Any 100 series owner also have the new Honda Pilot ?

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Jun 22, 2022
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Like to add another vehicle in additional to my 02 LC … if any of you own both would you share your owner experiences?
My LC supposed to be my spare vehicle, however I ended up driving her more than my Honda Civic. Both are getting up into the 200k mileage. Instead of getting a new Civic may be the new Pilot. Thank you!
 
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probably belongs in general chat if you want honda impressions
 
Not a direct answer to your question, as I don't own a Pilot, but I did buy my wife a 2023 Pathfinder Rock Creek a couple of years ago. The pilot was on the list of possibilities, but we were looking for a 7-seater that was AWD and at least conceptually leaning toward the slightly-more-rugged-than-mall-crawler trim packages. All of this is just my own opinion and I know most people won't share it, so take it for whatever it's worth, which probably isn't much.

Short version: I absolutely hate it.

Long version: I really hate every newer vehicle I've driven recently. I hate the nannies [1]. I hate the driving experience [2]. I hate the general feel of basically any new vehicles [3]. I'm currently trying to talk her into letting me replace the Pathfinder with an older GX (or LX/LC, if I can find the right one).

1) The most annoying problem I ran into was the collision avoidance system. Sounds great in theory and in probably 95% of practical use. However, it's difficult to disable and made it nearly impossible to reverse the vehicle when using a hitch-mounted bike rack until I was able to figure out the right combination of hand waving and button pushing to successfully turn it off. The lane keep assist is also great in theory, until it decides the lane is somewhere it isn't and suddenly wants to move you. Multiple times the forward collision avoidance has slammed on the brakes at highway speeds because the car in front of me was exiting the highway (where a lane splits to continue forward or take an off-ramp). I have no idea why a vehicle exiting my lane in front of me causes that reaction, but it is something I've had to adapt to. Another thing I've had issues with being in the hot, humid south is battery life, and I absolutely hate that there's no way to permanently disable the auto stop/start feature, it has to be manually turned off every time you start the car. Recently had to teach my wife to use the battery jumper pack I keep in there when our less-than-3 year old battery died on her, and remind her to make sure she disables the auto stop-start or she'd be getting out to jump the car at every stop light. Another part of the system logic I just don't understand is that I can pull up somewhere and hold the brakes in Drive and it shuts the engine off. I put it in Park and it kicks the engine back on automatically.

2) General feel of the vehicle is just that it is incredibly bulky (this is all newer vehicles, though the Pathfinder is a bit worse than most). Externally, it's every bit as big as my LX, but feels cramped inside (relatively speaking). There's less ground clearance while being just as tall, so it seems like interior space should be larger, but it feels like the doors are about 12" thick (I'm sure this is increased crash structure), and the center console takes up (what feels like) over 20" between the front seats. There's just something about the proportions that mess with my perception enough that I have to consciously make adjustments to the vehicle position in a lane because I'm never where I think I am, and I don't have that issue driving any of my other vehicles ('17 subaru outback, '08 corvette). One other gripe about the car in general (specific to the Pathfinder) is that I have to undo the under-tray and wheel well liner from the passenger side wheel well to access the oil filter. I'm not terribly short at 5'9", but I still need a stool to access nearly anything in the engine bay due to the high belt line, yet the front bumper drags on ramps. It just feels uselessly large in all the wrong ways.

3) While the above issues were my experience with the Pathfinder, I noticed similar issues with every other mid-to-large size SUV that we drove. She liked basically all of them (except the hybrid CX-90, but that was just because the hybrid engagement made the driving experience weird... she loved the gas version). I'm sticking to older cars that I can actually wrench on, and with a manual transmission where available.
 
I've got a 2000 LX470 (and a 2007 TL-S 6mt) and my wife drives a 2021 Honda Pilot. Not the most recent body style but the 2nd to last year of a tried and tested platform. I've been a Honda/Acura fanboy for 20 years, so I may be a little biased.

Pros: Excellent on-road handling, great highway fuel economy, comically cavernous interior, solid tech without being too crazy, overall its an awesome road trip car.

Cons: Styling and the lane detection. Really, that's it.

We've put 20k miles on it in the last year with family road trips and it's been fantastic. The SOHC J series motors of the older pilots are good for 250k or better if you delete VCM. The newer DOHC motors in the latest gen are less proven but I'm sure over time they will prove to be just about as solid. We love our Pilot and how easy it is to drive, it has classic Honda firm but planted handling, a crisp transmission and smooth engine. The only issues are the fact that its pretty pedestrian looking and in my opinion, kinda ugly. That and the lane keep assist is overly aggressive and sometimes the optical-based collision mitigation braking system thinks that reflections in the road are oncoming cars and bleeps at you.

If you're looking for a solid, efficient family hauler, you really can't beat it.
 
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