Big Bear City, California—
There are no kangaroo bars on the Honda Pilot. There are no mud-churning off-road tires. No neoprene seat covers. Not even a first-aid kit.Honda describes the Pilot as a "family adventure vehicle." We can't help but admire this bit of plain speaking on the subject of SUVs. Yes, for the most part, real Americans use sport-utes as family transportation, not rock-bashing, brush-busting stunt vehicles.
Like the seven-passenger Acura MDX from which it's derived, the eight-passenger Pilot makes its point with an intelligently packaged interior. There are three rows of seats, and they fold and flop and disappear as if in a little puzzle box, delivering a bunch of useful configurations. The Pilot is about two inches taller and four inches wider than the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, the Ford Explorer, and the Toyota Highlander, so it has a noticeable edge in head and shoulder room (though not rear-seat leg room). The rear seats fold perfectly flat to provide 90.3 cubic feet of cargo capacity. And for all you plywood fanatics, there's a genuine four feet of space between the rear wheel wells.
Yet there's more to the design of this interior than just space. Utility is everywhere you look. A well-crafted center console incorporates map pockets, a bin with CD storage, a writing tray with a holder for business cards, a hidden cell-phone cradle, and even cup holders designed to hold your grande-size coffee in place through up to 0.5 g of cornering force.... Read full article