Hey Folks. I've got a deposit down on a 2023 Pilot, and part of the reason we decided to go with the Pilot over the competition was that the cargo volume seems excellent comparatively. That being said, after digging into specs, it seems that cargo volume can be a bit deceptive.
Here's an article that speaks to this.
What I'm struggling with understanding is whether the cargo volume of the new Pilot is actually better than the competition, based on the way it's been measured. For example,
Honda's own website (click "See all features and specs" -> "Interior Measurements") states that the new Pilot has 18.6 cubic feet or 22.4 cubic feet depending on whether you measure it with the SAE J1100 standard or "Based on SAE J1100 cargo volume measurement standard plus, where applicable, floor space between seating rows and seats in their forward-most and upright position". Since I saw many articles referencing the 22.4 cubic feet measurement, I assumed that the Pilot truly had a cargo volume advantage over the competition.
Now, behind-the-third-row cargo volume was one of the most important things for us when deciding upon a vehicle, and this is a very competitive segment. When you look at
Edmond's comparison of the 2023 Pilot vs the 2023 Telluride, you can see that they appear to be using the lower number from Honda rather than the higher number, indicating that the Telluride's cargo volume is actually about 2.4 cubit feet larger.
We also shied away from the 2023 Sequoia partly for this reason. We saw that the cargo volume was essentially the same between the 2023 Pilot and Sequioa (22.4 and 22.3 respectively) and that the overall cargo volume was gobs higher (112.1 cubic feat vs 86.9 cubic feet), and said, "why would we buy this massive SUV if it's actually not any bigger in the interior?". For additional comparison's sake, the 2023 Expedition (not Max) has total cargo area of 104.6 cubic feet and a behind-the-3rd-row cargo volume of 20.9 cubic feet, which further reinforced our thoughts. All this being said, those numbers for the Pilot drop to just 87 cubic feet and 18.6 cubic feet respectively if you use the SAE J1100 standard without "floor space between seating rows and seats in their forward-most and upright position". The problem is, Toyota, Ford, and Kia/Hyundai give no indication of how their measurements are done, so it's hard to say what apples to apples actually looks like.
All of this seems to speak to the first article I linked's point that cargo measurements are deceptive. Those of you who have seen various other vehicles in your search in person, what are your thoughts on the Pilot's cargo volume versus the direct and indirect competition (Telluride, Explorer, Palisade, Highlander, Sequoia, Expedition, etc.)? Have you done any measurements or real-world tests with bags/strollers yourselves to see how it stacks up?
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