Twenty years ago, Honda had a problem. It had a compact crossover SUV, the CR-V, and it had the big Passport, a mid-size SUV, but that was really an Isuzu Rodeo, sold with Honda badging due to a product sharing partnership between the two companies. The Passport was a truck with an SUV body grafted on top, meaning that Honda didn't really have a Honda-designed three-row SUV offering. Enter the Honda Pilot, introduced in 2003. It featured seating for 7-8 and targeted suburban families rather than off-road enthusiasts.
Almost 25 years later, the Pilot continues to be a top seller for Honda with solid sales in the midsize SUV segment. In 2024 it was the best seller in its segment, beating out the Toyota Highlander, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Chevy Traverse, and Ford Explorer. Suffice to say, it's a popular SUV, and being a Honda, it retains the brand identity with its practical and highly functional design sensibilities.
Consequently, when Honda offered me a week with the 2025 Honda Pilot AWD Black Edition, I was quite curious to check it out and find what made the vehicle so darn popular. The Black Edition is the top trim level for the Pilot, adding lots of sweet - and expensive - additions, including black wheels, red interior stitching, a premium Bose audio system, heads-up display, panoramic roof, and standard AWD.
It's a sleek and attractive SUV with some nice design touches. I particularly liked the side air scoops along the front as a way to break up the lines, and the overall front grill design. It's big, though, but for a three-row SUV it's not enormous. It also has a refined side profile that doesn't look like a sedan with a grafted-on third row window, but a coherent appearance.
Unlike a winter loaner, I enjoyed a week of nice weather so I wasn't able to test out the all-wheel drive. It did handle the road well, however, offering a comfortable drive that was reasonably powered by its big 3.5-liter V6 engine and 10-speed automatic transmission. Merging onto the highway, heading up a steep grade in the Colorado mountains, or just navigating a busy parking lot were all easily accomplished. Its towing capacity is 5,000 pounds, plenty for a fishing boat, jet ski, or trailer. The trade-off is fuel efficiency; it's not going to win any awards with its 19/25 EPA estimates and average fuel economy of 21 mpg.
The interior demonstrates that Honda hasn't forgotten that owners prefer to have knobs and buttons over a ubiquitous touch screen with virtual controls, something much appreciated by this driver. It's interesting to see how many manufacturers are backing away from the touchscreen controls and reintroducing physical, kinesthetic controls. We humans like to turn, push, and manipulate controls to manage our vehicles.
Note in the above the subtle red stitching on the steering wheel, dashboard (very limited, to the right of the climate controls), and seats. It's one of the signature features of the Black Edition and, given that, it's surprisingly subtle. This is a very utilitarian dashboard design with little verve. On the upside, drivers will also sit in the vehicle and immediately know where all the controls are and how to interact with them to manage the Pilot. Well, except the gearshift...
As I've discussed before, car manufacturers are clearly trying to figure out how the next generation of gearshifts should look, which means that there's more variety than at any time in the history of the automobile. I find this curiously sculpted set of buttons weird to look at, but quite easy to manage. Then again, other than in parking lots, don't most of us choose "Drive" and get on with our trips, never having to again change gears until we're at the end of our journeys?
Oddly, the Black Edition includes paddle shifters, though I can't imagine more than 0.0001% of Honda Pilot owners would ever use them. It's not really an off-road edition, so it's hard to figure out when that would be helpful.
The center console offers a variety of drive mode controls too, a nod to the off-road capabilities of the 2025 Honda Pilot AWD. The big, central cup holders are useful too, whether as a storage spot for cellphones, a coin holder, or for, well, cups.
The center console area also offers additional storage and a well-designed wireless charger pad:
USB-C, USB-A, 12V, it's nice to have "one of each" and to have them all so easy to find and accessible. These were designed to be an important part of the dashboard, not afterthoughts tucked in odd corners like some other manufacturers. The climate controls were also easy to work with, though they felt a bit pedestrian and even outdated for a $56K vehicle.
Honda also made an interesting decision with its placement of the steering wheel heater control button. Can you find it in the above photo? I also found the steering wheel controls confusing in regards to changing the main gauge display information views. If the right side is dedicated to its [adaptive] cruise control and the left side is the infotainment control, I was left puzzled about how to change the display. The 2025 Pilot also has a nice 360ยบ view system for safety, but the button that enables it - other than when you're in reverse - is almost impossible to find. It's on the end of the windshield wiper control stick. It took my passenger pointing out for me to discover it.
It is worth finding because Honda's done a great job with this view, offering a big, wide mock overhead view that makes it easy to park perfectly centered in a spot. The relatively modest 9" touchscreen infotainment system again shows Honda's approach to design simplicity, with "Home", "Back", a volume knob and physical "prev" and "next" track buttons supplementing the touchscreen interface. It also sports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, always appreciated in a modern vehicle.
Second row passengers aren't forgotten either, with a full climate control and handy charging options (though no USB-A):
Even rear seat heaters. Gotta love the Black Edition!
I was also impressed by the legroom of the 2025 Honda Pilot AWD; plenty enough to have second row adult passengers comfortable for a long road trip. The third row? As is common, it's smaller, with less legroom, and most suitable for younger family members:
There's a lot of cargo space in this, as is common with three-row SUVs. Fold everything down, and you can have a doozy of a shopping adventure at the local IKEA and still manage to get everything home afterwards.
I did wish that there was a cargo net or something similar in the back, however, because anything I had in the very back tended to slide back and forth as I drove. My guess is that owners probably have some sort of stowage in this area.
I quite enjoyed a week driving this top-end Honda mid-size SUV. The 2025 Honda Pilot AWD Black Edition offers a lot of great refinements while still adhering to the classic Honda focus on functionality. It may look like a lot of other large SUVs in its category - to me it's weird similar to some of the larger Jeep SUVs - but it's a solid option if you're in the market for a bigger vehicle to move the family around, with an occasional shopping trip or road adventure.
2025 Honda Pilot AWD Black Edition, powered by a 3.5L V6 engine with 10-speed automatic transmission. BASE PRICE: $54,280.00. There were no additional options beyond the full Black Edition trim set. AS DRIVEN: $56,130.00.
Disclosure: Honda loaned me the Pilot for a week in return for this candid writeup. This article originally appeared on PlanetDave.com with the title The 2025 Honda Pilot AWD Black Edition Is a Premium SUV and is republished with permission.
