2009 Honda Pilot

The 2009 Honda Pilot's evolutionary journey involved every facet of the new package. For 2009, the Honda Pilot lineup includes LX, EX, the leather-swathed EX-L, and the new, range-topping Touring model, all with standard seating for eight and in front-drive or all-wheel-drive availability.

In an effort to amp up its SUV cues, the Gen II Pilot got a taller, more-angular front clip accented by a bold brushed-aluminum grille and larger, more powerful headlamps.

The 2009 Pilot looks like a more muscular caricature of its predecessor, with enormous headlights, a menacing grille, and thick C-pillars. It's a bit bigger, too - overhangs are the same, but the wheelbase has been stretched by almost three inches, facilitating access to the nicely sized third-row seats.

All 2009 Honda Pilots use a five-speed automatic transmission attached to a revised 3.5-liter V-6 that produces 250 hp and 253 lb-ft of torque. Thanks to Honda's newest version of VCM (variable cylinder management), the engine can run on either three, four, or all six cylinders, depending on how much power is needed. Active engine mounts and an eight-inch subwoofer cancel out any strange vibrations created when the engine isn't running on all cylinders.

Honda usually impresses me with its interiors, but this 2009 Honda Pilot test vehicle's cabin doesn't look or feel like a $30,000-plus SUV. All of the dashboard plastics are hard, and their shapes, grains, and colors don't look particularly well-thought-out. The clear gauges and center stack material are unique, if unimpressive, and the black LCD mpg display inside the gauge cluster is impossibly difficult to read.

Honda's 250-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 sounds and feels solid when pushed, but I wouldn't mind another 20 or 30 hp.

The 2009 Honda Pilot's a crossover. And while the new Honda is a thorough advancement of the first generation, it remains highly functional hardware for the masses.

Pilot power comes from a new 3.5-liter V-6 derived from the Accord and its active noise cancellation systems, and, unlike most Honda engines, it makes more torque than horsepower. Neither the six-horsepower gain nor the 3-4-6 variable cylinder management will be noticed for the most part.

While a lot has changed on the all-new 2009 Honda Pilot (some would say for the worse in the styling department), base pricing for Honda's flagship SUV will remain the same as the outgoing model. The redesigned Honda Pilot starts at $27,595, not including the pesky $635 destination charge, for the Pilot LX trim level.

All 2009 Pilots come with Honda's 250 horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 on board that also employs cylinder shut off technology, allowing the engine to run on three or four cylinders. The 2009 Honda Pilot achieves an EPA-estimated city/highway/combined mileage of 17/23/19 miles per gallon for the front drive models and 16/22/18 miles per gallon on four-wheel-drive models.

Refinement, bigger interior, thoughtful cubbyholes, and sophisticated cylinder-deactivation technology.

Easy-to-ridicule grille, still mediocre mileage, old-school SUV visage.

For instance, compared with its predecessor, the 3.5-liter V-6 under the 2009 Honda Pilot hood has gained six horsepower and 13 lb-ft of torque, while simultaneously improving its mileage by one mpg in the city, and either one or two on the highway, depending on the number of driven wheels. How? The Honda touch: Among other tweaks, its cylinder-deactivation protocol has added a four-cylinder mode to its previous three-cylinder option.

The Honda Pilot's got all the telltale SUV visual cues-boxyness, copious ground clearance, and rough-and ready-looking rolling stock. Which in today's SUV-fleeing marketplace, basically amounts to three strikes against it. For numerous other manufacturers, three strikes might mean you're out, but, remember, we're talking about Honda here, which, almost as a self-imposed rule, never, ever, produces inefficient or one-dimensional vehicles.

The 2009 Honda Pilot is an evolution of the first generation. Much like Honda's Odyssey minivan it offers plenty of cargo and people versatility in an efficient package, without the negatives many apply to minivans, and with the additional confidence of all-wheel drive and better towing performance.