The Detroit Newspapers's view

The 2012 Honda Pilot is one of the most pleasant surprises to arrive this fall.

Honda refreshed this big SUV and tweaked it in all the right directions by improving the interior and adding a few more miles to its gas mileage.

And it didn’t take anything away from the Pilot’s all-around capabilities and utility. It can still carry up to eight people with its three comfortable rows, haul a ton of stuff inside (with up to 87 cubic feet of storage space), and provide that commanding view of the road.

It still doesn’t blister the highway with its powerful but modest V-6 engine. Then again, who really needs to do that? The Pilot is the anti-minivan choice like many of the family crossovers and sport utilities out there.

The 250-horsepower V-6 is simply a scientific wonder that most drivers may not truly appreciate. It includes a seamless cylinder shut-off system that can allow the engine to run on three or four cylinders instead of six, when the power is not needed. It also has intelligent variable valve timing and lift electronic control to help make it run more efficiently.

All of this technology helps the Pilot get 18 mpg city and 25 mpg highway — a 1 mpg jump in city and 2 mpg increase on the highway for front-wheel drive Pilots. The four-wheel drive Pilot now gets 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.

Honda credits some of the efficiency increases to friction changes inside the engine, as well as a load variable alternator and high efficiency spark plugs. Carmakers continue to hone their skills at making internal combustion engines run smoother, and thus, more efficient and Honda continues to do a good job.

The mileage numbers, for whatever the reason, are impressive figures when considering the size of the Pilot.

High-tech features unnoticeable

More importantly, all of those high-tech features are not noticeable on the road.

It’s difficult to ever know how many cylinders are being used at any given time. The Pilot just glides along. The ride is very smooth and quiet (Honda says the new Pilot is quieter than ever before). The five-speed transmission provides smooth shifting and clean acceleration. Most of the competition offers six-speed transmissions so Honda, in this case, is a little behind.

The exterior looks mostly the same — slightly bloated, but nothing too hard on the eyes. Honda changed out the front fascia as well as the headlights. The changes are hardly noticeable.

Interior changes noticeable

The interior changes, however, are quite noticeable and make the inside considerably better.

Honda changed out its instrument panel and center stack to create a much better looking package. Before, there were simply too many buttons laid out in a confusing manner; it was as if everyone involved it the vehicles development was allowed to add a button. This new configuration is much better and cleaner.

Higher end models of the Pilot also come with Honda’s new satellite navigation system, which is easy to use.

The system includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive that can store lots of music in case you’re driving to 2004. (The hard drive is necessary for carrying navigation information, and there are still lots of people who have CDs, so I’ll concede the point and plug in my iPhone.) And the FM traffic feature will warn you about pending traffic problems and help you avoid them.

There’s also a new multi-view backup camera on the 2012 Pilots that have navigation systems. The camera can provide three different views: wide, normal and top-down view. It’s certainly needed; there’s little visibility when backing up because of the Pilot’s high body and big back hatch.

There are also all of those little cubbies and holders around the cabin for family and friends to store stuff. The Pilot even has a hidden floor storage place that can hold 2.8 cubic feet of stuff.

Keeps up with competition

Maintaining a smooth ride, adding fuel efficiency and improving the interior were all things the Pilot needed to do to keep up with the competition. And it does it quite well.

Add to that its four-wheel drive capability, comfortable second row and high riding position, the Pilot seems ideal for people who want all of those SUV qualities without its detriments, such as a harsh, noisy ride and poor gas mileage.

It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly providing the best of both worlds.

sburgess@detnews.com (313) 223-3217