2007 Honda Pilot EX from North America - Comments

None-car is new.

What I was impressed with most about this SUV is how solid it feels, the doors shut with a nice thud, the interior seems really well put together with almost no hard plastic. The ride is very smooth, which might be bad if this was supposed to be a heavy duty truck-based vehicle, but it's not.

The GPS is great (I mean that, it's a very simple well designed system), although if you turn the headlights on, the screen gets very dark which is nice, unless you like to use your headlights in the daytime. Voice activation is nice, but the backup camera is kind of a gimmick, it's nearly impossible to tell how far you are from objects behind you.

Nice comfortable leather seats, the warmers are a definite plus here in the Pacific northwest. Speaking of seating, a nice feature the Pilot has is a single fold-down 3rd row seat (a design similar to the H2), which is great on the occasional occurrence that you have to take more than 5 passengers.

There are some problems however.

The transmission: Honda should be ashamed for still using a 4 speed transmission in a $35000 SUV. It shifts smooth, but seems to constantly shifting, I would expect the transmissions are probably problematic in these things, and I don't really know if there's a way to prevent it besides maybe using D3 except on the highway.

The engine: I've never been a fan of putting small high-revving car engines in SUV and now I know why, the engine seems under matched for pulling around this fairly large vehicle. If you actually want to go anywhere and not hold up everybody behind you it seems necessary to rev the engine quite a bit just to get moving! It doesn't feel fast at all.

Supposedly the Pilot is an 'ULEV'-Ultra Low Emmissions Vehicle, but I don't know how that's possible considering the EPA ratings are 18/24-about the same as a Buick Enclave which has 30 more horsepower. As far as I know the Enclave isn't an 'ULEV'.

I believe your Pilot has a five speed. Pilot is also a 2003 era vehicle and when the 2009 comes out you'll be surprised at how it has changed.

The Buick Enclave is just a nicer vehicle than the Honda Pilot, no matter what age you are. The Honda Pilot is barely an SUV, and I can't believe they have the audacity to charge $35,000 for one of these things! That's about $10,000 overpriced.

Well, to be fair, the Pilot is just a utilitarian soccer mom grocery-getter, and shouldn't be compared to real utility vehicles made by Jeep, Nissan, or GM.

To 12:59:

The 2007 Pilot my review was about has a 4 speed automatic transmission, unless the shift indicator missed the fifth gear. There's D, D3, 2 and L.

I drove a Honda with a five speed auto and it did not have an indicator for D4.

10:36

Now that I actually looked it up, you're right, it does have a 5 speed, my mistake. I'm also discovering a few other things that Honda overlooked in this car, mainly being the interior may not have been as well made as I thought. The other day I noticed that the crack between the top of the glove box lid and the rest of the dash was about half an inch on one side, and almost none on the other. I opened and closed it again, but it's the same. Not a big deal, but I hope there aren't any other mistakes that I haven't noticed.

I have a 2007 Honda Pilot and my gas mileage in town is just awful - 13.5 at best...

It is overpriced..

The interior scratches easily (the plastic) nothing like my Tahoe - no comparison..

I really thought (from all I read) that I would get much better in town driving... Would never buy another Honda... If I had known I would have purchased something larger!!!

Our 2007 Pilot is a big disappointment. It is our first Honda vehicle and LAST.

Poor poor mileage (highway and town, 11 on highway, so you can imagine town mpg).

Road noise is overwhelming and headlights poor. I have complained to the dealership, their response this is the way it is and normal.

Overall my wife and I are disappointed as this was a 44K vehicle. Based on our experience, GM and Ford as all other manufactures have nothing to worry about, because if this Pilot is a sample of Honda's best, they will soon remove themselves from the car market, and for sure from the SUV market. I definitely would NOT buy another or recommend.