Check out Kelley Blue Book's 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport First Drive Video!
We’re looking at the fourth-generation Honda Pilot. Well, we’re sort of looking at it, but we’re definitely going to drive it. The TrailSport will land mid-pack in the Pilot trim walk and we’re still expecting that to include the EX, EX-L,Touring and Elite trims we’re familiar with. The TrailSport gets upgrades like off-road wheels and all-terrain tires.
It will be interesting to see how these perform on the road, too. It gets some steel skid plates to protect the gas tank and engine and transmission. You also get a full-size spare under the rear and recovery points in the front and rear just in case you get stuck. The suspension is tuned for a better off-road experience and on washboard on a relatively easy dirt road it provides you a very smooth ride. The all-wheel drive system gets some extra modes to tackle more aggressive terrain.
On the front axle you get brake torque vectoring and it corrects for slippage pretty quickly. In the rear axle Honda’s all-wheel drive system can send up to 75% of the torque to the wheel with the most grip. It reacts quickly even over some very challenging stuff. Better than some other vehicles in the segment I’ve driven recently. I’m impressed. This is built for trails rated as moderate by the US public lands folks.
The interior isn’t done yet, so I can’t really talk about that either. But it’s bigger because this thing is definitely longer, which means more interior space.
As for powertrain the Pilot currently gets power from a 3.5-liter V6, but there will be a new engine and we’d expect there to be some hybrid options. I wasn’t allowed to drive it on road even to get to the trail head, so those impressions will have to wait. Sorry. But subscribe to the KBB YouTube channel so you don’t miss them when they come out.
Pricing on the current Pilot model starts around $40,000, but with this redesign we expect that to go up, maybe closer to 42 or $43,000. There are so many options for three-row SUVs these days, including the Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade, Toyota Highlander and Nissan Pathfinder. And some of these are even coming to market with specific off-road trims including the Pathfinder Rock Creek and the Subaru Outback Wilderness. There’s lots to choose from, so look around before you purchase.
We haven’t seen much of the Pilot but from the teaser photos and this one that’s covered in camo we can tell that its got more of a squared off body shape, love that. Also, the grille looks to be updated, though they can always change that on mules and more squared off head and taillights. You can tell by the weather that it means fall is already here and that’s when Honda says they’ll be showing this to us sans camo. So I’m expecting that to happen fairly soon if they’re still on schedule. That means you should be able to buy one later this year. Fingers crossed that timeline remains in place.
00:00 2023 Honda Pilot
1:54 Off-road Driving Impressions
3:11 Interior
4:10 Engine
8:59 Competitors
9:24 Exterior
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