anyone have one of these? looking at a used one, vs a used Toyota Highlander to replace one of our vehicles....

something in the 2004 thru 2006 range will fit our family needs..

pros/cons? fuel mileage... reliability?

thanks in advance...

My brother has one, a 2004 I think. They bought it used about 7-8 years ago. Very few if any problems. Theirs is 4X4, but primarily front wheel drive, rear wheels activate when in 4X4.

They gave it to their daughter to drive when she turned 16. She is a HS senior this year and they expect it to last through college for her.

Very roomy, similar to a Tahoe inside. Fuel mileage is probably a bit better than a Tahoe, but you don't get the towing capacity. He gets about 25 mpg hwy normally. If driven very carefully as much as 28 a couple of times.

I have a Honda Fit. We had warranty issues a couple of years ago on Friday before Labor Day weekend. It took several days to get parts because of the holiday and they gave me a Pilot to drive for nearly a week. I liked it enough to ask about trading for it when my Fit was repaired.

The one I drove was a top end version with all the bells and whistles. Just too much $$, but If I really needed the room would seriously consider one.

I also looked at a Pilot versus a Highlander earlier this year. Went with the Highlander, hands down.

The Honda is VERY popular in Utah because of the large families. My neighbor has one. Hondas are extremely reliable but they don't seem to have advanced much. The design is a little bit stale, inside and out. They also are a bit rattly on rough roads.

My wife had a 2006 and drove it for 8 years. We really liked it and just traded it for a 2014 Pilot. Can't go wrong IMO. Good gas mileage for a vehicle that size also. We had ZERO issues with it.

I have an 2006 2wd with 125,000. It has been the wife's kid hauler and our travel vehicle. I have hauled a light trailer 600 miles 1-way on vacations. It is a minivan in suv clothing, but I absolutely love the car. It is quick, reliable and we have had little issues. As the kids get older, the 2006 has a small back seat and we are thinking of looking bigger in the spring., but will spend a good deal of time looking at the newer body styles. We are getting 18/22 for mileage. If I haul the trailer, I get 18-20 depending on speed. In the 6 years we have had the car, we have replaced the alternator. All other maintenance has been normal wear and tear (brakes, tires, belts, etc.). We have not used it as an off-road SUV and have not had the rattles and other noises noted above. Mu wife has had a 4-runner, minivan and sports car over the last 20 years. She continues to say that this is her absolute favorite vehicle.

A 2004 Tahoe with the common 5.3 is gonna get like 16 mpg. You're talking a considerable savings in gas with the Pilot if they'll do that good, 4x4 to 4x4.

I have a 2004 that I bought new, it is a great vehicle I like it better than the two Chevy Blazers that I've owned. The Pilot gets 20-22MPG on the highway and 16MPG around town. Put a set of Michelins on it and it rides like a dream, it only has 61K on it and I plan to keep it. As regards the Toyota Highlander, when I looked at Pilot vs. Highlander in '05, the Highlander cost $5K more than the Pilot. As much as I like Toyota vehicles, I could not see $5K more in the Highlander over the Pilot. I have owned 6 Honda vehicles so far, all have been well made dependable vehicles needing only routine maintenance.

My wife owns a 2006 Pilot that she initially leased for her business (interior design) and we bought it when the lease expired. Absolutely dead-nuts reliable. Now has 120,000 miles. Just put on a new set of Michelins. The previous set got 66,000 miles. It is strictly an on-road vehicle and I would prefer that it had AWD but for my wife's use it has been a lot like perfect. It will haul a surprising amount of goods with the seats folded down, it is safe, comfortable, and (did I mention?) ultra-reliable. She intends to drive it until the wheels fall off.

RS

My mom had a honda fit and it was terrible. Under powered and a suspension system that let you hate every bump.

Have had an 03, 06, and now an 09 Pilot. Just got the 09 Touring model and gave the 06 to our son. That one has 180k on it and zero problems with only routine normal maintenance. We love our Honda Pilot's, they are great in our weather here in Siskiyou County, Ca. Would highly suggest getting the Pilot, just make sure you don't get a 2 wheel drive model.

Excellent post. We also have a 2005 Honda pilot AWD 8 passenger vehicle. My wife likes it, but says she likes our 99 suburban better. The pilot gets 22 mpg on the highway and is roomy enough if you are hauling kids. Our suburban gets 20 mpg on the highway and has much more room. The pilot is also lacking in cargo room as compared to our suburban. However, the OP's choices were between the pilot and highlander. When we were looking and comparing, the pilot won out by a small margin, so we went with it instead of the highlander. It's a great vehicle and extremely reliable. I've heard the transmissions will start giving you fits after about 160,000 miles and ours is not an exception. There's definite transmission noise that we have been hearing for the last few months. When it gets real bad, I'll pull it and rebuild it myself as I did our Honda Accord. There's also a recall on the brake system for the Pilots in question (2004-2006). Hope that helps seafire. I'm sure you will make a sound decision..

Love to find a 2003-2005 3/4 ton suburban with 8.1 liter in ie 496 chevy man oh man talk about some serious horsepower but [bleep] gas mileage but hey life is short to worry about that.

had a friend just sell an 03 Suburban with some big monster gas guzzlin engine in it...250K on it....

Looked a bunch of Pilots recently... really like the vehicle, but for some reason, all one can seem to find is the EX-L Models...
Leather ETC.... Too much "Yuppie Crap" for my tastes....

I helped a woman load one over at Costco a few months ago, she has a huge flat cart full of stuff and had her 90 yr old mother with her in a walker, so Seafire Jr and I loaded her heavy stuff into a Pilot, that was pretty spartan inside... gather that was just the LX model, which you can't find... either they didn't sell many or the owners just aren't letting them go...

We decided to go with a Highlander, an 05 with 115K on it...got it for a pretty decent price...at my age, putting 20K a year on a rig, and how long Toyotas last.. I figure this thing will easily give us a 5 to 6 year service life....easily...

but I admit, I am going to keep my eyes open for a Pilot LX.. liked the several that I drove... minus the leather etc...with what I am going to use it for... that stuff would just get torn up...

Normally I'd not have bought the Fit. We were considering a CR-V, or Subaru at the time. My son bought the Fit new, within 6 months got his GF pregnant and got married. My wife and I gave him our old Ford Focus to cover his down payment, paid off the loan on the Fit and have been driving it since 2010. You're right, not the best suspension, and underpowered on hills. But it does fine for our uses, was cheap, perfectly reliable, and gets 40 mpg if driven at the speed limit.

I still have my truck which has plenty of power and comfort and we bought a used Jeep Wrangler with the money we saved to use as a toy instead of just having the truck and either a CR-V or Subaru.

Not our original plan, but it seems to have worked out well for everyone involved.

Back In 2010 late fall we were up on the haul road caribou hunting and here comes these guys in a honda truck forget what they are called and towing a trailer they were hunting. Haul road is big truck country. I know one thing they were probably getting better gas meage than the rest of us.:)

I'm saving up for a Avalanche beetches!

With a 2k pound rear mounted winch with three miles of cable.

An old 12 valve Dodge cummins probably gets just as good of mileage and tows better and I'm sure gets around better on old roads like that..

Diesel on the haul road is $5.35 a gal that was two yrs ago. With temps dropping below 0 at night in October I rather have a gasser. Most guys take portable generators for their diesels. Another one is a garbage can lid bag of kingsford charcoal. Anyhow one day when you grow up come on up I will take you on a adventure you will never forget.

Using these as a non heavy off roading machine, around town and forest service road use, is it worth going with the 4WD over the 2WD?

Doesn't seem like a "real" 4WD to me...and FWD will get me thru about what anything that mother nature would throw at ya around here....

worse than that, then one needs to be at home and off the hwys anyway....its the other guy/idiots who have no clue how to drive in bad weather that ya have to watch out for here in S. Oregon...

The 2WD version is supposed to get better MPG is why I ask..

Since you said you are considering the Highlander as well...
I owned a 2004 Highlander. Bought it new from the dealer. I would not recommend this year/model combination to anyone. They had a weird acceleration glitch that caused excess hesitation when you floored it under certain conditions. It was a known problem on the Toyota discussion forums but Toyota never recalled or fixed it. Not sure how many years it was a problem but I know it was an issue for the 2004 model.

We currently own a 2010 Toyota Tacoma and a 2012 Honda Pilot. Both vehicles have served us well. Good luck finding a clean well maintained Pilot.

Had a 2005 Pilot and it had ass to spare. Looked at a Highlander at the same time and the Honda was definitely the better deal, lotsa bells and whistles. But I'm still a Toyota fan hands down.

I drove both when we were looking and decided the Pilot handled better and supposedly got better fuel economy from the reviews I read. We were replacing an 08 Rav 4 at the time and my wife liked the rav 4 better than the pilot to be honest. The rav also got better fuel economy, but it was the 4cyl model and not the AWD. I'm a Toyota truck and Honda car kinda guy. Don't know about the Honda trucks, they just don't seem right. Seafire bought the Highlander and I'm sure he will really like it. It should also be very dependable.

Seafire:

We have a 2012 Honda Pilot. Its been a fine vehicle. However, we recently scored a really clean, loaded 2005 CRV (our 4th CRV, including the one my wife totaled). This 2005 CRV drives so nice, smooth and quite that I told my wife I see no reason to keep the Pilot. The Pilot prolly rides a little smoother and quieter because its alot heavier and of course its roomier than the CRV. But since the kids are all gone I noew question the wisdom of having the Pilot. The Pilot can tow 4500 lbs where as the CRV can only tow about a 1000, so the Pilot has a big advantage there. I am just so taken with this new/used CRV we may just sell our Pilot.

My .02 worth.

Jordan

Thanks for the new input guys...

The Highlander Deal is on hold right now... made a deal with the wife who owns the car, then 24 hours later, her husband suddenly throws in his 2 cents...and says the car is worth more than he wife said, and he has someone else willing to pay more for it.. so I told him then go ahead and give him priority....

he tells me if the car isn't sold by this Monday, then I can have it.....yeah, right, is my thoughts...

did find a Pilot I am interested in down near Sacramento ( 300 miles or so south of here.. )but decent price, 2006 model...
in a color I like.. most of the ones around here seem to be black, or that is what people are selling...

The 06 is 2 WD, which will mean better mileage than the AWD/4WD version.. and for my use 4WD isn't crucial...I am scheduled to go down and look at it next weekend... she wanted to do one last trip from San Francisco to Yosemite this weekend..so I told her to go ahead.. as I am not in that much urgency...

CAR FAX report is available on the vehicle.. plus she is not a California girl.. she's from Atlanta, working on her Masters out here...

Already priced out the timing belt, and the water pump as I am not sure they have ever been done on the rig...parts will run me a $100 and then I'll do that myself...but recent brake job, new tires etc...

Instead of having a battle in my mind over the Highlander and the Pilot, I am taking the stance, that either way, I can't really lose...both are nice vehicles... either one will be replacing a 94 Camry...

and I still have my 4 Runner on tap when needed...

Couple yrs back me and some buds headed to chicken to do the 40 mile winter hunt. We were on the tok hwy cutoff on our way to tok. I'm running behind my bud by several miles I come around a turn his excursion is pulled over emergency flashers on, some semi's pulled over as well down in the ditch is a vehicle hhmmmm. I get pulled over its -10 I dig my jacket out and lantern make my way to my bud they come up the from the vehicle said not good. They take off down the road to get cell service. Anyhow I go down and their it was a Toyota highlander the lady fell asleep ran off the road she woke up inadvertently hit the gas pedal and she hit the biggest birch tree she wasn't wearing a seat belt the air bag deployed you could see wear her head hit the windshield that airbag saved her life if it didn't deploy she would of went through the windshield and into the tree. Anyhow she lived I hope she wrote Toyota a letter thanking them for good airbags.

Buy a Ford

I have a Pilot and the wife has a CRV, we both like our vehicles though I would never buy a CRV. The CRV's seats are small and hard, the four cylinder has more vibration and it rides pretty hard. My youngest daughter just bought an '08 Ford Escape, clean as a pin and seems as though she got a nice vehicle though I am not a Ford man. Every man or woman has their preferences and after owning three Blazers two fullsize and one S10, the Pilot is the vehicle I like the best hands down.

We have an '06 Pilot and it's a great, reliable SUV. It drives like a car and rides well. There are a lot of curves on the inside though, so it's not as roomy as I thought it would be if you're hauling a lot of gear in back. My little '04 Scion XB has more interior space in the rear since it's so boxy (un-aerodynamic, if that's a word.. lol).

Eric

Seafire, if you get a chance maybe check out a 2008 (or thereabout) Rav 4. The front wheel drive models with the 4cyl are great vehicles. Excellent fuel mileage, almost as much room as the pilot and highlander, great driveability, comfortable interior, good for the weather we get around here and they are comparable in cost to the 2005/6 pilot and highlander.

Some of the early Pilots had transmission problems (one of Honda's weaknesses) around 100K miles. I have a 2004, it gets about 14 city, and up to 24 highway. I use mine for hunting also, it's OK off road and has decent clearance for some rough dirt roads.

I like mine, it has lots of room, three seat rows, comfortable seats, and drives well on the highway. It is also pretty reliable.

Buy a ford my wife has 14 explorer that thing made the ALCAN trip twice! Second time pulling a 12 foot uhual. This is 'merica life to short to drive a RAV4

Good friend has one of those....I've driven it multiple times...

I prefer the Highlander and the Pilot...no offense..

but thanks for bringing it up...


79S: A Ford? Thanks but no thanks... better than GM... but not better than some of the other vehicles on the market...

not living in AK, I can get parts for Toyotas and Hondas down this way...

[bleep] keep telling yourself that...

Thank you, I will...

buying used and it is easy to tell what holds its value and what doesn't... automotive shop at the Comm College couple of miles from the house, gives a good indicator of what is reliable and what isn't by the number of makes that roll thru the shop for repair...

While Ford does better than GM and MoPar, still doesn't compare to the durability of Hondas or Toyotas...

Amen.. Got that right.. I've had my 2004 GMC 1500 4x4 tranny replaced at 111,000 miles, I had to rebuild the rear end after the locker failed after 130,000 miles. My wife's 99 suburban had a reaction sun shell go tits up in the transmission at 80,000 miles. I replaced that myself, but had to tear the transmission 1/2 way down just to get to it. I've rebuilt Honda automatic transmissions and that's about the main weak link on the pilots. The highlander also had their problems, but they are still more reliable than the domestic vehicles..