Suburban Dad: 2009 Honda Pilot

Honda threw a curveball with the new Pilot — an SUV/crossover that’s very popular in suburbia — when it decided to butch up the car’s appearance. Gone was the sorta-SUV, sorta-wagon look of the first generation, replaced with a clearly truck-looking vehicle that could easily be mistaken for a Jeep Grand Cherokee from the side or a Nissan Pathfinder from the back. My first impression? Honda’s already got Suburban Mom in its pocket; now it wants Suburban Dad to buy in as well. 

Inside, of course, the Pilot was all Honda. Very refined (albeit with a few glitches, likely because this seemed to be a preproduction model) with tons of buttons on the center stack (Kelsey Mays counted more than 40). The ride and amenities, though, fairly shouted happy family truckster. In order to really get a feeling for how much the Pilot had shifted course, I dragged in a buddy of mine who owns the previous generation. He was, for the most part, happy with the improvements.

“Over all, I liked the car,” he wrote to me later. “The interior changes and upgrades are useful and practical; most notably to me, the integrated headrests in the last row, which allows for folding the seats down without having to remove the headrest, as well as the placement of the levers to lower the seatbacks. Previously these were nearly unreachable from the back, but now are conveniently placed in the middle of the seatback for easy access.

“The extra storage is also a welcome feature. The cubbies on the passenger glove box are great, and the extra compartments built into the doors are also great. Also, I think I liked the placement of the rear speakers. It makes me wonder if that thing was equipped with surround sound for the DVD player.”

He also noticed the very active — and possibly daunting — center console: “I liked the center console overall, although I’m left with impressions of a bunch of red and blue buttons.”

Like me, the exterior gave him pause. “I don’t know what the overall dimensions are, but from the interior it seemed to me to be about the same, but somehow from the outside it looked massive, conveying a sense of near indestructibility. Perhaps this is due to the more blocky design, which I didn’t care for, as it mimics the American SUVs too much.”

He preferred the old grille, which was more subdued (a typical Honda trait), and agreed with me that the new grille seemed to “evoke a design element out of the ‘Transformers’ movie.” Of course, he only came up with that line after I said it looked like “Iron Man” Tony Stark had designed the grille. Whatever.

In the end, though, it was the view from the driver’s seat that mattered the most to him. “I never thought it was a particularly stylish-looking vehicle to begin with, and they certainly haven’t improved upon that, but because it’s Honda I would say it was a strong contender if I were out shopping for another SUV. I would see how it compared with a comparably equipped Toyota.”

I have to agree. I really don’t like how it looks, but given the smart, comfortable drive (I took it on a six-hour journey to Cheesehead-land and back) and the abundance of helpful, fun features, I’d be eager to drive one myself. As long as I had space in the garage to park it so I wouldn’t have to gaze upon it in my driveway.

Related
2009 Honda Pilot Expert Review (Cars.com)
More Honda Pilot News (KickingTires)