In case you missed my ode to our 2013 Honda Pilot that started a love affair, you can read it here. Also, let me start by saying that although I’m a big fan of both of our Honda Pilots, the opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by any company. But because I love our SUV so much, and I think it’s an awesome family car, I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

So let’s get down to business!

Our 2013 Pilot was the first Honda either Stefan or I have ever owned. I never thought we would enjoy it as much as we have. We lease our cars and had been discussing getting a new Pilot at the end of the year (2015). In fact, I had kind of been looking forward to getting a new Pilot…until I saw the first pictures of the 2016 Pilot. It was so different than the previous models, and I was more than a bit skeptical and apprehensive about liking it.

First Impressions

At first glance, it looked too sleek and seemed smaller. We are a single-car family by choice, and honestly, there’s no real reason we would need a second car since we go most places together anyway. (Hubby and I own a company together and are practically Siamese twins in case you aren’t familiar with our full life story yet. :)) Plus we wouldn’t even have a place to park a second car at our condo. But I digress.

Although our  lease wasn’t up, we were at the dealership and stopped in to have an oil change and car checkup. As we pulled up, we noticed there was a new brand 2016 Pilot standing outside…and with an hour or so to kill, I was excited to go take a closer look. This was almost a year ago exactly and Honda had just released the Pilot. Seeing it in person, I realized it looked better than I’d thought in the pictures. 

As fate would have it, the lady who sold us our first Pilot, Dalia, was back on the sales floor after a long leave of absence.  We took our first test drive and were hooked. We told her to give us a call when they started promotions on them. And a few days later, we got a phone call…

In the end, after Stefan did some shrewd negotiating, we were driving home with a new 2016 Pilot. And now that we’ve been driving it a for a year and just came back from a good road trip (5 hours to Key West), I’m sharing a full review with you.

We were totally blown away with the Pilot within the first few days. But what really surprised us is that it’s SO much better than the 2013 Pilot — and really becoming more of a luxury SUV with great safety features but still a reasonable price tag.

Warning: If you have a Pilot and love it, you may go wild over the newer Pilots. I am a bit surprised that they don’t seem to have caught on well, though. 

16 Things I Love About The New 2016 Honda Pilot

1. Side-View Camera – This is by far one of the most awesome new features. This camera can be turned on and off with the flick of a button by the blinkers, and turns itself on and off when you use your right-turn blinker. It’s perfect for spotting a bicycle or pedestrian who is about to dart past you when you’re turning…and I truly wish they had one for the left side too!
   
2. Back up camera – The 2013 Pilot had a backup camera too, but this one now has multiple views. The guides used for backing up are greatly improved as well. One of the cameras allows for a bird’s eye view toward the ground, in case you’re near a pole or need to see directly below where your trunk will be, which is pretty cool.  As much as I love the cameras and the vision they provide (and I still look with my own eyes too and in the mirrors), I do still wish there was a distance sensor as well that would beep when you get too close to things. We used to have that in the BMW and it was a nice touch that would make backing up even safer in case something is below your vision line.
3. Keyless Entry & Start – We’ve had push-button remote key lock opening features for quite a while on our cars….but the 2016 Pilot offers something even better. You can approach your car and it will unlock itself, as long as you have your key in your pocket or purse. It is AWESOME!  As is push button start. We can also turn the Pilot on remotely, but so far we’ve mostly only done it for effect. It might not be the worst idea to try right now in the summer when it’s 110 degrees inside the car when we go outside during the day.
4. Side Air Bags in All Three Rows – After having been in our own gnarly car accident, we always are critical of the safety features. Hopefully you never need to use them, but it’s crucial to have good air bags
5. COLD Air Conditioning – It’s summer in SWFL right now and it’s well over 95 every day, and touching 100 in the sun. Plus humidity is 85+%. You start sweating the moment you walk out the door. When we cranked up the new Pilot, the air was immediately chilly — and it had been sitting facing the sun all morning. Our old Pilot sometimes struggled to keep up with the Florida heat. But apparently they’ve made some major A/C upgrades in this new version. It’s absolutely fantastic.
6. More Passenger Seat Leg Room – Sometimes we really load up with luggage, especially when we’re traveling with the dog or have a bunch of people loaded in the car. With a small bag under your feet, even a person with long legs (I’m 5’10”) can sit comfortably for 2-3 hours at a time or longer. The back seats are also comfortable and room, even in the third row
   
7. Individual Armrests in Front – The front seats are bucket seats with their own armrests. The driver seat armrest allows you to set the height at lots of different positions, which is super practical when you’re driving any distance at all. I like mine all the way down, but Stefan tends to change his throughout the day.
8. THREE USB plugs – With our smartphones becoming more and more integrated into our lives, it becomes more necessary to keep them charged. We also use ours as our navigation system, which sucks down a lot of battery power.  The center console where you’ll find space and chargers galore also features a brilliant little tray with cable holes for you to hide your phone in while it charges next to you.
9. Better Folding Backseats  – The push button back seats are very practical and it’s super easy to pop up the third row of seats within seconds. It’s best to put the kids and limber folks back there for easiest access.
10. New Command Center & Touch-Screen Display – The system is fairly responsive and I like the audio interface for the most part. When it works, the Pandora connection is cool and I love that you can do a thumbs up right on the touch screen. I wish for a better Bluetooth interface next time and quicker access to change between phones. We love streaming music from both of our phones. But getting a connection to a different phone once you’re in the car takes a few screens to achieve.
11. Super Clear, Improved Driver Displays – The new driver displays feature light blue colors and are much easier on the eyes at night and during the day.
    
12. More Spacious, Cleaner, More Elegant Interior – The 2013 Pilot was a great functional car —  but it wasn’t very pretty or luxurious. The 2016 Pilot is a bit step up inside and out, creating a much higher class SUV overall.
13. Better Gas Mileage – We were already rather ecstatic about the favorable gas mileage of the 2013 Pilot. But this Pilot puts it to shame. We get almost 400 miles from each tank of gas, even in stop and go traffic while on our daily errands. We filled up on our way out of Key West (270 miles), drove home and then drove around town for almost a week before needing to fill up again. Super fuel efficient, especially compared to other SUVs we’ve driven!
14. Better Braking & Driving Feeling – The previous Pilot had some issues in the rain when it came to braking and accelerating. In fact, it was downright scary at times so we were always extra careful during a downpour. I think the combination of improved suspension and braking along with better tires has made a huge difference that keeps us glued to the pavement almost every time.
15. Sexy New Colors – We had just a plain Jane white 2013 Pilot, and in a place like South Florida, you’re very thankful for light colored cars. This time, though, we went “crazy” and are back to silver, which has been our standard car for almost every car we’ve owned together in the last 16 years! They do have some beutiful colors, thogh, like dark blue, maroon and a nice pearl white as well.
16. Reasonable Price! – When we first started shopping for an SUV, there was really no comparison when it came to price. And actuallz for us, there is no comparison when it comes to cars either. The Ford Flex was enormous, the Explorer not roomy enough, Toyota has a few nice offerings but way outside of the price range as well. For our family of 3 plus ginormous dog, there is no other better option that doesn’t get overwhelming (like a minivan which was our second most liked option.)
17. Awesome Storage – Oh yeah, did I mention the hauling capacity inside the Pilot is incredible?
    

So there you have it…16+1 reasons why I think our 2016 Honda Pilot is totally awesome and why I recommend it (or a 2013 Pilot if you like used) for your next car.

Have you ever driven a Pilot or know someone who has? What do you think of them?