[TheNormsk]

I think out 2016 Touring is garbage for the money paid.

There said it!

There are many parts of the car that are good but the annoyances drag it down to the garbage category. It soured me enough that I won't look at a Honda again for a very very long time when it is time to get rid of it.

The annoying thing is that there flaws should never have been there in the first place. I've listed the woes before on this site so I'm not going to do it again.

Unbelievably l think our 2005 Ford Freestyle was a better car when it was new and that says a lot.

 

[bushpilot]

Totally agree. Traded a 2012 Pilot EX for this 2016 EX piece of trash. Did NOT expect to lose features with the same trim level.
- tail gate window that opens - gone
- normal FM stereo - gone
- subwoofer that actually adds base - gone
- normal arm rests - gone
- quality seating fabric - gone

Of course there are improvements with the 2016 but I did not expect to lose basic features from prior model year. Will definitely be checking out the VW Atlas.

 

[TJay]

I have 35K on a 2016 Elite. This is my third Pilot the last one was a 2012. I've had no problems with mine which I drive mostly high speed highway. one thing I miss from the 2012, the high center console that was the armrest. That's it, the 2016 is a better vehicle IMO on every level. road and wind noise, brakes, comfort, safety, handling, speed, engine, 'transmission, headlights, interior room to name a few.

 

[ObsidianX]

These posts are hilarious. I dumped $40k on "garbage".... I hope you don't skimp on your research in other avenues of life.. ?

17.7k miles here on a Touring bought on 10/2015. A delight that I drive hard and LOVE it!

 

[Bgilcamano47]

I just finished a 5700 mile road trip, and we averaged 25.2 mpg. The pilot was an excellent road vehicle that was a true pleasure to drive.

Our other vehicle is a 2014 rav4 limited, and the pilot is better in every way, with the exception of small parking spaces.
We now have over 13,000 miles on it and its been excellent . Zero problems.

I am into this suv for right at 40k...I seriously thought about buying an Mdx, but decided to save the 10k difference.

 

[Djaxx]

Wow, just wow.

Forums are an interesting beast. They can be very useful tools for those of a common interest to share tips, tricks, ideas, knowledge, and insight. Conversely, they are also places where people come to rant about various things which are causing them grief. Most of the time, its luck of the draw. I for one, have a 2016 Pilot that I feel has been amazing and given me much more pleasure than grief. Others have had some issues with their Pilots and that's to be expected on a simple statistical basis as there are always going to be a few with issues and its those owners which go online and complain the most. Fair enough, they spent A LOT of money and expect their new product to be exactly what everyone else got, in perfect working order. For those owners, I'm empathetic to their plight as the dealers they are dealing with don't seem to care as much as they should, and that would piss anyone off.

However, for those that go online and rant about a product, any product, because it doesn't have a feature or does something differently than you expected is more reflective on the author than the subject. If you bought an apple and expected it to taste like a burger, is that the apple's fault or the purchaser's fault? If you don't open all the doors, take a vehicle out for a drive, do some reading online, and kick some tires, do you really think it is the vehicle that is faulty? Going online and proclaiming the product is "garbage" or "trash" because it doesn't have a feature that no one ever said it did (read: opening rear hatch glass) is so udderly ridiculous that all I can do is shake my head. This also goes for those who choose lower trim levels and then complain about the lack of features.

We all have access online (you're reading an online forum) and we all have access to the same brochures at the dealers and websites. We all compared the prices versus features and chose the trims level we wanted based on our needs against what the extra toys will cost. So again, to choose a lower trim and proclaim to the world the Pilot (and not the model you bought) has a crappy sound system or has poor fabric versus the leather interior.... I just do not get the mindset.

I hope you do more research when making future purchases otherwise smiles may be hard to come by in life. You'll enjoy your apples more if you expect them to taste like apples.

 

[Badgebffr]

Totally agree. Traded a 2012 Pilot EX for this 2016 EX piece of trash. Did NOT expect to lose features with the same trim level.
- tail gate window that opens - gone
- normal FM stereo - gone
- subwoofer that actually adds base - gone
- normal arm rests - gone
- quality seating fabric - gone

Of course there are improvements with the 2016 but I did not expect to lose basic features from prior model year. Will definitely be checking out the VW Atlas.

I'm confused. The car you looked at when you visited the 3rd gen Pilot had those things but the one you left with didn't? Come on folks -- if those things were so important, why did you take the car off the lot or give someone your money?

 

[MrPerception]

I'm very happy with my Touring, though at 4000 miles it's still early. I also have had no issues with the transmission.

Really, my only beef so far is that it is absolutely incapable of holding speed when using cruise control. It will drop several (way too many) miles per hour before it finally decides to downshift and get back to the set speed. So if someone is passing me because I'm going 70 instead of 75, I look like a b-hole who is trying to prevent them from passing me (which is something I hate and would never do) when the Pilot decides to get its act together and accelerate.

That's minor, though. Pretty much everything else works as it should and, aside from the minor paint blemish that was fixed right away under warranty, I haven't seen any QC issues.

It's a minor thing but, like you, it's something that annoys the crap out of me. My current Odyssey has the same problem (trading it in tomorrow on a 2017 Pilot) and I know it was one of the complaints that Car and Driver had with their long-term Pilot. I've never experienced a cruise control system that was so bad at maintaining speed before. I'm hoping the new vehicle is at least a little better. If not, I'll just override the system by pressing the gas on hills to maintain speed and not look like an idiot driver that constantly slows down and speeds up. I'm sure I have enough other habits to make some think I'm an idiot driver without adding more :grin:

 

[MT Pilot]

I think out 2016 Touring is garbage for the money paid.

...

Unbelievably l think our 2005 Ford Freestyle was a better car when it was new and that says a lot.

No Ford is ever going to be better than a Honda.

Take off your 'fool hat' or sell your Pilot and crawl back into the Ford swamp.

BTW - My BIL is on his second Raptor and also has a Shelby Gt500 - he's Ford stupid - not that they are not 'fun' but the issues he's had with his Fords over the years are, literally, comical - but he's 100% a 'blue oval' kind of guy...

 

[strick]

We have had our Touring AWD for about a year and 18k miles. Second Honda Pilot we have owned, the first one (2011) we drove for about 85,000 miles and generally liked it a lot. Definitely our least favorite thing about our 2016 is the 9 speed tranny. It was not one of the "Early" 2016 ones that have reportedly had really bad issues with the tranny. I just hate the way it shifts like a 18 wheeler when accelerating, running obnoxiously up through so many gears just to get going at a leisurely pace. I also find it is very jerky when trying to drive slowly around 20 mph through our neighborhood streets. Very hard to drive it smoothly at those speeds, as the pressure on and off the gas creates a real lurch, regardless of how light it is applied. Also we have found that the push button gear selector is something that we quite dislike and has not grown on us. The auto stop / start should have a method of permanently being deactivated, rather than switched on / off each time, that is annoying to say the least. Finally, the adaptive cruise control could use some refined tweaking, but it is a nice feature to have. Overall, we like it enough to not look elsewhere (yet) but are not really in love with the car at all for those reasons.

 

[Djaxx]

I just hate the way it shifts like a 18 wheeler when accelerating, running obnoxiously up through so many gears just to get going at a leisurely pace.

Are you in D or S when driving? Is Eco turned on? Mine doesn't run up at all, and I don't think it ever goes over 2K rpm.

 

[TheNormsk]

No Ford is ever going to be better than a Honda.

Take off your 'fool hat' or sell your Pilot and crawl back into the Ford swamp.

BTW - My BIL is on his second Raptor and also has a Shelby Gt500 - he's Ford stupid - not that they are not 'fun' but the issues he's had with his Fords over the years are, literally, comical - but he's 100% a 'blue oval' kind of guy...

I'm not beholden to any brand...

We got the Pilot because it holds 8 people and the head rest fits my wife's head with it reversed (she has a deep head and many vehicles are uncomfortable for her). At the end of the day that was the decision driver for what it is. I was also hoping for quality and reliability as my 2008 Acura has been great. However after a year (or so of ownership) this Pilot has proved to be much more of a headache that my 2005 Freestyle was. It's just what it is.

Some of my woes (I may have forgotten some as there are so many)

- My FM radio still does not work
- I now seemingly have in inconsistent rattle in the back of the car from where the dealer ship has been trying to fix the FM... Ugg!
- The infotainment system operation is just a nightmare in lagginess.
- The subwoofer does not seem to do a thing - but apparently this is to design and its not broken. In general the sound system is horrible.
- The push-start is a pain (no way to to switch off engine, put it in park but leave the accessories on)
- Auto off is still a pain
- My tranny will declutch when braking (but before the brakes engage) causing the car to surge on steep mountain roads
- The car will often "jump" upon starting the ignition
- Upon starting the car and reversing out the garage if you have not released the brake pedal for about 5 seconds there will be very little braking force in the system (I almost reversed into a park car because of this)
- My rear hatch struts failed in cold weather and it took 5 months for new ones to come in (on back order)
- My rear hatch is out of alignment as well (it's going into body shop next week)
- The roof rail system has nothing to tie ropes to (how stupid is that?)
- The factory sides steps show signs of corrosion early in their life
- After the first service the transition now "rumbles" at slow speed and the steering column "clicks", neither of which were noticeable before hand.
- The suspension is surprisingly noise for a car touted as so quiet
- Drivability of the car at slow speeds so not the best. Leaving it normal and it wants to surge. Put it in Eco and it is dead off the line. It needs a middle ground.
- Adaptive cruise control has some "quirks" to say the least.
- If you have lane departure warning switched on there is no "feel" in the steering and if feels like you are driving on ice. Its so bad we leave it switched off so what is the point in having this "safety aid" if its function is so bad we don't use it?
- The lights on the US Touring are pretty bad. For the money spent they really should be better, HIDs at least.

At the end go the day it is a whole number of little things that add up that gives one the impression of shoddy quality. Unfortunately there is no one major thing that can be used to classify the car as a lemon. It's just a mountain of annoyances.

There are good bits as well...

 

[strick]

It is in D, not S. My issue is not that the RPM's go super high (they probably never exceed 3k either) but the fact that it takes about 5 trips up & down the RPM range because of all the gears in order to get going about 35mph is super annoying, and the slow speed behavior of the throttle & transmission are maddening.

 

[Djaxx]

It is in D, not S. My issue is not that the RPM's go super high (they probably never exceed 3k either) but the fact that it takes about 5 trips up & down the RPM range because of all the gears in order to get going about 35mph is super annoying, and the slow speed behavior of the throttle & transmission are maddening.

This sounds like you need some adjustments done. I have to really pay attention for me to even notice the shifts as they're so smooth. Sometimes I'll hit the paddles up and down again just to see what gear I'm in as like I said, I can't detect the shifts.

 

[Wanderer]

"she has a deep head"

Sorry, but once you said that, I got distracted and stopped reading. :grin:

 

[Djaxx]

"she has a deep head"

Sorry, but once you said that, I got distracted and stopped reading. :grin:

Dude, I had to really try to not respond to that one myself!! What exactly is a "deep head"?? Somehow, I think it's something totally different than what I have in mind. >

 

[Wanderer]

Maybe something like this?

 

[bushpilot]

Folks should read other posts carefully before commenting and going off on tangents. I went from a 2012 EX to a 2016 EX. Same trim level. The 2012 had a decent FM stereo sound, a subwoofer that worked and a rear hatch glass that opened, for example. The 2016 EX does not have these features. I did not expect to lose some basic features with the 3rd gen. same trim level. I have been extremely happy with Honda. It's been 16 years (3 Odysseys and 2 Pilots). The 2016 EX is my 3rd Pilot. Given my satisfaction, I did not feel the need to wait until the 2016 showed up on the lot before signing up. Bad decision and naive on my part. I didn't even know this forum existed until I took delivery of my 2016 Pilot and was perplexed by the horrible FM and non-working sub woofer. I decided to Google "poor quality FM sound 2016 Pilot" and I landed here. The FM sound quality thread alone is approaching 1,500 entries on this forum. I regret not knowing about this forum before committing to the 2016 Pilot. Note, the way I see it, the purpose of a thread is to exchange opinions, knowledge etc. A negative review is of no less value than a positive review.

 

[ObsidianX]

Folks should read other posts carefully before commenting and going off on tangents. I went from a 2012 EX to a 2016 EX. Same trim level. The 2012 had a decent FM stereo sound, a subwoofer that worked and a rear hatch glass that opened, for example. The 2016 EX does not have these features. I did not expect to lose some basic features with the 3rd gen. same trim level. I have been extremely happy with Honda. It's been 16 years (3 Odysseys and 2 Pilots). The 2016 EX is my 3rd Pilot. Given my satisfaction, I did not feel the need to wait until the 2016 showed up on the lot before signing up. Bad decision and naive on my part. I didn't even know this forum existed until I took delivery of my 2016 Pilot and was perplexed by the horrible FM and non-working sub woofer. I decided to Google "poor quality FM sound 2016 Pilot" and I landed here. The FM sound quality thread alone is approaching 1,500 entries on this forum. I regret not knowing about this forum before committing to the 2016 Pilot. Note, the way I see it, the purpose of a thread is to exchange opinions, knowledge etc. A negative review is of no less value than a positive review.

Agreed. My comment didn't stem from the poor review but rather a lack of research on your behalf before going in to purchase it.

 

[Wanderer]

For early adopters such as myself ( June 2015 ) and apparently also bushpilot, there wasn't much in terms of reviews. I guess it's the early adopter tax. Even now, I don't think I've seen any mention of FM radio or audio system/subwoofer performance in professional reviews. It's not what they do. IIRC early reviews of the ZF 9-speed transmission in upper-trim Pilots talked about some jerkiness at low speeds, but were otherwise pretty neutral. It took many months for more in-depth reviews to trickle out. Maybe that's typical.

On the subject of quality control, what's the line about reputation? A lifetime to build, and gone in an instant? Ask Takanobu Ito about that. I really hope Honda/Acura steers their ship back on course, but I think they are a bit adrift at the moment.