Honda Pilot test drive since 2009 SUV

Honda Pilot Higher Pilotage

Actually, Honda Pilot, the largest SUV from Honda, was originally intended only for the American market. But the model turned out to be so successful that Honda dealers gradually began to sell it in other markets, including in the open spaces of the former CIS. Now this car can be bought from us - with an annual dealer guarantee.

Honda Pilot was presented in January 2001 at a Detroit car dealership. Created on the same platform with the debuting year earlier SUV Acura MDX, it was the largest SUV in the history of the brand. Unless, of course, not to consider licensed models created on the basis of well -known Isuzu Rodeo and Trooper. But they were completely professionals and universal all-terrain vehicles, but in the fashionable and rapidly developing class of SUVs, Honda had nothing larger and more powerful than the CR-V model. That is, there was nothing to answer the machinations of competitors, and there was no one to punish the BMW X5. Also, by the way, produced on the other side of the ocean. But having its own quite successful, a platform from the Acura MDX model (which, in turn, borrowed it from Minivan), Honda simply could not back down from the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a luxurious luxury SUV. BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz Ml, Lin-Coln Aviator-all these models were in good demand, and the donor himself, Acura MDX, fully met the expectations of its creators. And knowing about the authority of the Honda for the ocean, where cars with stylized H on the hood constantly occupy first places in the list of sales, it is difficult to assume that it could prevent the Japanese manufacturer from bringing a new SUV to the market.

So, Honda Pilot, 2001 model year. The model is equipped with only a 3.5-liter V6, which is combined only with a 5-speed automatic. A massive pilot is structurally identical to most classmates. It has completely independent pendants of all wheels, disk brakes on all wheels and automatically connected all -wheel drive. Under normal conditions, Honda Pilot is an ordinary front -wheel drive car, and it is to the front axle that is transmitted to the entire torque from the engine. The rear axle is automatically connected only in the case of the front slipping: then the torque begins to swim between the axes, determining which one has a larger grip coefficient with the road surface. For more severe traffic modes, a temporary blocking of the distribution of torque is provided in a ratio of 50/50. The last function is activated by the button on the panel. Having blocked the coupling, you can increase the cross -country ability, especially on viscous soils. Although for Off Road no one was particularly prepared: it has neither a reduced transmission, nor an off -road electronic system responsible for the distribution of torque between the wheels of the same axis. There is not even a fashionable assistance system for descent from the mountain, which is now installed on many SUV.

And what's outside? In general, not bad, but somehow without imagination, without chic and luxury. Nevertheless, a car worth about forty thousand dollars should look like their own money, because it is not bought last due to the prestige of the model. But the pilot looks a maximum of half the cost, except that decent external dimensions slightly increase its renoma. In some ways, he looks like CR-V, somewhere in general to American models, and at the back is completely frankly rustic. It seems that Honda Pilot made his debut not in 2001, but in the last years of the last century, when there were no competitors and there was nothing to be equal. Against the background of the BMW X5, which will be older than the pilot, the Honda SUV looks three times cheaper - both in terms of assembly and the aesthetics of appearance. Any of the competitors, especially the Nissan Murano or Infiniti FX45, generally seem aliens from another world, although they are about the same with Honda Pilot.

Inside, the situation is better, but for forty thousand dollars still does not pull. There is neither a gloss of the X-Fifth, nor the avant-garde of the Nissan Murano, although it is on the design that all the attractiveness of most models of this class rests. Everything is somehow very conservative: the usual, not the most expensive plastic, the stunning poker of the automatic transmission selector, large, large keys. Apparently, the American market loves Honda not for design at all ...

According to the ergonomics, Honda Pilot is generally almost nothing like SUV: the landing is comfortable, reclining, almost like in a car. From an off -road arsenal - only a button for blocking the WISKOFTA. The rest is a pure American. The cup holders, of course, are in unlimited quantities, as well as various glove compartment and pockets for storing luggage. The range of adjustments of the steering column and a driver's seat is designed for a well-fed American housewife, it was even somehow too spacious with my average growth behind the wheel. The sightseeing is very specific, since the front edge of the hood becomes visible only with a strong slope forward, but the back is controlled perfectly - thanks to large mirrors. And if outside the pilot somehow does not affect the dimensions, then inside, from the place of the driver, it seems simply huge, and in all directions. Unlucky will not be lucky who will push this car in traffic jams.

As expected by the American SUV, the pilot is produced in the seven -seater version - with additional chairs in the luggage compartment. Family models are very popular in the market there, so almost all SUVs, the benefit of the size allows, have additional chairs. It is convenient or not - this is far from the first question, the main thing is to be. Additional Honda Pilot passengers will have few reasons for complaints on the road: there seems to be quite enough for quite comfortable accommodation, especially when it comes to children or adolescents. In the rear seats, by the way, there are both their cup holders and seat belts with pretensors. The only claim to additional chairs is inconvenient access through the rear side door. In order to facilitate the landing on the rear seats, the designers made the side chairs of the middle row with shifting - they drive a little forward if they pull for a special lever. I thought that with the help of the same lever, the middle sofa could be adjusted in the longitudinal direction or at least along the corner of the back of the back, but this is not so. A strange savings - to come up with a whole mechanism responsible for the slope and departure of the middle chair forward to facilitate landing, but not equip it with adjustments.

In general, the interior of the SUV is more striking in size than the quality of the assembly or the appearance of the materials used in its decoration. And to be honest, the pilot was a little surprised the quality of assembly - he does not make an impression on forty pieces. VW Touareg, which even with a 3.2-liter engine and a six-speed automatic costs a little cheaper than the pilot, the interior is much more luxurious, not to mention the bimmer. In some ways, this car resembles Mercedes-Benz ML of the first years of release-they also saved on many details of the interior there. In general, everything is somehow completely pronounced. There are frank blunders. On the steering wheel, for example, leather upholstery protrudes a little above the plastic part, and in the place of their compounds, incomprehensible inconsistencies are formed. And the plastic itself, to be honest, surprised: it would be normal to find in some Kia Rio, but not in Honda for forty thousand dollars. Apparently, Honda for America and Honda for Europe are slightly different things.

This applies not only to interior decoration, but also in the running qualities of the car. In fact, with completely independent pendants and a powerful V6 under the hood, the car should drive at least no worse than a universal SUV with a dependent rear suspension. It turned out to be different with Honda: the car does not make a particularly smooth move, and it will not steer like BMW X5. The frequent mention of this model is not considered for hidden advertising: X-fifth is considered the best in its class in the chassis settings, and almost all competitors are guided by BMW when creating their SUV. But Honda, apparently, decided to go the other way. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that a 3.5-liter SUV is completely devoid of any drive. The car is powerful, it seems to accelerate good, but I don’t want to crush the full program or at least just quickly traveling on it. And the engine at high speeds works too loudly (sound - terrible!), And the automatic transmission switches not as gently as we would like. Here, for Tuareg, despite the significantly larger road clearance and a lower engine, the engine of the engine-CPP works much better. And softer, and more predictable, and quieter. The pilot in the cabin is quiet only when the engine operates at low speeds. With an increase in these, at least to the level of 3000-4000 rpm, an annoying noise begins to penetrate into the salon. Not a rumble, like Bimmer’s, and not a roar, like a Mers, but really a noise. As if under the hood is not a V6, but a four small volume, which catastrophically lacks power. Although with power, especially with a torque, the 3.5-liter engine has a complete order. At medium and low speeds, he confidently disperses the car, and at higher - he just shoots like a good athletan. Acceleration to hundreds - 8.2 seconds! And this is with a machine gun.

On the Belarusian roads, Honda Pilot seemed not entirely comfortable: it seems to go smoothly, but it is constantly swaying from side to side. Either a huge, by the standards of the SUVs, road clearance of this is guilty, or I just drove too much on good cars. The vibrations of the unsubstantiated masses are still too noticeable - huge wheels with high -profile tires on each decent fossa are given to the body with vibration. True, on a dirt road, these same wheels significantly increase the smoothness of the course: many potholes simply do not notice (R16 is installed in the database, and 17 -inch rinks with dimension caps 235/65 are installed on order).

Interestingly, depending on the driving style, the driver's attitude to the settings of pendants and the steering of the pilot changes. If you go slowly and smoothly, as almost all of America drives, then all Honda Pilot passengers will be simply amazed at the level of comfort. The motor is almost inaudible, the programs switch very softly, and the car only sways on irregularities, lulling its riders. This, apparently, is a cruising mode of movement. I got out at this pace out of town, accelerated to the permitted 90 km/h, turned on the cruise control - and follow the destination. Periodically adjusting the waves in the receiver and sipping Coca-Cola. And here Pilot is really out of competition. If someone likes just such, truly American cars, then you will have to choose only between Honda Pilot and Nissan Murano, which is even more comfortable and smooth on the go. But Murano is now in fashion, therefore it is more expensive and is more expensive.

But if you do not intend to swim along the highway, but prefer a more active driving style, it is better to pay attention to other models designed for the European market. The fact is that even real Americans, officially proposed in Europe, differ in the settings of pendants from their brothers selling the ocean. They are slightly tougher, but more collected and better controlled at high speed-after all, there is a high probability that some burgger will squeeze the maximum speed from it on the autobahn. And since Honda Pilot is not officially sold in Europe, no one tried to instill in her correct behavior manners at high speed or in corners. That is why, apparently, I did not like the taxiing: in high -speed turns, these two tons of iron behave a little nervous, and the pilot takes too much space on the road. Or does it just think so from the driver's seat?

We traveled a little and off -road. But how - after all, an SUV, even a parquet. True, I did not want to climb into the mud or stones: after all, forty thousand. And this, perhaps, is the only case where Pilot really reminded of his value. They started with a primer: flew a couple of times in a broken area. The suspension did not break through, although it sweded the car thoroughly. Then they tried to move out on a more bumpy road, i.e. In the rut, where only trucks go. And it is good that this dive was knocked out in a soft sand, and not dried up a black -eyed, because as soon as we ended up on this road, like a car scrape for the bottom. Moreover, the first impact was taken by a flimsy plastic skirt under the front bumper - apparently, it will be credited to the dealers in the expenses category. It’s good that there were no stones on this site: to damage this skirt and other details under the bottom were more than real. How is patency? Let's say right away - I did not have to turn on the vihskota blocking, I got out of all Pilot traps independently. Moreover, thanks to the excellent traction of a 3.5-liter motor, the release from sand captivity occurred very quickly and without any difficulty. So if you have a shaky soil, but without pitfalls, you can safely overcome it on Honda Pilot - as a last resort, activation of blocking will help.

It is interesting that for diagonal hanging, mortal for most SUVs, Honda Pilot demanded a rather impressive hill - soft long -term ones did not want to tear off the wheel from the ground. I had to take a certain risk: the race to the mound, on which it was still possible to make a diagonalist, could have real consequences in the form of a car coup. But it carried, and Pilot easily jumped onto the obstacle and finally hung the rear wheel. Again, the car jumped up to this obstacle without blocking the central differential, which once again confirms - everything is in order with the cross -country ability. But with the protection of units and nodes located below, there are certain problems. If the pilot is such an excellent climbing, and indeed it feels very confident on off -road, he just needs steel protection from below - both under the engine and under the transmission. And then our diagonalka almost became the last vivid impression in the life of a skirt under the bumper - she very much clung to the sand, obviously intending to stay here forever. But slowly, with the help of observers, we managed to get off with obstacles without consequences. But still Honda Pilot is a good SUV!

This, of course, is strange: a car created for asphalt, most confidently feels on average off -road. Although you need to pay tribute - Honda Pilot is also sharpened well under the asphalt. The overall level is for the four with a plus. That's just the presence of a whole flock of direct competitors makes this car not the most competitive, since there are models on the market and fresher, and younger, and more vicious.

A source: Autogazet / N 28 (420) dated 12.08.03