2026 Honda Pilot Elite Review: Your Parents’ SUV, With Your Technology

The Honda Pilot Elite is a 285 hp naturally aspirated V6 three-row SUV with a traditional 10-speed automatic, a $53,695 sticker, and steering feel straight out of the late-90s SUV wave. That is not a complaint. The Pilot felt like an old friend all week: this is your parents’ SUV, with your technology, and after seven days I mean that as the high compliment.

Pilot Elite Spec Strip

Spec	Figure
Price	$53,695 (Elite, AWD standard)
Powertrain	3.5L naturally aspirated V6
Output	285 hp / 262 lb-ft
Transmission	10-speed automatic, a real one
EPA	19 city / 25 highway / 21 combined (21 observed)
Elite kit	HUD, heated and ventilated fronts, heated second row, heated wheel, rain-sensing wipers
Seating	7 with the stowable center seat out

How does the 2026 Pilot look?

Even though this is a facelifted model this design has been around for a long time, and still it is a really good-looking SUV. The 2026 facelift continues the class the Pilot has always brought to the three-row space. It does not push a single design boundary, and your parents would not have wanted it to. They wanted something presentable, something they could drop you off at school in and be proud of rather than embarrassed by. That is the Honda Pilot, then and now.

How is the Pilot Elite’s interior?

The same logic carries inside. Buttons and knobs for everything important, all of it reachable, the ergonomics just work in here. The new Google-powered infotainment this elite has works well and asking Gemini for things is a nice trick, but to be frank, CarPlay works great and that is what you will actually use most.

I do though have two frustrations in here, and only two. First, the push-button PRNDL. Honda has been doing this since the 2015 Acuras and annoyed me then, and it still annoys me now. Multiple times this week I pressed Neutral instead of engaging Reverse, or engaged Reverse instead of pressing Drive. Sure, I probably would get used to it over time, but I shouldn’t have to, and the buttons occupy the same real estate a knob or a proper lever would. So doing this literally accomplishes nothing, there is no savings here.

Second, the Quilted Ultrasuede accents. This is a family SUV, a people mover at it’s core, and suede feels wrong in it. It feels like something I would destroy by year 3. Same design, in leather, please.

How practical is the Pilot for a family?

The second row is where the family feel starts to really come into it’s own. Only heated seats back there, not ventilated like the Korean competition offers, but a fine place to be. Step-in height is easy, and the door opens REALLY wide, which makes loading a toddler genuinely easy. The car seat fit the captain’s chairs no problem, and the seat base sits at the right angle so the carseat settles in properly, a detail nobody specs but every parent feels. At 6 feet tall I can sit in front of the installed carseat with room to spare.

The trunk is where it gets interesting, and not because it is all sunshine and roses. A full-size stroller, like an UPPAbaby Cruz, does not fit behind the third row without finagling, full stop. No seat, no wheels, stacked at a weird angle, or it does not go. And this size of stroller is quite popular in the USA, specifically when you consider two and three kid strollers are larger. This is where a Suburban, an Expedition, or a minivan takes a little shine off the whole class by simply offering more room back there. Fold the third row down, though, and you have a flat floor and more space than anything a family day can throw at it.

How does the Honda Pilot drive?

The steering: there is nothing there. This feels like a 2000s Honda Pilot, and that is the point. You are not buying this for the driving experience. I mean let’s be real, you aren’t buying MOST SUVs for the experience short of maybe a Macan GTS perhaps. It steers like the car you remember. It accelerates like the car you remember, and the V6 SINGS at high RPM, it genuinely sounds great and it is just how you remember it. It drinks fuel like the car you remember, my 21 mpg observed matching the EPA combined number exactly.

That is the magic. I do not want my three-row SUV to be a canyon carver. I do not want it to be an off-road bruiser. I want it to move people, last forever, and carry the technology I actually need: CarPlay, heated and cooled seats, good vents in the back. The Pilot gives you exactly that and refuses to pretend to be anything else.

The bottom line: buy-it-once machinery

The Pilot Elite is your Hamilton field watch. Your Swiss Army knife. Something you buy once, that does the job best, that you own for a really long time. In a class full of vehicles trying to be exciting, Honda built the one that will still be doing school drop-off with dignity in 2040, the way the old ones are doing it right now.

And the timing could not be better for a measuring stick: the new Kia Telluride arrives in my driveway next, and a head-to-head between these two is coming right after. The old friend versus the new establishment. Stay tuned.

Verdict Scorecard

FAQ

Is the Honda Pilot still a V6?
Yes. Every 2026 Pilot runs a 285 hp naturally aspirated 3.5L V6 with a traditional 10-speed automatic, no turbos, no hybrid system, and it sounds great at high RPM.

What MPG does the Honda Pilot get?
AWD trims like the Elite are rated 19 city, 25 highway, 21 combined. I observed exactly 21 over a week of family duty.

Is the Honda Pilot good for car seats?
Very. The doors open extremely wide, the captain’s chair base sits at the right angle for a clean install, and an adult can ride in front of the seat with room to spare.

Does a stroller fit in the Honda Pilot?
Behind the third row, a full-size UPPAbaby Cruz only fits with finagling, seat off, wheels off, stacked oddly. With the third row folded you get a flat floor and plenty of room.

Is the Pilot Elite worth $53,695?
If you want a three-row that does the job with dignity for a decade or more, yes. It is buy-it-once machinery, though the Ultrasuede and push-button shifter are odd choices at this price.

Honda Pilot vs Kia Telluride: which is better?
The new Telluride is in my driveway next, and a full head-to-head comparison is coming. Follow along.

I’m MoneyShift. If it has wheels and a story, it ends up here. Follow along for all things car news.