2023 Honda Pilot Elite Tested: Birds of a Feather Fly Together

It seems like every mainstream SUV now offers a rugged-looking off-road variant. With its redesigned 2023 Pilot, Honda beefed up the TrailSport trim, giving this version of the three-row crossover additional equipment to enhance its off-pavement capabilities. But what if you’re not tackling trails? What if you’re just shuttling kids around, hauling cargo, and taking road trips? Then you might choose the Honda Pilot Elite. We tested that model to see how the normcore version differs from its tough-guy sibling.

What we found is that it doesn’t—at least not by much. And that’s kind of surprising. Typically, we see that a mainstream model will beat the off-road specialist in several key areas, owing to more pavement-oriented tires and a more street-friendly suspension. We’d expect lower noise, better fuel economy, more cornering grip, and possibly a shorter braking distance. We saw some of these trends with the Ford Explorer Timberline and the Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek as compared with their mainstream counterparts. But—with one major exception—results for the Pilot TrailSport were not surpassed by those of the Pilot Elite.

All Pilots use a 3.5-liter V-6, which is heavily revised this year—switching from a single-overhead-cam setup to dual overhead cams—but sees only a token 5-hp increase to 285 horsepower. The naturally aspirated engine’s peak 262 lb-ft of torque arrives at 5000 rpm, so you need to rev this V-6 harder than most turbocharged engines. The Elite was 0.3 ticks behind the TrailSport in both the sprint to 60 mph (7.2 seconds) and the quarter-mile (15.7 seconds at 90 mph), and the Elite also ran 0.2 behind its brawnier sibling in the 50-to-70-mph passing acceleration test. Moreover, all of these results are toward the back of the class when looking at rival three-rows.

This powertrain may not be an acceleration champ, but it need not make any apologies for its drivability, with silky tip-in. The smooth-shifting transmission doesn’t hesitate to shuffle through the 10 available forward ratios, keeping the engine from lugging up hills.

All-wheel drive is standard on the Elite, as it is on the TrailSport (all other trims come standard with front-wheel drive). According to the EPA, the Pilot Elite’s 19-mpg city rating is 1 mpg better than the TrailSport’s, and the 25-mpg highway estimate is 2 mpg better than the more off-road-oriented model. We found the difference to be greater in our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, however, where the Pilot Elite returned 27 mpg to the TrailSport’s 22 mpg.

That’s about where the Elite superiority ended, though. It recorded the same, somewhat disappointing 189-foot stop from 70 mph, and it held no advantage on the skidpad, with a 0.84-g result lagging the TrailSport’s 0.85 g. Granted, that cornering grip is good for this segment, as the all-wheel-drive Pilot’s rear axle can apportion torque from side to side to aid agility. Too bad the numb, overboosted steering provides no incentive to explore that capability and also has little sense of on-center when you’re cruising down the highway.

In such a scenario, you might engage Honda’s standard lane-keeping assist, which works well, even if it’s twitchier than a smooth human driver would be. The system does require a hand on the wheel but can be used independently of the adaptive cruise control. Adding to the road-trip bliss, the suspension does an excellent job of sopping up broken pavement, transmitting with minimal disturbance to the cabin, and yet ride motions are well controlled.

Whereas the TrailSport dials up the ride height by 1.0 inch for extra ground clearance, other Pilots are slightly easier to climb into. All have easy access to the standard third row, as one push button scoots and tilts the second-row seat out of the way for access to the rearmost bench. Climb back there, and you discover it’s roomy enough for an average-size adult, provided the middle row isn’t set all the way back. It likely won’t be, since the second row is very spacious and also features a flat floor.

Though the 2023 Pilot is nearly four inches longer than its predecessor, it’s still far from the biggest in its competitive set, and it certainly does not feel as massive from behind the wheel as, say, the Volkswagen Atlas or the Chevrolet Traverse. The pillars haven’t become super beefy, and the Pilot affords its pilot a decent view out. There’s also a multiview camera system that’s exclusive to the Elite and the TrailSport.

The new model’s extra length pays dividends in cargo space—we fit six carry-on-bag-sized boxes behind the third row. There’s also a fairly large bay under the floor, big enough to stow the removable center section of the second-row bench. (Some Pilots, with second-row captain’s chairs, have a smaller underfloor bay.)

The driver enjoys a fairly straightforward interface, outside of the push-button shifting (which Honda has abandoned in the latest Accord), and we appreciate the physical climate controls. The 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the upper trims has wireless phone mirroring, although in our experience, Android Auto wouldn’t always pair wirelessly. The head-up display is an Elite exclusive, as is the screen-based instrument cluster.

Console stowage is fairly typical, though it’s supplemented by a shelf in front of the front-seat passenger. The $53,755 Elite is the very fanciest Pilot, and our test vehicle had no-cost two-tone brown and black leather. The design and materials are pleasant enough, but there’s nothing here to worry the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy.

So, it turns out that either Honda Pilot variant delivers much the same experience. The pavement-focused version has a material advantage in fuel economy over the off-road model, but that’s about the extent of it. Choose your flight path accordingly.