2023 Honda Pilot First Look: Higher-looking, extra rugged, extra household pleasant – Autoblog

The Honda Pilot has skilled some rotten timing through the years. After serving to set up the three-row crossover phase with its extremely profitable first-generation, Honda determined to change issues up and make a boxier, extra rugged second-generation. Unfortunately, that coincided with a gasoline value surge that despatched customers away from boxy, rugged automobiles. The third-generation went again to what labored initially, however was maybe an excessive amount of of a course correction, as boxy and rugged made a comeback lately. Now, to see if the fourth time’s a allure, the all-new, fourth-generation 2023 Honda Pilot arrives as a form of mixing of the 2 approaches. 

The styling is certainly boxier than its melted cleaning soap predecessor, with the Honda Pilot TrailSport model leaning closely into the rugged realm, however Honda didn’t go full 4Runner right here. There remains to be a clear refinement to the design, which, when mixed with the boxy silhouette, is a bit paying homage to the Volvo XC90. Any comparability to that timeless magnificence is at all times a superb factor. Ornamentation is equally restrained, and in particular person, each the Elite and TrailSport variations actually put the 2023 Pilot within the operating for the phase’s best-looking. At very least, it’s so much much less minivan-adjacent now.

The new Pilot is sort of 3 inches longer, with a equally lengthened wheelbase, making it a bit extra minivan-adjacent inside. That’s very true of the novel new second-row seating association commonplace on the Touring and Elite trims. At first look, it’s a bench seat, however as within the Odyssey and the Pilot’s Acura MDX cousin, the center seat folds to create a console-like armrest, or (right here’s the massive half) be eliminated utterly from the automobile. There’s no want to decide on between eight-passenger bench seat or seven-passenger captain’s chairs on the vendor (except you’re within the value vary of a Sport, EX-L or TrailSport). Ah, however right here’s the even greater half: That center seat can really be saved contained in the Pilot behind the third row and beneath the cargo ground. There’s a strap and tie-down factors included as effectively. It’s not precisely gentle or straightforward to drag the seat out, however the truth that it’s potential is basically spectacular.

Third-row area grows by 2.5 additional inches of legroom, and is even friendlier for greater teenagers and adults. A 6-foot-3 particular person match fairly comfortably again there. Cargo area explodes by 6 cubic-feet behind that third row from an honest 16.5 cubes to 22.4. Apparently, that doesn’t embody the massive underfloor space, which as earlier than, might be utilized to hold much more baggage. We’ll be curious to see how a lot better the brand new Pilot is in a baggage take a look at than its already-impressive predecessor.

Elsewhere within the cabin, the Pilot will get the identical infotainment choices because the Civic, HR-V and CR-V earlier than it. That’s nice information because the outgoing Pilot’s touchscreen was fairly previous and wasn’t that good when new. The base Sport trim will get a 7-inch touchscreen, whereas every part else will get the 9-inch unit together with wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus wi-fi charging (the Sport requires a wire).

The design surrounding that touchscreen is surprisingly not a chip off the Civic block, foregoing the fashionable metal-look mesh airvents spanning the sprint. Instead, the look is much extra attention-grabbing than earlier than and vaguely paying homage to a Land Rover, which isn’t a nasty factor, and positively consistent with the extra rugged vibe. The heart console design isn’t fairly as uber-utilitarian because the outgoing one, however a shelf ahead of the passenger makes its return to the Pilot – it was discovered on that boxy second-generation. Overall supplies high quality is aggressive for the phase.

Mechanically, that is certainly an all-new Pilot, which resides on a brand new gentle truck structure shared partially with the Acura MDX. The construction, steering column and suspension are considerably stiffer, with the latter adopting a brand new multilink setup on the rear. Sharper dealing with and agility are promised because of a revised variable steering ratio, and the brakes are greater, too.

The engine could appear the identical at first blush, however is in reality a brand new DOHC 3.5-liter instead of the outgoing SOHC 3.5-liter. Outgoing stays regular at 285 horsepower and 262 pound-feet, up from 280 hp and 262 lb-ft. A ten-speed computerized returns and is paired with paddle shifters for guide management. Standard on the TrailSport and Elite, and non-obligatory on the opposite trims, is the second-generation of Honda’s i-VTM4 torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system. It encompasses a stronger rear diff that may deal with 40% extra torque whereas responding 30% faster. As a lot as 70% of the engine’s energy might be despatched to the rear axle, with 100% of that transferred to 1 wheel. That could be the torque-vectoring bit, which is a boon when off-roading, in poor traction situations, and when driving vigorously on a again highway. If new Pilot’s strengthened chassis can take higher benefit of i-VTM4’s skills, it actually has the {hardware} in place to be one of many higher three-row crossovers to drive.

As for the 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport, it will get an off-road-tuned suspension with a 1-inch carry over a still-to-be-announced commonplace floor clearance. Approach and departure angles enhance, too. The stabilizer bars, spring charges and damper valve tuning are unique to the TrailSport, as are a full-size spare and the 18-inch wheels (stamped with TrailSport) wrapped in Continental TerrainContact all-terrain tires. Skid plates shield the oil pan, transmission and gasoline tank, and Honda says they’re able to supporting the whole TBA curb weight crashing down on a rock. There are additionally visible variations, together with a lot of gloss black trim, extra rugged black plastic trim on the rockers and decrease rear bumper, and an unique Diffused Sky Blue Pearl paint possibility proven right here.

Finally, there’s the TrailSport’s 1’s and 0’s. It features a new TrailWatch digital camera system that options 4 exterior digital camera with 4 totally different views. It additionally features a Trail mode past the same old menu of drive modes (Normal, ECON, Sport, Snow, Sand and Tow), which makes use of the entrance brakes so as to add quasi torque-vectoring up entrance and provides an unique “trail torque logic” functionality to i-VTM4. The latter operate turns out to be useful when one rear wheel loses contact with the bottom. Should the automobile detect that, rear axle torque is elevated, most of it’s despatched to the wheel nonetheless on the bottom, however the low-to-no traction wheels maintains torque potential in order that it will possibly instantly obtain energy as soon as it makes contact with the bottom once more.

You can learn our 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport preview drive to see the way it drives off-road.

Mercifully, Honda upgraded the Pilot’s quite woeful driver help applied sciences, which have been rife with false-alarms and pokey reactions when utilizing adaptive cruise management. If they’re something like these within the new Honda CR-V, they’ll a minimum of be tolerable now, if not class-leading.

Pricing shall be introduced nearer to when the 2023 Pilot begins rolling down the manufacturing line in Lincoln, Ala. It will now be accessible in Sport, EX-L, TrailSport, Touring and Elite, which might in concept make the bottom value increased than many within the phase. The outgoing Pilot’s discontinued LX trim doesn’t make a comeback, and the Sport at all times carried a better price ticket.