2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport Review: A Great Grocery Getaway

If I had a big family, I’d probably need to get away from them often. At least, that’s what I hear from friends who have children: Escape isn’t just comfort, it’s compulsory. Sure, there are plenty of things I want to run away from even without children, which is perhaps why Honda asked if I wanted to borrow a 2023 Pilot TrailSport and head for the high desert of Utah and Arizona—alone.

Sure, I could’ve made up something about finding an open road and “finding myself,” but in all honesty, I could use a break from me too. The Pilot TrailSport is one of the newest players in a class of vehicles ironically built for a crowd, to run away from the crowds, joining Jeep, Ford, Subaru, and others in gussying up soft-roaders for medium-trail detail. You won’t spot a Pilot TrailSport in a Monster Jam main event soon, but you’ll definitely see more than a few in the parking lot.

That’s because the Pilot TrailSport doesn’t abandon its roots as a family-fun bus in the first place. It’s still quiet, it’s still capacious, and it still leans toward minivan, despite its chunky all-terrain hiking shoes. A rock-crawler, this ain’t. A mall crawler? Sure. But it’s better than that.

2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport Specs

• Base price (as tested): $50,045 ($50,490)

• Powertrain: 3.5-liter V6 | 10-speed automatic transmission | All-wheel drive

• Horsepower: 285 @ 6,100 rpm

• Torque: 262 lb-ft @ 5,000 rpm

• Seating capacity: Up to 8

• Curb weight: 4,685 pounds

• Towing capacity: 5,000 pounds

• Cargo volume: Up to 113.7 cubic feet (18.6 cubic feet behind third row)

• Ground clearance: 8.3 inches

• Off-road angles: 19.8° approach | 19.0° departure

• EPA fuel economy: 18 mpg city | 23 highway | 20 combined

• Quick take: The crowd-pleasing Honda Pilot gets a crowd-escaping, off-road-adjacent version that’s better than it sounds.

• Score: 8/10

The Basics

Whether it was the pandemic or my Instagram feed, Honda wised up to the growing number of people looking to the great outdoors as more than just a John Candy movie. The TrailSport sits in the middle of the Pilot lineup, although it’s not the Goldilocks pick. The 2023 Pilot EX-L is the one for family detail and shaves $6,000 from the Pilot Trailsport’s MSRP of $50,045 (less if you opt for all-wheel drive on the Pilot EX-L, which costs $2,100).

The 2023 Honda Pilot Trailsport benefits from the broader Pilot lineup’s butched-up looks perhaps more than any other trim does. Truth be told, I confused the Pilot TrailSport with a Passport initially, and I’m paid to know better. [Ed. note: He doesn’t actually get paid here anymore.] That confusion came thanks to a chunkier C-pillar that adds more visual interest along the sides than the Pilot’s ever had before. The front and the back are handsome, if not mildly imposing, but the Pilot’s profile is much improved.

Same goes for the insides, which didn’t need much help anyway. The TrailSport trim doesn’t ruin what makes the Pilot agreeable in the first place, which is air. Its gymnasium-like qualities inside are a boon to families who jostle people with cargo and Snapchat and everything else. There’s up to 113.7 cubic feet of cargo space, which is enough room to sleep two and stare up at the night sky through a panoramic moonroof.

The Pilot uses a new 3.5-liter V6 that sure feels like the old one. It’s saddled with a 10-speed automatic that’s eager to upshift and an all-wheel-drive system that sends up to 70% of available torque rearward. The TrailSport gets a one-inch lift compared to the rest of the Pilot lineup, which is almost an afterthought compared to the A/T rubber wrapped around its 18-inch wheels. If you hadn’t told me the TrailSport was taller, I’m not sure I would’ve known.

Driving the Honda Pilot TrailSport

There’s one unfortunate consequence of adding a lift and tires to a Pilot: it makes a big bus even bigger. The Pilot rolls up on its sidewalls in canyons a lot, so either slow down or pack a couple of empty lunch bags for the ride. In default Econ mode, the TrailSport blends into the background when on the day-to-day job. It’s agreeable, comfortable, and quiet (save for a little roar from the tires that filters into the cabin). It’s comfortable cruising around at 75 mph all day long, although Econ can delay kickdown while passing up a hill for just a little too long.

Normal mode fixes that, provided you can find it among a litany of drive modes that include Sand, Sport, Trail, and Tow. Finding my way, way, way off-piste near Moab, Utah, Trail mode loosened up the traction control and geared the 10-speed down along the trail. Aided by knowing the TrailSport adds more underbody protection via skid plates, I waded into the red rock trails that seemed reasonable for an SUV with only 19 degrees of approach angle. The Pilot didn’t break a sweat.

I agree, the Pilot TrailSport’s nowhere near the Ford Bronco Raptor or Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for off-road domination, but the Pilot is closer to reality. I didn’t blink when the two-track disappeared and turned into sun-soaked red rock and underbrush. That’s kind of the point.