2010 Honda Pilot review

[HondaDubai]

The Pilot is Honda’s sole offering for those wanting to explore the lesser-populated areas of the UAE.

It was introduced into the market in late 2008 and replaced the previous MR-V SUV. It’s a large SUV with plenty of practical tricks up its sleeve. There’s even seating for eight – plus, you can fold all of the seats flat to give a huge 2,463 litres worth of space.

In case of situations where you park in a tight space with little room to manoeuvre around the rear of the Pilot, you can open the tailgate’s glass section to gain access to the boot – this is an excellent feature if you regularly fill the boot to bursting with shopping bags.

But it’s out of town that the Pilot really comes into its own. The 3.5-litre V6 has 250bhp, which is more than enough to power the big boxy SUV over the trickiest of obstacles. Power is sent to all four wheels through an intelligent five-speed automatic gearbox that holds onto the gears when you need it to. There’s even a locking differential for when the going gets really slippery out in the dunes on gravel track and you need a little bit more ability from the Pilot.

The interior does without any unnecessary fripperies – it’s fairly basic inside, but there’s sixteen different ways in which you can arrange the seats so you can find the optimum balance between people and luggage carrying ability. The exterior is just as practical, though the Middle East version come with a large amount of chrome on the nose to add a little visual bling.

SOURCE: http://automiddleeast.com/2010-honda-pilot/