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The EX-L Navi Is the One to Get - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test
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The EX-L Navi Is the One to Get - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test
Comparing the 2016 Honda Pilot EX with the Pilot Elite led me to conclude that the 2016 Honda Pilot EX-L Navi is the one to buy.
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Secondly, I don't get the Navigation. Don't you guys have Android Auto on that? Can't you fire up Google Maps and have a far superior mapping tool?
And no sensing? These are some impressive safety and convenience technologies and is the MAIN reason why I'm dying to get a new Civic. Why would you choose a 90's GPS non-live-traffic-technology over semi-automated driving + Google Maps?
What am I missing?
That being said, I would probably go with the EX-L Sensing. I'm a fan of the Honda Sensing suite. My wife would likely be less critical of my driving if I could point to the car as a scapegoat
My ideal Pilot doesn't exist- it would be an EX-L with Navi, Sensing and Rear Entertainment. I have two kids under 2 years old, so the DVD would be nice for trips. The Navi, like I said, is a nice, clean design and is fully integrated. The Voice Commands for the Garmin system are MARVELOUS, especially compared to Honda's old in-house Navigation voice commands. Lastly, as I mentioned above, I like the Honda Sensing suite. I don't like the 9-Speed transmission or the 20" wheels, either, so I would have no interest in the Touring.
I sell Hondas for a living and believe me, their off-the-shelf options structure is a blessing and a curse. It's nice because I can keep one of every color of every trim in stock and pricing is incredibly easy; simply pick the trim you want and pick color. Of course, as a consumer, nobody likes being told that they can only have one serving of dessert with their Pilot, whether it be Rear Entertainment, Honda Sensing or Navigation. I guess that's just how it goes.
To be honest though I don't know if it would be worth the upgrade to a 2016 though. I prefer the utility of our "boxy" Pilot and think that's what set it apart from the other crossovers. After sitting in a 2016 at the car show a couple of weeks ago i'm really disappointed in the New Pilots less utility. My biggest contention is the 3rd row. We use our third row a lot for extra people/kids. It was the main shove over to the Pilot when were shopping 2010-2013 models of crossovers a couple of years ago. The new 3rd row has more distance between the middle seat back and 3rd row seat back but its narrower and sits on the floor. My knees were pointing straight up. In the boxy style Pilot, adults can ride back their just fine if you slide up the middle row a click or two. Really the only two SUV's when we shopped that had better 3rd rows for people were the Sequoia and the Expedition. And the space behind the 2016 3rd row at the floor is deeper, but its a lot more shallow at the headrests and above because of new less boxy/bigger CRV design.
Add to that less ground clearance for our off pavement excursions and no more standard tow package (factory tow packs are hard to find on the new ones). It would be nice to have the better fuel economy and more power, but utility wise I feel like the Pilot took a couple of steps back and lost its advantage over the other crossovers. I think we'll hang on to our 2011 for many more years... now if I could just slide the new 3.5 and 6 speed auto in it, it would probably be about perfect.
Every Pilot customer I've had has asked about towing. The new towing package is a dealer-installed accessory made up of 8 or so a la carte parts and it is a pain in the rear to order. When the vehicle debuted my dealership had two botched tow package installations because Honda simply hadn't told anyone what equipment was necessary to tow the full 5,000 lbs. Our parts department was like chickens running around with their heads cut off and Honda was absolutely no help.
I think they've figured it out now, but it's still a lot to cover for someone who tows only occasionally.
2) I travel plenty of places where smartphone data goes dark, at which point the phone's navigation is useless. Resident navigation works off the grid just fine. And in the west just about any long trip goes through places where data drops away. Note that the Civic does have CarPlay, and the head unit looks similar to the Pilot's. I'm sure the Pilot will have it very soon. But that still doesn't solve the lack-of-connection issue that can be a thing depending on your geography and your cell-phone provider.
3) The idea of sensing is great, but many such forward collision systems are hypersensitive. Like fuel economy dyno test driving patterns used for mpg measurement, I'm wondering if the conditions set forth for testing assume a DMV-handbook style of driving that doesn't accurately reflect how people interact with each other in real life. And in the space of one hour on our evaluation test loop it reacted to an overpass shadow, a roadside hedge and a mailbox. I've seen the overpass reaction before, and another time it reacted to the shadow of a tour bus I was passing in the next lane. And it does not expect the sort of gap-filling lane changes other people do in front of it ever day during an LA commute.
Is it useless? No, not in certain situations. But if it's so intrusive that you find yourself switching it off, why spend the money? And I'm not the only one. It's always off when I get in after the last driver tired of the wolf-crying. I invariably turn it on thinking "why is it off?" and then give up within the hour thinking, "oh yeah, that's why." Same goes for our new Civic, too. It could be there's an optimal level of traffic at which it works best, and our particular brand of freeway hell is on the "too dense and cutthroat" side of the spectrum.
You could get EX-L w/Sensing and buy a suction-cup Garmin aftermarket navigation unit if you have the rural smartphone data problem I have. But if you want all three you must to step up to the Touring or the Elite.
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They both have leather and NAV. Not sure what the Touring could have that would make it worth 22K more miles.
But, in any case, vehicle condition is important. Mileage alone doesn't mean everything.
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Doubt the AWD will mean any more than 1 mpg difference. Extra maintenance is minimal.
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