Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  Great Ride; Unfriendly Electonics User Interface - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Kenneth Smith - September 25 - 1:52 am

  I really like the new design and ride of the vehicle, but I have to say, the center electronics stack has a very "user unfriendly" interface. I have owned many vehicles over the past 15 years (Infinity, Acura, BMW to name a few) and all have far superior electronics packages. I am very disappointed in how unresponsive the the touch screen is and how inaccurate the nav system can be. Many well established main stream restaurants do not show up in the database. The voice activation interface is almost useless. You must go through layers of screens to make a call or to utilize the nav system. I have returned to the dealership on two different occasions to have a total of four sales reps agree with me that the electronics interface leaves a lot to be desired. It is impossible to control the rear entertainment system from the touch screen in terms of starting a DVD for a child. I have read several reviews and blogs critical of the design and ergonomics of the electronics user interface. Not sure why Honda would install such a rudimentary system in a $50,000 Pilot Elite???

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  This car is DANGEROUS! Worst software ever! - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By NoLongerAFan - September 18 - 7:16 am

  1) Left my wife stranded -- Put the car in reverse, foot on brake, not moving, then pressed the stop button. Car locked her out and wouldnt start. Had to mess with locks and start button for 30 minutes before the car reset itself. 2) Transmission is UNSAFE! -- 9 speed cant find the right gear, car stutters, will LAUNCH you downhill. Low speed driving is terrible, cant maintain a constant speed. Seems like really bad software making gear decisions. 3) Lane assist is DANGEROUS! -- Cant help you at all, will not hold the lane. Hey Honda, either you steer or I steer, but whoever is steering better be really good at it. Steering is NOT a cooperative activity! Dont "assist" me with steering unless it can be trusted. 4) So many little software problems. Remembers the seat position incorrectly. 5) Worst entertainment center ever. Seems designed in 1998. Cant use the nav while moving, seriously? I can mess with the radio all day, using the most confusing and distracting software ever devised, but I cant use the nav? 6) The car Dings at uss constantly and randomly. Its trying to tell us something, I have no idea what it is saying. DING .. wait a few minutes -- DING! Who wrote the software for this car, my kids could have done a better job!

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  Not so great - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Jenny - September 17 - 8:42 pm

  Our family has leased a new Honda Pilot every 3 years since 2003.Our current lease is up and we went to get a new Pilot. Needless to say, we did not like the redesigned Pilot. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of improvements to the new Pilot, but the overall style is more of a minivan than an SUV. The quality of materials is significantly better than our current 2012 Pilot and we like the captain chairs. The one button to move the middle seats is very easy and the camera in the passenger side mirror is very cool! The ventilated front seats are comfortable. What we did not care for is the minivan style flip down arm rests on the front seats and touch screen audio system. You can see every finger print on the screen. Our Acura also has the touch screen audio and the fingerprints never go away. It drives me crazy! The touch screen is bit more labor intensive to change the station or volume, so you will be more distracted from the road and traffic. There are controls on the steering wheel for some functions though. Our Acura also has push button start and both my husband and I would prefer an actual key. It is very easy to leave the car running, especially how quiet cars are today. The push button transmission selector is in a really bad location. I have visions of a beverage mishap and a very expensive repair to follow. Why the transmission selector is electronic and not mechanical is also a concern. The visibility is very good from the driver’s seat and the ride is awesome. The engine start-stop is something I would have to get used to, although. I really don’t see the saving as the mpg is rated the same as what we get in our 2012 Pilot. The steering and handling on the new Pilot is a huge disappointment. The steering is weak with a weird bottom heavy feel and it is slow to respond. The steering does not feel substantial enough to handle a vehicle of that size and weight. Needless to say it is very unnatural and not something I would want to deal with every day. The new Pilot has significant body roll on right hand turns, but seemed to be Ok turning left. If you take your turns at a snail’s pace, it might not roll as much. I am also not fond of the exterior styling. It screams “Me To” as it looks like an expanded CRV. We have been driving Honda’s and Acura’s for a very long time and have been satisfied and loyal customers, we are now looking at other manufacturers for our next SUV.

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  Honda Pilot - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Steven Bochicchio - September 10 - 10:35 am

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  Mediocre at best - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Car Fan - September 2 - 11:49 pm

  It does everything, but not great. To start, the third row is completely unsuitable for three people, even if they are younger kids. Two at best. Interior material is cheap - to the touch as well as sight. It will scratch VERY easily. The Garmin GPS system absolutely sucks! Most of the time, for the first two-three minutes, it has no clue where the car is. This happens to be the most critical period of driving if you are away from home and dont know your surroundings. Audio controls are the most confusing I have ever seen in a Honda! The engine seems to be confused on which gear to pick, and the amount of thrust to apply. Very hesitant. In the first two three months, it worked fine, but then started having a lag - very noticeable - in acceleration. Overall, very disappointed with our decision to buy the new Pilot. Ended up trading it in for a different vehicle after 8 months of ownership.

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  Transmission issue at 13k Miles for Elite Pilot!! - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Praveen Madan - August 25 - 7:42 pm

  Just have ~ 13k miles and am having same transmission issues on 9 speed as everyone else. last week dropped the car at the dealer and today morning got the news that transmission and other oils have mixed (no reason given) they are going to change the entire transmission. This is really Hondas failure as its high end car with major transmission issue for which we have all paid ~ 50 grand. Even if they change the entire transmission, the car has lost its value who is going to pay for that?I have lost confidence of owing a Honda (have been driving accord and now pilot for last 11 years!!) Honda should recall this [non-permissible content removed]and pay us back- can be all do something about it? This is causing stress...

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  900 miles with my Pilot - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Tom Shellenberger - August 19 - 9:00 pm

  The Pilot is what it is. No pretension, a good solid care. Not a fun driving experience, but that is not what most are buying it for. It is reliable and safe to operate. Exterior is fine, interior materials and finish are fine in this trim level. Not flashy but not a lot bling to get broken or damaged either. The phone and info display systems seem a bit less intuitive than I would have liked, but I am 56 and not computers and phones are work for me, not the center of my personal life. Younger people may like it fine. I looked at the a lot of three-row SUV and bought the Honda. Had to look around for a decent deal because stocks are low, at least in Delaware. The only vehicle I liked as much was a Ford Explore but with similar equipment that would have cost much more.

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  This Pilot is a Pleasure to Drive! - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By IonasDad - August 8 - 5:59 pm

  I have had the Pilot Elite for almost one year now and have over 16,000 miles on the clock. Mostly city driving but have made trips from Cincinnati to Chicago, South Carolina, Tennessee, cross country to Glacier national Park and Washington State and recently to Georgia. The car performs well, I am getting over 26 mpg on highway driving, the adaptive cruise control is magic. Rear entertainment system kept my daughter entertained for 3 weeks over the summer. Dealership is GREAT and, when I had a strange noise coming from my wheel in Keystone, SD I had a fantastic dealer experience in Rapid City where they fit me in and removed a stone from brakes! The car is comfortable to drive, really LOVE the cooled front seats in the hot humid summer, great visibility and good looking too! I could moan about the GPS or Pandora interface but expect that Honda is just as impatient with these issues as we are. I would definitely recommend this family vehicle. Loads of space, too, for visits to Home Depot!!

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  Rear differential leaking oil after 176 miles - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Patrick - July 27 - 1:02 pm

  Buyers beware: Purchased AWD EX-L model two weeks ago. Noticed oil on garage floor. Oil leaking from rear differential (AWD model). Vehicle is at dealership and service department is contacting Honda. Was happy with the overall performance / ride of the 2016 pilot but reliability is most important to me. Very disappointed.

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  Not What I Paid For - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Stephanie - July 26 - 3:04 am

  I bought the 2016 Elite in December and right off we had transmission problems. Lots of jerking at low speeds. The dealer flushed the transmission and that went away...for right now. My idle stop stopped working also and dealer said it was fixed..2 days later it stopped working. A week after the idle stop was "fixed" my check engine light comes on. Dealer said it was probably just a loose gas cap. They obviously dont know a thing about their vehicles. The pilot doesnt come with a gas cap. So, now the dealer has it for idle stop not working, engine light, remote start-sometimes it will start, sometimes it wont. If it does remote start then the seat warmers dont work. You have to shut the engine off and restart then they will work. Ive owned 4 other Pilots and Ive never had a problem. I will be contacting Honda Corporation today. Hopefully this will be resolved.