2005 Honda Pilot Review

The Honda Pilot gets a new engine for 2005, giving it a significant boost in power, along with other revisions that improve this sport-utility.

The Pilot is the Honda of SUVs, practical, efficient, reliable, and powerful. That last one is aided by an all-new 255-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 paired with a five-speed automatic transmission and an advanced four-wheel-drive system. The Pilot drives more like a car than a truck, with the crisp, predictable handling for which Honda is known. Yet it delivers impressive fuel economy. As a Honda, it offers quality, durability and reliability.

Capable of seating up to eight passengers, the Pilot is not a small vehicle. It's larger overall than a Toyota Highlander and Nissan Murano it's wider than a Ford Explorer, and it offers more cargo space.

The 2005 model year also brings enhanced safety in the form of a tire pressure monitor, electronic stability control, revised steering and an upgraded air bag system.

The Pilot gracefully borrows key styling cues from Honda's smaller CR-V. The grille and headlights are a careful enlargement of the CR-V's fluid wraparound face.

The wheel arches are aggressive enough to offset any impression that this is a toy truck, but subtle enough to be consistent with the Pilot's likely hangouts in upscale neighborhoods and suburban mall parking lots. Large Honda badges on the grille and liftgate make it clear that the company is proud of the Pilot, and expects customers to feel the same way.

Honda has limited the amount of matte-black plastic bodywork that seems to be increasingly popular on sport-utilities, and we appreciate that. Body-colored moldings give the Pilot EX a more refined, upscale look. The Pilot's only nod to this allegedly rugged SUVness is the step on the rear bumper (a good thing) and rubberized plastic guards under both bumpers. Roof rails are standard on the EX, but if you want the crossbars that actually turn them into a true cargo rack, you'll have to get them as an accessory from your dealer.