2019HondaPilot: a newlook

WESTLAKEVILLAGE, CALIF. » The 2019 Honda Pilot is a mid-cycle refresh that’s a bit early in its life span, but the few cosmetic changes make the car perhaps a bit less soccer-mommy.

These changes include more aggressive styling, but more importantly some additional features, or features which are now standard.

As with other Honda vehicles, this 2019 Pilot gets Honda Sensing’s suite of advanced driver-assistive and safety technology standard in all trims. The Pilot’s connected-car technology is updated to keep up with the technology.

In addition, Honda’s added an optional handsfree power tailgate, for the upper trim levels. There’s a new optional touchscreen system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, they’ve even added a real, analog volume knob.

You will quickly notice that the 2019 Pilot has a new and sort of macho front end. The grille and chin are rather jutting, although the grille seems to have a bit of the feel of the Acura family grille. In back the rear lamps are cleaned up and looks somewhat “toughened up.”

Even though the Pilot has sold out for the past three years, Honda made it clear that it wants to emphasize the crossover’s ability off-road. Since it has a fair amount of ground clearance and decent approach and departure angles, it does a good job of moving where the surface isn’t near being flat or straight.

Naturally Honda is making this point about the allwheel drive equipped Pilots. There are front-wheel drive versions, mostly sold in southern states where snow is a well-stored memory

he all-wheel drive system of the Pilot isn’t new, but it is capable. It uses an electronically-controlled, hydraulically-actuated rear differential to divide up to 70 percent engine torque between the front and rear axles, as well as between the left and right rear wheel. It can send 70 percent of its power to the rear wheels, and 100 percent from side-to-side. What that means is a certain level of comfort when the wheels aren’t on asphalt or concrete.

There are circumstances, such as on ice, when there is no way to avoid the wheels spinning. There are even situations where you want wheel spin, such as in sand where the bit of spin is necessary to moving he car forward when nature wants it to dig itself in.

Honda has allowed the car’s computer capability to keep you more likely moving in those kinds of conditions. You can switch modes, putting the car in Snow, Mud and Sand. These setting change the way the throttle responds, how the transmission changes gears and how the power it sent to the wheels.

Honda had dug an offroad demonstration setup where we balanced on two wheels, rattled over mogul-like bumps, hung sideways on sincerely steep pathways, and sallied forth in the sand and gravel to blast our way through to the finish. It was fun, since it was somebody else’s vehicle, and illustrative of what capabilities were buried underneath the smooth and modern crossover looks of the Pilot.

The rest of the drive was on typical California roads, most jammed with cars, but some nicely curvy and empty, perfect for testing the on-road smoothness safety and response to perhaps more input than these cars face in their daily suburban lives.

The Pilot was quite up to the task, and unless thrown quite close to that famous edge of the envelope, it responds smoothly and with confidence. Although it is a seven-passenger crossover, the weight is kept comfortably low in the vehicle, meaning it is nicely steadfast when heavy braking evolves into sharply inputted steering.

This is a difficult maneuver for a large, particularly long, vehicle to do smoothly. It wants to bury its nose when the brake is pushed firmly. Then it wants to move all that weight away from the direction of the turn, and those two dynamics don’t like each other. The Pilot did a good job of sorting these forces without transmitting much of them through the cabin.

So, the ride on these California country roads was smooth and quiet, when we were driving that way. The interior doesn’t seem that different, although there are some upgrades and updates. It remains attractive and large enough to hold the seven – or eight if you want – people. The required telecommunications and connectivity features are clearly up-todate.

This is an interior done for families and done right. Having said that, Honda would like a few of its owners to feel like they can go wandering without fear where the roads give out.

All the trim levels share the same 3.5-liter V-6 generating 280-hp. and 262 lb.-ft. of peak torque. The base model has EPA rated mileage of 10 mpg city and 27 mpg on the highway. The top two trim levels – Touring and Elite – are fitted with a nine-speed transmission. This very clever transmission will “decide” to start off in second gear during lower levels of acceleration, and also does it if the car is placed in snow mode.

For 2019, all Pilot models come standard with the Honda Sensing suite of active safety features. These include Collision Mitigation Braking System with Forward Collision Warning, Road Departure Mitigation, Lane Keeping Assist System and Adaptive Cruise Control.

Last year Honda’s blindspot information system was only on the Elite trim, but for this year is standard on EX, EX-V-8, Elite and Touring trims as well. As well the Rear CrossTraffic Monitor has been expanded from the Touring and Elite trims to EX and EX-L.

In addition to the above, Pilot offers numerous other driver-assistive features, such as automatic high beams and a Multi-Angle Rearview Camera, both standard on all trims.

While there are new features and capability, this is the Honda which is at the top of the wish list for many families and has been for years. The cars we were driving were all the top-of-the-line Elite model, with nothing missing. It is the Pilot that, finances withstanding, would be bought by every customer. Prices start at $31,450 for the base Pilot LX 2WD. The top-of-theline Pilot Elite 4WD starts at $48,020.