[GreenMachine]

Took our Pilot in for its first B16 service, and they gave me a 2003 Pilot as a loaner (a recent donation from the used car dept to the service dept). It had 76K miles and was showing it wear inside, but it was still safer than the 2004 or 2005 Civic I was expecting. The rear air did not work and the vents were completely destroyed. Dirt and wear aside, compared to our '06, the inside did not seem as nice. Maybe it's because I am used to ours, but the gauges, the chrome trim about the radio and climate control knobs, the cloth seat material are nice touches in our 2006. The radio in the 2006 is so much nicer looking and has the 6 disc changer built in too. As for the scrunching, ours has a hint of it on one door (one of the things I was hopefully getting fixed), and I can only hear it when the radio is off. Even then it's only a faint sound. On the loaner, all four doors scrunched so loudly it was REALLY annoying. I hope no one's is as bad as this one. As for how it drove,I put about 55 miles on it that day so I have a small basis for comparison. I had to keep in mind this one was three years older, 65K more miles too. The transmission definitely shifted earlier, and not near as smooth. The rpms were lower as everyone already knows. The engine didn't seem to have the pep ours does either. I also had a suspicion I had a Canadian model because this EX cloth had heated mirrors. When I saw the DRL light on the dash and the climate control reading 23 degrees when on automatic, I knew it was Canadian. I think this Pilot was really beat on and after getting back into our 2006 the drive/experience was so much better, smoother, and nicer.

BTW, my opinions are not meant to say that pre-2006's are "not as good" as this was a quick comparison from a fairly new Pilot to one from up North that didn't seem to get the best care. Honestly, had Honda made VSA and side curtain airbags available from the start, we'd probably have a 2004 since it was the first year with the movable second row.

You really can't go wrong with any year, but the 2006+ have the most safety features of all.