2012 Honda Pilot Changes

2012 Honda Pilot Changes. 2012 Honda Pilot’s most noticeable styling change is really a new grille with three horizontal chrome bars. It’s much more sophisticated than the oddly orthodontic mess it replaces. Minor alterations to the headlamp housings complement the new grille. Along with a more aerodynamic lower front air dam is part from the gas-mileage-improvement program.

Inside the 2012 Honda Pilot, Honda handles some flawed ergonomics. Dials replace several climate-system buttons, cutting dashboard clutter. More unified instrument-panel finishes mitigate some clashing colors. And white backlighting rather than aqua-blue renders the primary gauges easier to read. Plus, all 2012 Honda Pilot models now have sound-deadening windshield glass; previously, just the priciest Pilot models got the acoustic glass.

2012 Honda Pilot continues using the only engine this design generation has known: an all-aluminum single-overhead-cam 3.5-liter V-6. It’s unchanged at 250 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque (think about torque as the muscle that gets a car moving, horsepower as the energy that keeps it moving). Pilot’s power ratings are among the lowest of any midsize SUV with a V-6 engine of similar displacement.

Furthermore, Honda’s retention of a five-speed automatic because the 2012 Honda Pilot’s sole transmission seems a regression. In transmissions, the higher the quantity of gear ratios the greater the opportunity to extract engine power and maximize gas mileage. Indeed, virtually every other 2012 crossover in Pilot’s competitive set employs a six-speed automatic – and the Volkswagen Touareg has eight speeds.

2012 Honda Pilot’s features roster is quite complete, though Honda probably didn’t take the midcycle freshening far enough in addressing a few deficiencies. For instance, Bluetooth hands-free cell-phone connectivity — a security feature, really — is newly standard on 2012 Honda Pilot EX and EX-L models along with an audio-system upgrade that incorporates music streaming and two gigabytes of music storage. Bluetooth previously was exclusive only to Pilots designed with the navigation system, itself a feature that remains optional only on the EX-L model and standard on the Touring.

But factory-supplied Bluetooth connectivity is unavailable around the 2012 Honda Pilot LX model. And 2012 LX and EX models continue being ignore from the USB iPod interface, another increasingly ubiquitous feature within this price class. USB linking, however, is newly standard on the 2012 Pilot EX-L and stays standard around the Touring included in the navigation-system perk.

Base-price range for that 2012 Honda Pilot is $29,280-$41,630, a small increase over the 2011 Pilot’s base-price range, which closed the model year at $28,825-$41,175. (All base prices in this review include the manufacturer’s mandatory destination fee; Honda’s fee for that 2012 Honda Pilot is $810.) With each model within the lineup locked into a specific group of features with no options, Pilot’s base prices can seem relatively high. But option-up rival crossovers to match equipment levels at various Pilot prices, and the bottom-line difference tends to shrink or disappear.

2012 Honda Pilot Changes