The Touring model of the 2010 Honda Pilot is rigged out for family cruising with plenty of seats and a rear entertainment system, suitable for DVDs, video games, or music.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Honda's full-size SUV, the Pilot, got fully redone last year. It gets a third-row seat, and Honda claims capacity for eight passengers.
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Styling is very simple, with squared body sections and this hexagon bar over the grille.
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The Pilot is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6, Honda's largest engine. It includes technologies such as cylinder deactivation to save fuel, but even with that our average economy fell short of the EPA range.
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The rear pillars are wide on the new Pilot's body style, making the cargo area appear as a separate section of the vehicle.
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With unibody construction and an independent suspension, the Pilot drives more like a car than a truck, yet Honda claims full towing capability.
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The third-row seats are usable, although not the easiest to access. With those seats down, the cargo area becomes cavernous.
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The interior of the Pilot has also been restyled, and has borrowed interface elements from Acura. Unfortunately, that means too many buttons.
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The steering wheel is a nice design, with well-integrated buttons.
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Although no sports car, the white gauges are a nice touch. The small monochrome display shows trip and phone system information.
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The shifter for the five-speed automatic sticks out of the dashboard, but the ergonomics are good.
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With the rear-seat entertainment system, the stack gets a DVD player in addition to the six-disc CD changer.
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The navigation system is a little old. The maps are stored on DVD, and it doesn't benefit from newer features such as traffic or weather.
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Honda still has Zagat listings in its navigation system, a nice feature if you want to locate a good restaurant.
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XM satellite radio is included with the Pilot, along with a CD changer capable of playing MP3 tracks.
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An iPod port was an unexpected surprise in the Pilot.
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The rear-seat entertainment system is capable of playing video, music, or using external sources, such as a video game.
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A rear-view camera and sonar distance warning help when parking.
