Doing a complete lube service on a 2012 Honda Pilot Touring this week, and I have to wonder: why would anyone buy this thing? Most vehicles I have a particular dislike of, it's because of cosmetic/ergonomic/driving dynamics, but this Pilot is dead backward - I don't mind the handling related to every day, smooth-surface driving, the driver's vantage point over the car is better than a lot I've driven, and the interior (aside from the mass of buttons) is decent, but on this vehicle I hate the mechanical side of it.
Firstly, MPG rating of 17/23 for the 2WD model, 22 HWY for the 4x4 - so many bigger vehicles with more gonads that get as good or better mileage. If I'm going to drive something that gets that mileage it needs to be a sports car (fast and fun) or a truck-based vehicle!
The 3.5 is smooth enough, but it's clearly just big enough to move this hulk along at an acceptable rate for the present-day consumer. As much a to-do as all the auto reviewers make of NVH, how can they justify it being so obvious when VCM kicks in? And that system has its drawbacks, too, requiring special motor mounts that don't last and are expensive to replace, and internal issues on the rear bank. And all to get the same mileage as a Chevy truck with a 5.3?! Give it another liter of displacement or ditch the cylinder deactivation and turbocharge that sucker. A vehicle of this size and class that drops 2 gears and gains 1,000 RPM on any substantial hill, with the only "cargo" being two people and 60? pounds of stuff strewn around the car, seems sub-standard.
The transmission: it feels alright, but severe service fluid change interval of 30K seems toward the short end of the spectrum for a modern vehicle and, apparently, if you want to keep it in one piece you can't go too far past that 30K even in easy driving. Okay, the ease of the drain/fill is nice, but I'd much rather do a pan/filter drop every 50K than have to mess with three consecutive drain-and-fills that often.
Transfer case and rear end are supposed to be changed just about as often, too, and the rear diff. takes a fluid Honda keeps close to the vest. Why put up with this lubrication regimen when a K1500 Suburban needs normal oil(s) in the gearboxes every 100K, and will still survive in most cases if even that is ignored?
As I said, on-road handling isn't particularly undesirable, but once you get to a curvy, narrow road or a well-worn gravel road it corners about like there's mild frozen slush on the road and overcomes large bumps like a tractor with a substantial amount on the front-end loader.
I've only driven it about 60 miles and haven't actually maintained it for tens of thousand of miles... but from no more experience than I have with it I've never felt so compelled to write about my dislike of a vehicle so strongly!
Firstly, MPG rating of 17/23 for the 2WD model, 22 HWY for the 4x4 - so many bigger vehicles with more gonads that get as good or better mileage. If I'm going to drive something that gets that mileage it needs to be a sports car (fast and fun) or a truck-based vehicle!
The 3.5 is smooth enough, but it's clearly just big enough to move this hulk along at an acceptable rate for the present-day consumer. As much a to-do as all the auto reviewers make of NVH, how can they justify it being so obvious when VCM kicks in? And that system has its drawbacks, too, requiring special motor mounts that don't last and are expensive to replace, and internal issues on the rear bank. And all to get the same mileage as a Chevy truck with a 5.3?! Give it another liter of displacement or ditch the cylinder deactivation and turbocharge that sucker. A vehicle of this size and class that drops 2 gears and gains 1,000 RPM on any substantial hill, with the only "cargo" being two people and 60? pounds of stuff strewn around the car, seems sub-standard.
The transmission: it feels alright, but severe service fluid change interval of 30K seems toward the short end of the spectrum for a modern vehicle and, apparently, if you want to keep it in one piece you can't go too far past that 30K even in easy driving. Okay, the ease of the drain/fill is nice, but I'd much rather do a pan/filter drop every 50K than have to mess with three consecutive drain-and-fills that often.
Transfer case and rear end are supposed to be changed just about as often, too, and the rear diff. takes a fluid Honda keeps close to the vest. Why put up with this lubrication regimen when a K1500 Suburban needs normal oil(s) in the gearboxes every 100K, and will still survive in most cases if even that is ignored?
As I said, on-road handling isn't particularly undesirable, but once you get to a curvy, narrow road or a well-worn gravel road it corners about like there's mild frozen slush on the road and overcomes large bumps like a tractor with a substantial amount on the front-end loader.
I've only driven it about 60 miles and haven't actually maintained it for tens of thousand of miles... but from no more experience than I have with it I've never felt so compelled to write about my dislike of a vehicle so strongly!
