2003 Honda Pilot

Honda Moves Full Time Into The SUV Market

By Bob Storck

PRICE RANGE: $26,900 - $34,000
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CONFIGURATION: Engine - 3.5 liter, 240 hp V6; Front Engine/Four-Wheel Drive

FUEL ECONOMY (city/hwy): 17/22 MPG

SAFETY FEATURES: Driver, passenger and side airbags. ABS is standard.

IMPRESSION: You could be sure that anything Honda done is done well - Pilot avoids most of the clumsiness of truck based utilities, but keeps the important capabilities

(Ashville, NC) Ten years ago Honda did not sell trucks. In fact, they only had products based on either the Accord or the Civic. Yet they had placed both those models in the top five selling US passenger cars, and the Accord was often #1. They gave us a Japanese platform based small Odyssey minivan and borrowed a couple utility trucks from Isuzu to keep Honda and Acura dealers and faithful customers happy. But all the time, they were busy discerning what Americans really wanted.

We're a hard group to pin down. Often we think we want something like a tough truck with lots of capability and then get disappointed with its clumsiness when we live with it for a while. This underlines the history of the SUV in the US. After ten years of trucks, buyers seem to have quietly decided that they really want station wagons and minivans that look like trucks.

"Yeah, keep them tall and tough looking, and give us all wheel drive, but make them easy to get into and let's have lots of wood, leather and gadgets," seems to be the market mantra.

Honda first gave us the CR-V small utility and it satisfied all those roles, and it has become the class of the small ute market. The Pilot is Honda's first entry into the compact SUV market. They have learned their lessons well.

According to Honda's Frank Paluch, "We need an adventurous image but still want safety and a good road feel. We don't want bad fuel economy and any clumsy aspects. The goal is family adventure with a Yosemite image. We want to put Sport uppermost in Sport Utility."

If you're looking for styling excellence, Honda is not the place to go. Their styling is identifiable, but safe. Even bland. They claim to have used a Pelican utility case as the model for the outside while the interior used the theme of a backpack for padding and function. Not the usual expansive words we usually get, but highly responsive to what the public is really looking for. Imagine a big CR-V.