emilyd, if hubby is a good boy, at least give him a ride, every now and then.
My wife likes the comfortable passenger seat, our Auntie likes the rear seat, especially the head room. My Daughter and Son-in-law, got their noses out of joing at the prospect of riding in one of those terrible SUV's, but one ride, and it's the family vehicle of choice for going places.
I, too looked at the Pilot and, after almost a year am happy with the 4Runner.
A friend at work has a Pilot and has had problems, timing belt tensioner failed, transmission is acting up and they have been stranded several times with a dead engine,brakes at 25k, and tires a bit too often, including uneven wear, with several trips back to the dealer to get things done right. The dealer has been slow in diagnosis and repairs, in general. The dealer has been telling them that their warranty has been at risk because they have been using an independent Honda mechanic for some of their service. On one service that they did have done at the dealer, they brought their own oil, Mobil 1 5w-20, the correct viscosity, specified by Honda. The dealer changed the oil as asked, but used their oil, told him Honda does not recomment synthetic, and they used 10w-30. The dealer said they have local knowledge and that's what they uese for every thing and owners should not try to 'direct service'. I changed the oil in my driveway and found that the Mobil 1 filter was still on the engine, not a Honda filter. ...back to the dealer for another refund. I think that there are several Honda dealers around here with big heads and this one is one of them.
I let my friend drive my 4Runner home, last week, and I drove his Pilot. Now after driving the Pilot for three years, he's going this week end to look at a 4Runner, too. I did not think the Pilot drove so well, it droned at freeway speeds and wondered around, had spongy breaks and you had to rev the hell out of the engine to get any power. It felt like I was driving a Rubber-Maid packing crate.
By the way, the belt tensioner problem ate the Pilot engine, the dealer has the vehicle for a month and it never ran as well, got worse mileage and made several trips back for leaks, dead battery and eratic shifting. They made him sign one hell of a repair order, saying that it was because it may not be covered by warranty and they would not look at it without a signature. They made a big deal about going through his service records for the engine failure, because he was possibly using 'sub-standard service' by going to a factory trained independent mechanic. They also got their nose out of joing because he had a bunch of Internet print outs about the problem and copies of all Honda's factory service notes.
He had one good comment about the dealer, they washed his Pilot almost every time they had it for more than a day.
I think that Honda makes good vehicles but the problem is that you have to buy them for a Honda dealer.
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