Start with what the Honda Pilot is: a 5-door SUV with 3.5 L Honda J engine#J35A4, built from 2002, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Ricky Hsu (1999).
The story
The Honda Pilot is a mid-size crossover SUV with three-row seating manufactured by Honda since 2002 for the 2003 model year. Primarily aimed at the North American market, the Pilot is the largest SUV produced by Honda. As of 2025, the Pilot is manufactured in Lincoln, Alabama, and the Pilot was produced in Alliston, Ontario, until April 2007. The first generation Pilot was released in April 2002 as a 2003 model. The Pilot shares its platform with the Acura MDX, as well as the North American market Odyssey minivan.
The Pilot's unibody construction and independent suspension are designed to provide handling similar to that of a car, and it has integrated perimeter frame rails to permit towing and light off-road use. Prior to the introduction of the Pilot, Honda marketed the compact crossover CR-V, midsize crossover MDX, the midsize Passport (rebadged Isuzu Rodeo) fullsize Crossroad (rebadged Land Rover Discovery series 1) and Acura SLX (rebadged Isuzu Trooper). Unlike the Passport, Crossroad and SLX which were truck-based body-on-frame designs, the Pilot shared a unibody construction layout akin to the Accord-based MDX. The Pilot is Honda's largest SUV, although the 2010 Crosstour surpassed the Pilot in length. The Pilot is sold in North America and the Middle East, while the Honda MDX (first generation Acura MDX) was marketed in Japan and Australia for several years. The second-generation Pilot was also sold in Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Latin America, and the Philippines.
What is underneath
The engine is 3.5 L Honda J engine#J35A4; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Drive goes through a 5-speed automatic. The wheelbase is 106.3 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Honda line-up the Honda Pilot has a clear place: the factory was Alliston, Ontario (Honda of Canada Manufacturing. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Mazda Mazda6, the Citroën C3, the Kia Sorento. Nearby in the Honda catalogue sit the Honda Envix and the Honda Crider.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $9,800–$48,200 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $3,881–$9,416 a year. Insurance sits around $1,120–$2,490 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.