1,767-Mile Road Trip Recap - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

1,767-Mile Road Trip Recap - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test

My year-end holiday road trip is history, so I've formed a lot of impressions about our 2016 Honda Pilot, some good, some bad.

Read the full story here

bankerdanny

I will be interested to read about the Vegas trip MPG. The Oregon MPG is disappointing, but at the same time, the EPA test never gets to 70mph much less the 75-80 most people cruise at these days and it doesn't assume that the vehicle will be loaded towards the high end of capacity at the same time.

sda

That isn't any improvement over our 2010 2wd Pilot EXL. It routinely gets 21-23mpg on trips, a/c on, driving 70-75mph, around 18mpg locally.

legacygt

bankerdanny said:

the EPA test never gets to 70mph much less the 75-80 most people cruise at these days

This is certainly part of it. But it's also clear that manufacturers are getting very good at programming their powertrains to maximize efficiency under the EPA test conditions. This Pilot has much higher EPA numbers than my 2009 Mazda CX-9 AWD but I regularly get around 21 mpg under family road trip conditions (including hills, with a roof box).

notfast

Did Honda hire the Ford Sync 2 engineers for the new touch interface? Sheesh.

gslippy

People hear "Honda" and reflexively think "fuel miser", without realizing the Pilot is a very thirsty tank. My Sedona minivan holds more stuff, and gets better fuel economy.

And you guys should have taken the car in for the steering wheel heater when it failed.

That 9-speed ZF transmission? The mfrs are obviously tone-deaf to the professional and consumer complaints about the thing. No way I'll ever buy one, especially out of warranty.

mypathy2001

I'm not having nearly as the issues as edmunds is getting with their Elite. I'm getting 23 in the city and about 26 on the highway over Christmas, but I have a FWD.

As "gslippy" mentioned, based on all I've heard on the 9-speed ZF automatic transmissions, owners of Touring & Elites have been complaining of finding gears when launching from a stop or having to constantly go down gears to find the "sweet spot" to launch.

Don't get me started on the lack of a volume knob for the radio, or the extremely tiny "SOURCE" button on the top left hand side. I miss a dedicated volume button, but use the steering wheel controls quite a bit.

roaeja1

I own a 2016 Honda EX-L and love it. I drive around 50mph and get in the mid 30's mpg. I had to use 32psi for tire pressure, to get a smooth ride. So far no troubles and it kicks butt. I love the roar of the engine, making noise as a safety feature to let other vehicles know you are coming, like a police siren. Plenty of room and lots of cargo space, with third roll down. I love it!