I’m thinking of trading in my Honda Odyssey just because. It’s 7 years old by 70k miles, has some bumps, scrapes, cracked windshield, etc that all need to be fixed. I also went to U Haul and did their tow package, and they kinda screwed up the electrical and now the tow brakelights don’t work.
I haul a 1500 pound pop up trailer, so nothing big.
Got a couple of kids, and they have friends, so I do haul critters around, and now they want to bring their friends camping.
Any voice of experience, feedback, done towing, hauled around kids, etc
Friend of mine has one and it’s so…so…beige. He doesn’t actually LIKE the car much (technically it’s his wife’s car) but he does have to admit it’s comfortable, capable and tows a lot without drama. They’ve had very few problems with it, if you don’t count their new driver sixteen year old just scraping the holy fuck out of both passenger side doors on a support bollard for a covered parking space at a friend’s apartment. Aside from the hugeness and generic appearance, it’s a good vehicle.
I am going to have to come out against the Pilot. We traded in our Toyota Sienna for a brand new 2017 Pilot and have regretted it ever since. This was my wife’s car, so I basically stayed in the background and let her buy whatever she wanted. My only stipulation was that it needed to be able to tow our Colemann sun valley pop up which weighed about 2000 lbs and could go up to 3500 if fully loaded. The folks at the Honda dealership were very clear when they said “no problem, the pilot is rated to 5500 lbs” (or something similar, could have been 5000). Great, I thought; my wife was happy with the amenities and getting her out of the minivan (which, by the way, was probably the best vehicle I have ever owned) was worth a ton as she had a serious problem with driving a minivan. The problem was the Honda people were full of shit.
We took two trips with the camper, both of which were short camping trips and I would doubt that the camper was over 3000. The issue we had was the transmission would overheat and we would need to pull over and let it cool down before continuing. We went to the dealer and they said (seriously!), “you need to read the manual, the Pilot can only two this weight if you stay below 55 mph.” OK, maybe they did not lie when they sold us this thing, but that was seriously deceptive. We spent about 800 putting in an aftermarket transmission cooler to take care of the problem. Their have also be a couple of recalls that the dealership has been really unhelpful with (window and rack sealing, and something else) plus the running boards completely fell apart. Also we have an emission failure light that is always on and the dealership has tried to fix it multiple times with no luck. They have asked us to just ignore it as nothing is wrong, but the orange warning light on our dashboard is seriously annoying. Another problem is the seat geometry is terrible. Truly terrible! My wife started to get chronic lower back pain about two months after we bought it. She went to the better back store (I think this is what it is called) and they immediately said “wait, let me guess, you have a Honda Pilot?” This is a known problem with these things (google it) and has to do with your knees being higher than you butt no matter what you do to adjust it. I have never had the problem, but I only drive the thing once a month. My wife hates this car with a passion but with ~15 k in our loan left and a value of ~28 k with 60 thousand miles on it, it just not make financial sense to sell it and buy a used whatever…
Finally, it has become clear to me that Honda has been seriously mining their quality of late. I owned a Honda back in the late 90s and it was a great car (accord), but this SUV feels more like a GMC than a Honda. It is just loose, if you know what I mean.
The Pilot is great on paper: 8 passenger seating, 5000+ lbs towing, all wheel drive, good accesserories, etc… But this piece of shit has been awful for us.
If you want proof, I will take pictures of the Pilot in my garage and send them to with instant message…
My ex had a Honda Pilot (2009ish?). I loved it. I used to joke that when everyone was driving 10 mph in the heavy snow, I was the asshole going 40 and weaving in and out of traffic. I wasn’t actually doing that, but it’s probably one of the best handling cars in the snow I’ve ever driven. I could drive that car in several inches of fresh snow and be 100% comfortable.
I’m not sure about current models, but I really liked that one. I felt it was very comparable to a Chevy Tahoe, but lighter and easier to handle.
@Happy Fun Ball, if you’re getting slack from the dealer, especially about recalls, call Honda. There should be a number in your book for them. I called them once or twice over the years and they were very helpful. But either let them know outright that your dealer is refusing to fix recalls (can’t imagine why, they get paid for it) and/or ask how to get a hold of a regional rep.
I’d think the recalls shouldn’t be hard to get fixed. The other issues might be harder since you are out of warranty, but if they have records of you bringing the problem to them while in warranty, that may help get things moving along.
PS, whatever you do, don’t tell them you’ll never buy another Honda again. IME (in general, not with Honda), if you tell someone you’ll never shop at their store/buy their brand again, they know they’ve already lost a customer and are less inclined to spend money on you.
We finally threatened to call corporate and the dealership came through on the the roof rack recall after us taking it there 3 times.
China Guy, we are really unhappy with this car even though we did buy it based on the recommendation of our best friends who had a 2010 or some similar year and loved it tons. We camp with these guys 3 times a summer and we had a contact high on the pilot after watching them pull up with their pop-up and pilot for many years in a row. Honda has reformulated the Pilot in 2016 or 2017 and maybe the new design needs to bake a while or maybe I am right about the quality mining, but I just don’t feel like this car is solid.
For the record though, I would say that the vast majority of complaints about this car are really about the dealership. They seriously suck in every way imaginable. My wife and I will never buy a Honda again because of how we have been treated there. And it is not just about the whole “read the manual” thing either, every time we go there they make us feel like they are doing us a favor even talking to us. If you are buying in the Denver area, let me know and I will give you my personal opinion about the specific dealer…
I hear the highlander is nice but not as nice of a ride as the Honda. More like a truck. My current leading contender is a Lexus; the used ones depreciate faster than a Toyota and they are of the same quality if not higher…
If I were you, I’d just get a new Odyssey. That thing is much, much better for hauling kids, pets and stuff than any SUV. And it can handle 1500lbs without any problem. The current model Pilot does have its issues. I find the cabin in general to be not the most user friendly.
I think the Highlander is one of your best alternatives if you want an SUV that can tow reasonably well (up to 5,000lbs) and seat up to 8 people, although 6-7 is a more common configuration.
Just make sure that if you opt for this vehicle (or really any other) that you get very specific information on it’s towing capacities, getting a dealer installed tow package (which hopefully includes an upgraded transmission cooler, they generally do), etc.
If you’re absolutely sticking to the SUV route, and you have to have a mid-sized one, the Highlander is probably your best choice here. Otherwise you’re getting into V-8 powered vehicles like the Durango, or jumping up to a full-sized truck based SUV ($$$$$).
Appreciate all the replies. I haven’t actually gone to look at any vehicles yet. I may put a little money into my current odyssey and drive it for another 7 years until the bambinas are out of high school.
I liked it a lot. The rear visibility was amazing! I haven’t had a car since that could live up to it. We had one with the fold-down third row. I never wanted a minivan, so this was a perfect compromise.
We took it camping, loaded bikes on it, took it everywhere. Solid car thats still going strong.
ETA: I can’t really speak to its towing capacity since we never used it for towing. We did have a hitch put on for a big bike rack.
I have a 12 year old Odyssey, and you are welcome to pry it out of my cold dead hands. So comfy. So car-like in its handling. So easy to fill with people, stuff, more stuff, more people.
I sat in a Pilot at the car show two years ago. Felt like a Suburban. Yuck.
I think that’s the OP’s primary issue: the Pilot has not remained the steadfast, reliable people hauler it once was. But…I have never owned one, so I cannot say, but I know a good deal about cars and such, so I thought I’d chime in.
It seems the general consensus is that Pilot owners such as yourself from yore love the thing, yet owners of the newer models seem less enthusiastic.
That could be and if true, that’s a shame. It wasn’t a sexy car, but we could dump a ton of camping gear in the back, load the bikes on the hitch, and head out and it was great.
We replaced a 1996 Jeep Cherokee Sport with it, one of the last great Jeeps, and it wasn’t nearly as fun, but got the job done.
I have a 2019 Ridgeline that is built on the same platform as the Pilot. I love it. I’ve pulled a 8x10 trailer full of furniture with it and had no issues. The ride, comfort and handling are all outstanding.
