago Honda had to paste its logo onto the Isuzu Rodeo to quickly come up with a midsize sport-utility to sell. While the Isuzu-built Passport was respectable, its truck-like, body-on-frame design didn't really reflect Honda's engineering style.

Now Honda has a midsize sport-utility it can really call its own, and it's arguably the best of the bunch.

To be fair, the Pilot doesn't represent a totally fresh start.

Though its exterior is all new, the Pilot shares the bones and power train of Acura's MDX luxury SUV, and both trace their lineage to the Odyssey minivan, meaning it's a front-wheel-drive design.

This means its unitbody body and frame are built simultaneously and enhanced by integrated perimeter frame rails, which should help it stand up to the beating that goes with rough dirt roads.

Inevitably, this leads to the disclaimer that goes with most mainstream SUVs: The Pilot isn't designed for mountain goat terrain or other trackless wastes.

The Pilot's VTM-4 (Variable Torque Management 4-Wheel Drive) system is standard equipment on all Pilots. While Honda provides a dashboard switch that assures equal power to both rear wheels, like a limited slip differential, that's mainly designed to get you unstuck, operating in just the first two gears up to 18 m.p.h.

Otherwise the system operates primarily in front drive, sending power to the rear only when the Pilot's sensors detect that its front wheels are slipping and need help.

Though this isn't the right kind of hardware for serious rock hoppers and mud crawlers, I'd say the Pilot will handle the worst any owner is likely to throw at it. With ease and in comfort.

Like the MDX, the Pilot has an all-independent suspension, its rear elements designed to allow a flat load floor. It also has the MDX's wide track (the width between the wheels): 66.3 inches front, 66.5 rear, widest in its class. That enhances stability and cargo space.

Thus the Pilot will swallow 4- by 8-foot sheets of building material lying flat on that floor, a feat none of its competitors can duplicate.

Smooth ride was a key dynamic priority in this vehicle's development, and the Pilot's suspension provides a little softer ride than the more expensive Acura. Similarly, its 16-inch tires (Goodyear Integrity all-season radials) aren't as aggressive as the MDX's lower-profile 17-inch Michelins.

At 188 inches, the Pilot is 3.6 inches longer than a Toyota Highlander but shorter than a Ford Explorer or Chevrolet TrailBlazer, and at 106.3 inches its wheel-base is the shortest of them all.

The Pilot isn't quite as tall as its Ford and Chevy rivals, though it stands 2.3 inches taller than the Toyota.

The really telling specification is width. At 77.3 inches, the Pilot is wider than anything in its class, a prime source of its excellent cargo volume, which is in the front rank amongst the middies.

Like other Honda family haulers, the Pilot's major storage capabilities, enhanced by a dozen cargo tie-downs, are supplemented by all sorts of nooks and bins into which folks can stuff the varied small essentials of family travel, from coffee mugs to cell phones.

That, of course, is what the Pilot is all about. Honda calls it the "ultimate American family adventure vehicle," and if this assertion is perhaps a bit much, it's clear the Pilot was conceived to combine a minivan's usefulness with sport-utility style and versatility.

There's stadium seating for eight -- two in the front, three in the middle and three in the rear, although Honda freely admits the third row "is for kids." There are a half-dozen child seat anchors in rows two and three and separate rear seat air-conditioning and heater controls.

The front console has a sliding lid, a cell phone pocket and a power outlet, and the fancier EX models have a rear center console, replete with storage for ketchup and other goopy stuff, that Honda calls a "kids activity center."

Cup holders: Nine strategically scattered. Map or what-have-you pockets: two in the front doors, four in the seat backs.

Naturally, there's plenty of audio, good in the LX, better in the EX.

Like so many other family freighters, the Pilot offers a DVD video player to preempt rear seat civil wars (about a $1,500 option) and when you get that you also get separate audio channels back there.

The Pilot also offers the option of Honda's DVD-based satellite navigation system, also about $1,500, though there's a catch or two.

You can't get the navigation system and the video system because the navigation system eats up too much dashboard space. Also, in order to get the DVD, you must opt for the leather trim package (first and second-row seats), which adds about $1,250 as a separate option.

All of the fancy options are offered on the upscale EX edition, which starts at $29,730, including a $460 destination charge.

The LX version starts at $27,360 including destination charge and lots of standard equipment including air conditioning, cruise control and power windows, mirrors and locks.

Considering all the comfort-convenience features, the Pilot might seem at a glance to be a tad light on passive safety gear: There are only four airbags, two front, two on the side for the front passenger and the driver.

But a closer look reveals that Honda concentrated on structure, which pays off with five-star frontal and side impact crash ratings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as good as it gets.

Like the MDX, the Pilot is propelled by a 3.5-liter V6 rated at 240 horsepower and 242 foot-pounds of torque mated to a five-speed automatic.

Honda expected best-in-class acceleration from this combo, but it's propelling a fair amount of mass at 4,426 pounds, limiting the 0-60 m.p.h. sprint to just over eights seconds.

That's distinctly quicker than the much lighter (by 438 pounds) Highlander, but a little slower than the more powerful TrailBlazer. Mass also seems to be the enemy in the Pilot's braking performance. The system looks formidable, with big discs at all four corners, and it's hard to provoke brake fade, but stopping distances in my test truck were so-so.

I'd also apply so-so to the towing capacity. The Pilot, like the Highlander, is rated for 3,500 pounds, unless the load happens to be a boat, whereupon the limit magically soars to 4,500 pounds.

An interesting distinction, right? It turns out boats have much better aerodynamics than closed trailers, thus increasing towing capability by a half-ton.

That's still well south of the TrailBlazer's 6,400-pound rating.

As noted, the Pilot has no dynamic vices. Though far from harsh, it's a little firmer underfoot than the Highlander, but that's deliberate. Honda wanted the Pilot to be a little less car-like and little more SUV rugged, something that's reflected in its rather generic SUV styling.

The steering is a bit slow at 3.25 turns from full left to full right, but it's also accurate and does a good job of letting the driver know what the front wheels are doing.

Similarly, if the Pilot exhibits more body roll in hard cornering than the MDX, it is unfailingly competent and composed.

If there's any complaint to make aside from a column shifter that makes gear selection unacceptably tricky, it's that the Pilot is family oriented to the exclusion of other dynamic traits.

Aside from its ability to make entertaining work of sloppy going, fun-to-drive isn't really part of this vehicle's character.

But Honda is forthright in its target. The word "family" appears regularly in Pilot publicity materials, and the product is nothing if not true to that ethic.

It's also typically Honda: Well designed, well made, well appointed, and exemplary in its ergonomics.

Moreover, like the Highlander, it provides another excellent example of where the SUV middle class seems to be heading: away from the world of trucks.

In that sense, the Pilot is the best yet.

June 13, 2002

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