2023 Honda Pilot: 7 Things Families Will Appreciate
The vehicle we take on a trip with young children can have a big impact on whether that day is a success or failure, along with a billion other factors, such as the consistency of the breading on the nugget served at lunch. I recently spent a weekend carting around my family in the 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport and learned a lot about how the redesigned SUV handles day trips with young kids. Honda made big improvements to the Pilot for 2023, and if you want to learn more about the car as a whole, be sure to check out our expert review. But here are seven family-friendly qualities about the refreshed 2023 Pilot that I appreciated.
Related: Honda Reveals 2023 Pilot Pricing, Redesigned SUV Hits Dealers in December
Front-Passenger Storage Ledge
After last appearing on the 2009-15 Pilot, the passenger-side dashboard shelf makes a return for the 2023 model year and provides small-item storage that’s perfect for keys, sunglasses and phones. I also used it to hold accessories for the kids’ in-car activities, like spare markers because, inevitably, those end up under the seat wedged between something sharp, something greasy and something salty.
Device Charging
The Pilot includes charging ports for both rectangular USB-A and oval USB-C plugs, so you won’t have to worry about carrying adapters for your phone or tablet. This is a great convenience on road trips when you’ll surely have devices with both kinds of plugs — a tablet, phone or wireless headphones you forgot to charge before leaving. A 110-volt outlet is also included on TrailSport and Elite trim levels; I used it to quickly charge a tablet I forgot to plug in before we left.
I had less success with the wireless phone charger, however, which didn’t consistently charge my Apple iPhone 12 Pro, with or without the case; the wireless charger is included on EX-L, TrailSport, Touring and Elite trim levels. And when it was charging, my phone became uncomfortably hot with little change in charge percentage.
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Beverage Holders
It’s rare that a car can hold wide 32-ounce water bottles as well as the Pilot. What’s impressive is that the Pilot doesn’t do so only for front occupants: All three rows of seats have cupholders big enough to fit the large water bottles. While this may seem frivolous because, worst-case scenario, you buy a new $30 bottle instead of a different $50,000 car, it’s nice that I wouldn’t have to buy any additional bottles if purchasing a Pilot.
Also, the cupholder location on the front door is mid-way down the door panel for easier access than if it were at the bottom, and that location also fits a 32-ounce water bottle. When that mid-afternoon coffee stop came around, I moved my primary water bottle from the center console to the door panel with no loss of beverage-holding capability.
Ride Quality
When I’m driving a test car for the weekend and have to nap the kids in the car, I’ll sometimes leave the car at home if it has too firm of a ride, is too loud or doesn’t have tinted windows. That’s not the case with the Pilot because its ride quality is superb. Part of that could be the TrailSport off-road version I drove with meaty tires and an off-road-tuned suspension, but the effect was an undisturbed ride over rough roads that I would normally cringe at the thought of hitting. The Pilot soaked up the potholes and broken pavement more like a luxury car than a three-row family SUV, and it did so without the usual downsides of off-road packages like wandering at highway speeds, noisy tires or a stiff suspension.
Car Seat Fitment
Honda improved Latch anchor accessibility for 2023 and hit the marks as far as easy usability. The anchors are in the open and easy to connect with confidence. There’s also a set of Latch anchors in the third row, on the passenger side, though when we installed a booster seat in the third row, the booster covered the seat belt buckle, making it difficult to use. The usability of the third row’s middle seat is questionable, too, because even though it’s technically a three-seat row, the middle seat is almost too narrow to use when the other seats are occupied.
Storage Under the Cargo Floor
More storage is never a bad thing, and behind the Pilot’s third row are trick usability features that expand this space that is often limited when the third row is in use. First, there’s large underfloor storage behind the third row. Second, the lid to this area can be removed or placed at the bottom to create a lower cargo floor for more overall cargo height and overall volume. With this versatility, the Pilot has a respectable 11.5 cubic feet of Cars.com-measured space behind the third row, which is similar to a Hyundai Palisade (11.2 cubic feet), more than a Toyota Highlander (8.6 cubic feet) but less than a Volkswagen Atlas (14.5 cubic feet). The TrailSport has the “normal-sized” bin, but there’s a larger bin available that also stores the optional removable second-row middle seat when equipped.
Reversible Cargo Cover
Perhaps a 6B instead of a full 7, but the rigid cargo cover for the rear storage tub is reversible. It has one side made of carpet to stow normal cargo items and a dished plastic tray on the backside to hold a small amount of water for things that may have to go back there when they’re soaked, such as swimsuits, clothes, water toys, and so on.
Honorable Mention
While the TrailSport trim level doesn’t have the removable second-row middle seat (it’s only available on Touring and Elite trims), it appears to be a trick offering with the best of both worlds: It can be a second-row bench seat or captain’s chairs. When in position, the center seat creates a three-seat-wide second-row bench that can fit an infant seat in the middle, which is the preferred position. And later in a child’s life, the removable center seat can be stored in the back to create second-row captain’s chairs for easier third-row access and separated second-row seating.
Why only an honorable mention? I haven’t used this with my family yet, so questions remain, like how comfortable is the middle seat in the second row? How easy is it to install a car seat in this spot? How difficult is it to remove? And when removed, is there enough room to climb through the open area to the third row if there are car seats installed in the outboard second-row seats? More to come once we spend additional time with that feature.
Would I Buy a Pilot?
At the end of my time in the redesigned Pilot, I could clearly see where Honda improved on its three-row SUV formula for families. Perhaps what’s most telling, however, was that as an owner of a 2021 Atlas, I found myself perusing new Pilot TrailSport inventory on Cars.com.
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