{"id":30445,"date":"2023-02-04T18:37:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T22:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=30445"},"modified":"2023-02-04T18:37:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T22:37:33","slug":"payne-trailsport-takes-honda-pilot-to-higher-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/payne-trailsport-takes-honda-pilot-to-higher-ground","title":{"rendered":"Payne: TrailSport takes Honda Pilot to higher ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sedona, Arizona<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 The Honda Pilot is an excellent three-row SUV to drop the kids off at school or take them up Broken Arrow mountain trail to 4,200 feet for one the most breathtaking views in America.<\/p>\n

Oh, I\u2019m not kidding.<\/p>\n

Broken Arrow is a bucket list item for anyone who enjoys the American West. It\u2019s the exclusive territory of Sedona-based Pink Jeep Tours that load families into three-row, battle-hardened Wranglers that crawl three miles over tortuous red mud and slippery rock to the trail\u2019s grand finale: Chicken Point. Ooooh.<\/p>\n

If you dare, you can take your own Jeep Wrangler or 4×4 or side-by-side and join the Pink Jeeps nearly a mile up on Chicken Point. Above you are some of the West\u2019s most famous rock formations: the Two Sisters, Madonna and Child, Chapel Butte. Below you: the red abyss. It\u2019s as heavenly as the names suggest.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made the trek twice in Pink Jeeps in recent years. Pals have conquered it in their own Wrangler Rubicons. I hadn\u2019t seen anything but truck-based 4x4s or side-by-sides … until this January.<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

My Pilot TrailSport tester made quite a sight next to these off-road bruisers. A side-by-side driver waggled a Hang Loose! sign at me. Pink Jeep pilots stared like Porsche drivers at Waterford Hills Raceway upon seeing, well, a Pilot doing hot laps.<\/p>\n

Track-focused performance cars are a common sight. Pilot TrailSport is the intersection of production and performance, but aimed at off-roading. It\u2019s a growing trend as Americans have gone bonkers for sport utes. TrailSport joins an elite list of three-row SUVs (Ford Explorer Timberline, Kia Telluride X-Pro) hardened with off-road essentials \u2014 all-terrain tires, skid plates, all-wheel drive and lifted suspension.<\/p>\n

WHUMP!<\/em>\u00a0Pilot\u2019s front skid plate took a hit as I descended Broken Arrow. The chassis was unscathed and I kept on muddin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Got<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Sure, take that Pink Jeep tour when in Sedona. It\u2019s awesome. But if you\u2019re a Michiganian who likes to winter in Arizona, you can return time and again in the TrailSport for a fried chicken picnic on Chicken Point. \u00a0Ditto if you live in Metro Detroit. Go to Detroit 4fest at Holly Oaks and get a ride aboard an earth-chewing Bronco. Then bring the family back there in the TrailSport with its sure-footed tires and tough underbelly.<\/p>\n

Honda built the \u201823 Pilot new from the ground up with off-roading in mind. But also because the three-row SUV segment has become brutally competitive.<\/p>\n

Over its four generations, Pilot has had to compete against King Explorer (which invented the segment) and formidable Toyota Highlander. But the three-row shark tank has grown with predators like the gorgeous Kia Telluride, sci-fi Hyundai Palisade, athletic Mazda CX-9 (and coming CX-90). Even the Nissan Pathfinder awoke from its slumber and was remade with handsome looks and endless interior room.<\/p>\n

\"Like<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In short, this is a segment that new requires character as well as competence.<\/p>\n

Continuous improvement<\/h2>\n

Pilot has always had bucket-fulls of the latter. The third-gen Pilot was an ergonomic marvel with its sliding console door \u2014\u00a0Whoa! It can swallow a purse whole!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 and second-row seats that would collapse forward \u2014\u00a0Zounds! With the push of a single button!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 for easy third-row access. From the Fit\u2019s magic seats to the Civic\u2019s multi-purpose console to the Pilot, Honda has never lacked in a intuitive understanding of what makes interiors more livable. But … as our friends at Car and Driver bluntly put it, the last-gen model \u201clooks like a lifted minivan.\u201d Ouch.<\/p>\n

The next-gen required an emotional connection. Starting with the 2021 Civic, Honda isn\u2019t just remodeling the home with the latest appliances; it’s brought in an interior designer.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Pilot follows the Civic, HR-V, CR-V (and forthcoming Accord) with a handsome, more chiseled exterior and interior to match. Upright, squared-off grille. Slit LED headlights, muscular shoulders outside. Crisp interior switches, tablet dash screen, digital dials inside.<\/p>\n

The ergonomic genius is still here: one-touch collapse second-row seats, bigger cupholders to hold tall Thermoses, sub-floor rear cargo room, space-saving \u201ctrigger shifter,\u201d 2.4 more inches of second-row legroom. The touchscreen is complemented by (starting with the most popular EX-L trim at $43K) wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless charging (so phones don\u2019t run out of juice while navigating) and standard adaptive cruise control.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Electrifying, not electric<\/h2>\n

Notably, the Pilot is not electric. It\u2019s fashionable to say the future is electrified, but reality intrudes in three-row family vehicles that demand a gas engine\u2019s superior efficiency and convenience. EVs are niche vehicles for multi-car households.<\/p>\n

Pilot doesn\u2019t even offer a hybrid. Swiss Army knife utes are packaging marvels, and hybrid batteries take up space better used for, say, spare tires. Not that Pilot\u2019s 3.5-liter V-6 is an old, pot-bellied wood-burner.<\/p>\n

Also remade, the growling six-pack is a peach when paired with a new 10-speed transmission. Multi-cog boxes aid fuel efficiency but often at the expense of smoothness as the electronics hunt for which gear to use. Nailing the throttle in SPORT mode over Sedona\u2019s heaving asphalt roads, I found Pilot the smoothest drivetrain in class this side of the Mazda CX-9\u2019s sublime 6-speed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

That comfort is even more refined in the Honda\u2019s top-drawer Elite model, its chassis stuffed with sound-deadening foam while adding goo-gaws like a 12-inch configurable instrument panel and head-up display.<\/p>\n

Put me down for TrailSport. All-terrain tires can be noisy with their bigger tread blocks, so Pilot engineers sweated the details to make them virtually indistinguishable from the standard all-season tires for on-road drivability.<\/p>\n

With 30% more body rigidity, Pilot is poised off-road \u2014 displaying none of the body flex I\u2019d expected. That rigidity translates on-road.<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety testing, Pilot\u2019s structure absorbed a 37-mph side impact hit that battered the doors but left the interior unperturbed. Like Tiger Woods\u2019 Genesis GV80, it\u2019s evidence of how safe modern vehicles have become.<\/p>\n

All this reengineering costs money, and TrailSport is a healthy four grand (to $50K) north of the last gen\u2019s simpler TrailSport appearance package. Happily, Honda has brought back the base LX model at $37,245.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Turning onto Broken Arrow, I toggled the mode selector to TRAIL. I pushed a button and the ceiling retreated, the panoramic roof revealing the red rocks rising above us. Kind of like a Jeep. Heck, maybe Pink Jeep will paint some Pilots for customers who want more interior comfort than a Wrangler bruiser.<\/p>\n

Pink Pilot has a nice ring to it.<\/p>\n

Next week: 2023 Lexus RX350h<\/em><\/p>\n

2023 Honda Pilot<\/h2>\n

Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and all-wheel-drive seven- to eight-passenger\u00a0SUV<\/p>\n

Price: $37,245, including $1,295 destination fee ($50,150 TrailSport and $53,375 Elite as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: 3.5-liter V-6 cylinder<\/p>\n

Power: 285 horsepower, 262 pound-feet torque<\/p>\n

Transmission: 10-speed automatic<\/p>\n

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.0-6.5 seconds (Car and Driver est.); towing, 5,000 pounds<\/p>\n

Weight: 4,035-4,685 pounds<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 19 city\/27 highway\/22 combined (FWD); 19 city\/25 highway\/21 combined (AWD)<\/p>\n

Report card<\/strong><\/p>\n

Highs: Upscale styling inside and out; real off-road dexterity<\/p>\n

Lows: Miss the old sliding console door; head-up display only available in Elite trim<\/p>\n

Overall: 4\u00a0stars<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sedona, Arizona\u00a0\u2014 The Honda Pilot is an excellent three-row SUV to drop the kids off at school or take them up Broken Arrow mountain trail to 4,200 feet for one the most breathtaking views in America. Oh, I\u2019m not kidding. Broken Arrow is a bucket list item for anyone who enjoys the American West. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30446,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30445\/revisions\/30446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}