Description

Cars.com experts walk you through the important new features of the seating in the 2009 Honda Pilot.

Transcript

2009 Honda Pilot Seating Review Hi I’m Mike Hanley with Cars.com and I’m here with the redesigned 2009 Honda Pilot. This is Honda’s mid sized Crossover SUV. And for 2009, the model is larger inside and it gets some unique cargo features. One of the reasons people buy SUVs is they carry lots of people in them. And with the Pilot, it has come to standard with three rows of seats and for a space for up to eight people. Now in the second row, they’ve increased legroom by above an inch and the vehicle’s second row seats can slide forward and backward to accommodate various legroom needs and the seats also recline. There’s a handle over on this side. Now, we kind of like the handles when they are down low on the side. They are easier to reach than having to reach over there but its nice Honda offers the feature in the second row. Getting into to the third row, the Pilot’s pretty straightforward in the process, there's a lever on the side on the second row seats. You lift it up and you can slide the whole seat forward then you can step through to the third row, pull the seat back. Honda’s legroom in the third row has been increased about two inches and while the third row is tolerable for someone like me for a short trip, I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time here. The 2009 Pilot has a rear glass that opens which has been used on other SUVs before and it’s on this one. What it also gains is a lift gate that can be power operated. And what’s kind of neat on the inside is it has a pretty interesting cargo storage system. You can lift up the floor right here and secure it. And below the floor, there is a shallow well and there’s this net system too that when it’s hooked up on both sides, you can use this to carry grocery bags or whatever you may have here. And then below, put in something larger to store right there. In the third row seats, when you need an even more cargo room than the about 21 cubic feet you have right here including the well below it. You can just lift that lever here, the seats fold flat and then you have quite a bit more of cargo room. To have even more stuff you need to carry in your pilot, second row seats also fold flat and you can see here, it’s a nice flat surface all the way from the back to the front so little risk of catching anything if you slide it forward. So as you can see, the Pilot has a fair amount of functionality and it does it in a pretty compact space. For additional information on this car or any other, go to cars.com and our blog Kicking Tires.