Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

• 

  2016 Pilot EX-L Hard Shift Issues - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Tim L. - April 21 - 1:11 am

  Wait on buying this car. Horrible, frequent, but random hard shifting w/ the 6 speed tranny. Wife will not drive it anymore. New 7/2016, we have 6K miles on it and the hard shifting is damaging the whole drive train.. Horrible new car experience. Car is at the dealer for the 3rd time on this as I post this. Looks like Im not the only one..

• 

  Great vehicle (minus the 9-speed tranny) - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Joel Avila - April 18 - 11:36 am

  I would give this vehicle 5 stars if the 9-speed transmission were smooth. Its not, and thats too bad. Didnt catch that on the test drive, but I sure notice it now, generally when doing lower-speed (around-town) driving. Excellent kid hauler/road-trip vehicle. Im tall, and love the ceiling height and overall comfort & design of the cabin. Rear seating is very well designed, and easy to access - or drop flat for hauling gear. Mileage is good for its class, and I think the styling is much improved. I just cant understand why they didnt give more consideration to the tranny, and I think the NAVI unit, and perhaps the button-shifting could be a bit more smooth/responsive as well. Looking forward to taking it up to the snow this winter (Sierras). Have been in Volvo + Saab wagons my entire adult life, and its a nice change to be in such a big honkin vehicle. Hope this is helpful. Maybe check out the 6-speed, or see if you can live with the 9 on a more urban stoplight-filled test drive. Seems like some folks are not as bothered by it, but I think Honda should come up with an immediate fix. The drive, especially during deceleration at lower speeds = just plain odd.

• 

  Concerned About Safety - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Diane Larkin - April 15 - 3:14 am

  After 6 weeks of driving the Honda Pilot Elite, I have a growing concern that the user interface to the electronics package may be a safety concern for drivers. I am very confident that Honda builds a safe vehicle in terms of physical structure, air bags and collision avoidance technology, but there is a "huge" distraction issue with the center stack of electronics (nav, audio, RES, cell phone). My concern is the drive must spend an inordinate amount of time interacting with the center stack touch screen. Is is very cumbersome and has many layers to accomplish simple tasks. To make it worse, after several touches on the screen, the finger prints show and if the sun hits the screen a certain way, you cannot see or read the information on the screen. I spend way too much time interacting with the screen when voice commands would accomplish the same thing in a more efficient and "safe" manor. The same principle applies to the RES (rear entertainment system). In order to play a DVD for a child, you must put the DVD in the center console, stop the vehicle, get in the back seat and use the rear control remote to start the movie playing. You cannot do this from the "Rear Audio" screen that shows on the center console. How inconvenient and dangerous (stopping on the side of an interstate highway) is this? What little voice activation has been provided by Honda is really useless. It is very slow and you usually end up using the touch screen which is not organized very well. I am really shocked at how little effort was put into the design of the electronics package. Again, this is a very "unsafe" system given the amount of time and effort the drive must expend at the expense of paying attention to the road!

• 

  28,000 miles on 2016 AWD touring elite - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Richard - April 8 - 9:06 am

  I purchased my 2016 AWD touring elite in late July of 2015. In 8.5 months I have driven over 28,000 miles. I sold a 2011 Lexus LX 570 for the pilot. Same comfort and room but with better gas mileage, technology and price. Average 23 mpg in town and 28 mpg hwy Smooth ride Quite cabin Plenty of interior room with cup holders and power outlets everywhere. While the 9 speed transmission takes a little time to get use too it works as designed for saving fuel My only two issues-non folding side mirrors and the front windshield is a rock magnet as I have replace the front windshield 2x in the 8.5 months.

• 

  Beautiful Death Trap - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By B Smith - March 22 - 5:09 pm

  I just about died due to acceleration on braking. Car thrust out into traffic when stopping at end of our street. Others barely swerved in time crossing into opposing traffic to avoid us. Have now read others reports of identical issues. Sudden acceleration even when brakes applied. Sudden deceleration with steady accelerator pressure at slower speeds. Only 3 months with car and have had growing concern and increasing experiences with these issues. After todays incident this car has to go back. It is not safe.

• 

  Not so happy!!! - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Roger - March 10 - 2:54 pm

  Issues so far not resolved are: Settings on command unit like shift to park do not remain set as default. Front end noise like old stiff rubber. Engine miss firing and now wind noise can be heard on drivers door. Maybe there will be some improvement next models year for 2017!

• 

  Terrible Radio Reception - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By S. Flores - March 5 - 11:30 am

  Do not buy a Pilot if you listen to local radio stations. None of the stations are tolerable. They are ALL staticky, volume changing, and fade in and mostly out. I called Honda and they "logged" the issue. The representative did admit that she had heard about this issue before. Another problem is the touch screen being slow to respond. Its frustrating not having a volume knob. The hooks in the cargo area are too high to attach a standard grocery bag. Storage space and compartments are otherwise well thought out. Mileage around town is 22mpg on Eco setting. The ride is smooth and quiet.

• 

  Nicest SUV for the money I have ever owned - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Tom Lepisto - February 15 - 1:42 am

  I have had Tahoes (3) Escalades Blazers and traded a 2009 pilot in for the 2016. I cannot believe how much a leap forward the new pilot is. It checks all of my boxes, main thing is the ability to carry up to 8 in comfort (including the rear seats). The ride and road manners are great seems much more spacious than the 2009 and the fuel economy is aces. We average around 30 MPG on the road per the trip computer. A++++++++

• 

  Overall just a barely average vehicle - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By Jay - February 7 - 10:41 pm

  The Pilot looks great on paper and in pictures, but dont be fooled. The specs are good and it looks good in photos as most vehicles do however the reality is much different. While fuel economy and engine performance are good, those seem to be the only things that dont disappoint. But to get straight to the point, here are problems that Ive noticed: 1. The infotainment is a really terrible system. It is underpowered, unrefined, unintuitive and cumbersome. It is really slow and unresponsive, probably because of outdated/cheap components used to power the system. Every tap lags, every single one. The interface is also very unintuitive, common features such as playlists, albums, genres are buried multiple menu layers deep. When you plug in your device, it defaults to playing your entire library of songs alphabetically. I get random error messages that cause the audio or navigation to close on a fairly regular basis of about once a week. An error message will just pop up and close the current app. 2. The navigation, probably in part to being underpowered, has been terrible so far. Ive only used it a few times so far but each time is has incorrectly calibrated my location and it would take a few minutes of driving for it to properly recalibrate my location. Ive driven and used many vehicles with navigation and this is honestly the first time its ever happened, on each occasion. 3. The radio is complete junk. It sounds like listening to a 30 year old clock radio because the reception is so bad. Sound is constantly fading, crackling or has static. There has been speculation that this is something that has only impacted a few Pilots however I am convinced this is a design defect. The antennas on the Pilot are similar to the antennas on the iPhone 4 and consist of bands on the rear windows. Whats worse is that despite this being an issue since the release of the 2016 Pilot, there has been no official response or acknowledgment from Honda yet. 4. Because the radio is so bad on the Pilot, most people such as myself will often listen to the music on my device. There is nothing wrong with the sound system itself, just the reception. However, since the infotainment system is so incredibly bad, even trying to listen to the music on my device is a major pain. 5. The footwell heat simply doesnt work well. It seems like a minor issue until you have consecutive single digit degree weather and realize only a very small portion of the area above your ankles are warm. The footwell area never completely warms, no matter how high you set the temperature or how high the fan is. Your lower legs will always be cold, or at least mine have. 6. For the trims below Touring with the 6 speed, the shifter is so poorly and terribly designed, it looks like it came out of a 1990 Corolla. Above all, my impression of the 2016 Pilot is that it was severely rushed and a lot of cost cutting was involved. There really is no excuse for the radio to have such horrible reception in this day and age. The infotainment system is clearly the result of cost cutting as its so terrible. The main benefit of the Pilot is the engine performance. I highly recommend anyone considering the Pilot to take it on an extended test drive and really pay close attention to the radio and tinker with the infotainment. Drive it back to back with any other vehicle and Im certain most will recognize a clear difference in radio quality. However, if literally none of these things matter, than the Pilot may be a good choice, otherwise I would at least hold off until the 2017 models arrive before even considering one.

• 

  2016 Honda Pilot "soft pedal" issue - 2016 Honda Pilot
  By larry - February 1 - 5:30 am

  As long-time Honda Accord V-6 owners (3 since 1999) and realizing that we wanted something larger, we began to research the 2016 re-designed Pilot a year ago. After visiting dealerships several times and looking at all facets of the SUV, we purchased an EX-L with Honda Sensing in November 2016. The only options we added were color-matched side trim moldings and rear bumper applique, both of which greatly protect from door dings to sides and suitcase scratches to rear bumper....highly recommend. Incidently, we got the dealership to include both in negotiated purchase price, at no extra cost, including labor to install. We did get wheel locks and etched window security ID number, but declined upgraded security system....a $1000 add-on and dealer money-maker. We presently have 4500 miles on the vehicle, including 2 trips of 800 miles each, mostly interstate both times, with gas mileage on those trips of 28.5 miles both. Recently we had a rock, or object, hit the center of our right front fog light lens in the bumper, shattering it. I thought this would be a relatively easy fix....NOT!! The lens had to be ordered, and second appointment scheduled (18 mile round trip) for replacement. The lens (only...not the actual light assembly) was $70 and $120 for 35 minutes labor to replace...a total of $191....outrageous!!! These are available on-line from various sources quite reasonable, and there are how-to videos online showing how to replace them, which I would do next time. While there for replacement, I mentioned to the service advisor that I had noticed for sometime, but more so the past several weeks, that the brake pedal seemed "soft" when coming to stop signs or lights, and that recently, when stopped at a light in a line of traffic, the car would initially stop OK, but the brake pedal would then slowly depress, nearly to the floor, requiring increasing attention and pressure to prevent the vehicle from "creeping" forward....a safety concern. His response was, "yes, Honda is a aware of this, so far terming it a "soft pedal issue", and they are watching it". I indicated to him my concern this is ultimately a safety concern, and he indicated that "it does not seem to be present or happening with all 2016 Pilots, but likely will require a "fix", ie: a recall or software update". If buying a 2016, you need to be aware of this. Our last feature we dislike the most is the Infotainment Center in this particular model. Everything is touch, slide, and as many reviews have indicated, NOT user friendly or intuitive. The hardcopy owners manual gives you very little specific info on the vehicle. Fortunately, there is a CD for use in your computer that gives you detailed info...how to set or adjust outside temperature reading on dash; how to change bass/treble/balance/front-rear balance on radio/sound system....look at it...well worth the time. Overall, a very nice vehicle with some "hiccups" Honda needs to correct.