Honda Pilot Black Edition is a stylish, tough workhorse
Beach Wheels
Recently, I was given an opportunity to test drive a 2020 Honda Pilot Black Edition and came away suitably impressed in its usefulness, quality of build and overall performance.
The sleek, slightly menacing look of the Black Edition — the top-of-the-line of Honda’s Pilot family — offers 3-rows and seating for 7-passengers.
My tester, which came in beautiful “Crystal Black Pearl,” is largely unchanged for 2020 other than the arrival of the Black Edition itself.
Under the hood, my Pilot was propelled by a 3.5-liter V6 engine that generated 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. The engine was mated to a 9-speed automatic transmission and torque-vectoring is standard on this edition.
Out on the road my tester demonstrated solid throttle response, notching a 0-60 time of just under 6.5 seconds. I found the Pilot’s electric steering is light but accurate and while there was just a touch of too much body roll in curves, the vehicle handled generally well.
My Pilot came sitting on handsome, blacked-out 20-inch steel alloy wheels. That blacked-out theme was continued on the grille, headlights, side and window trim and on the door handles.
Inside the spacious cabin, I found a friendly, intuitive 8-inch touch screen that offered both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A Blu-ray rear-cabin DVD player and screen with wireless headphones will help keep the young ones entertained on long road trips.
Honda has included comfortable and adjustable heated and ventilated leather power seating. My tester also had heated captain’s chairs in the second row.
The monochromatic black theme of the vehicle was broken up with stylish red accents with a red dot on the seatbacks, door panels and steering wheel. Special “Black Edition” badging can be found throughout.
My tester came with a variety of vehicle safety equipment, including blindspot and rear cross-traffic alerts, automatic forward-collision braking and LED head- and taillights as well as LED foglamps.
Mileage on my Pilot wasn’t too bad. I received 19 miles per gallon in the city, 28 mpg on the highway and 22 mpg combined.
The total manufacturer’s suggested retail price for our Pilot was $50,715. As you can imagine, competition amongst midsize SUV’s is fierce. The Pilot goes head-to-head with the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder, Ford Explorer and Mazda CX-9 to name just a few.
Final thoughts: I’ve always admired the Pilot as a competent, well-built, comfortable urban family hauler. The new Black Edition packaging puts even more luster and fun into an already great vehicle. Buy with confidence.
Jeff Mitchell is a Los Angeles-based automotive writer and reviewer. Reach him at j.edward.mitchell@gmail.com