If you are like many loyal Honda enthusiast you can't wait for the all new 09 Honda Pilot to hit showrooms in about a week. A couple of us got a chance to attend the Pilot Ride and Drive in Atalnta this past Monday. The photos circulating online simply don't do the new Pilot justice.
The 09 Pilot is everything you love about the previous Pilot and fixes everything you didn't. For 09 the Pilot is available in LX, EX, EX-L, and Touring trim levels. Holding true to Honda's nomenclature the LX is the entry level that features a cloth interior and styled steel wheels. The next level up is still the EX. The EX adds a few more goodies and alloy wheels that are similar to the current 08 design. The EX-L remains a very well equipped model with leather interior, moonroof, and available DVD system. New for 09 is Touring trim level. The Touring model features Navi, unique polished wheels, power rear lift gate, and blinkers on the side mirrors.
What's new? All Pilots now have a hitch and tow package as standard equipment. Even the entry level LX! With a 3500 lb tow capacity for the 2WD and 4500 lb. tow capacity for the 4wd it's a great feature have. No additional parts need!
The new Pilot has a stylish new dual exhaust. Looks very aggressive from the rear, but remains nice and quite. The back glass now opens independently. It's great for just tossing a few things in the back without opening the hatch. Did I mention there is more room!
The rear seats now fold for a nearly flat cargo area. The best new feature.....the rear headrest no longer have to be removed. This makes it much easier and your rear cargo box is not stuffed with the headrest.
The rear box is BIGGER! Much deeper than the 08. Notice the net? The net actually removes to make a rear shelf that hold about 22lbs. There is also a new storage area on the left side. If you look closely you can see the door. That's empty space that will hold a fair amount of stuff. Perfect for jumper cables.
The 09 Pilot can hold a 4ft. wide piece of building material between the wheel wheels. Try that with the competition. If you look closely you can see the new rear air vents in the side pillars. The new a/c system cools down 20% faster than the 08.
The new interior is very modern and easy to use. The Navigation system on the Touring is very similar to the new system on the 08 Accord. In short....it's fantastic! The nav. system is produced by Alpine and that pretty much explains why it's so good. Updated mapping DVDs are also available annually for the system for about $180. You can find that info. at honda.com.
The new interior is typical Honda. The materials are top notch and everything is where it should be. The most notable is the shifter. Gone is the column shifter. The dash based is much easier to read.
Bubba got hungry! What's a more real world test than a bag of burgers and a few sodas. How many SUVs will hold a big bag of fast food perfectly in the center console along with drinks. The new center console has much more room.
The new console also has a aux input jack on all models except the Touring. The Touring features a USB input jack. The aux. input jack is great, but the USB jack is a i-pod owners dream. You actually access the i-pod via the radio. Those with i-pods and MP3 players may now rejoice.
The new Pilot is a great package. With more room, room HP, and improved gas mileage it's going to be a real winner. If you are like many who like to shop around and try everything before you buy I encourage you to come drive the new Pilot first. We drove the Pilot back to back with the Toyota Highlander and GMC Acadia. The Highlander gives you a very disconnected feel while driving. The Acadia was a big improvement for GM, but much of the interior feels flimsy. Parts had already began to break under the heavy use.
If you have any questions, please contact me (
Dale Adkins) or
Bubba Perry. We endured 8 hard hours on the road Monday to bring all this information back! :) Photo credits go to Bubba. We actually had planned to post a bunch of pics, but the memory card didn't make the trip! Thank goodness for limited internal memory.
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