The 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport & Elite Aren't NEARLY as Similar as You Think...Here's Why! 

How about the VCM system?

@@tovinh9309hasn’t been a problem for years since the system is better now, but you could buy a disabling kit for cheap online if you don’t want VCM. We did that in a 2010 pilot

Hondas will continue to be one of the best in class cars due to reliability and engineering. But I do feel instead of being amazing they just settle for 9/10. In these huge vehicles there is zero need for a 9inch infotainment system! I also wish they would expand their hybrid offerings to the Passport and Pilot.

@@JayZJay7 Idk about reliability since the last 10’yeard the pilots and mdx have a bunch of problems

@@MrMlbfan6 Sad but true! I own 2 Honda, Ridgeline 9spd and Pilot 6spd but once I started getting into the Forums, there’s a lot of people who had issues that it worries me but only time will tell :/

Honestly though, couldn't you buy the elite, then add the skid plates, change tires, and put a slight lift on it?

yep need a Pilot TrailSport Elite

@@kartboarder22g17 in a nutshell, yes. I was thinking about going Elite and just add the extras rugged stuff later.

I just bought the touring not the elite due to the better value but still has almost the same options minus the cooled seats. I can't find any after market up grades yet just a kn air filter . I'm going to change my tires to hybrid tires from radar and ad a small led bar in the Front . I absolutely love this ride all the drive modes and paddle shifter in sports the poilet get down

Honda offers the elite on the hpd package and it give you a more rugged look.

The Trailsport will be a great vehicle especially once the car market shifts to favor buyers and gets some discounts off msrp! For 45k new, this will be a lot of car!

@@R56Cooper unless people just stop buying, that will not be happening with Honda. They are actually producing less cars now

@@daebruh2034 yes-- will be fascinating to see what will happen these next few months--- have been watching Lucky Lopez videos!

this is an all new 3.5 the old one was sohc vtec, this is dohc non vtec still timing belt driven though so maintenance is a pain

@@ShaiyanHossain agree, they need to be up with the times.

@@ShaiyanHossain Why should Honda spend the money to change from belt to chain the cost is on the consumer not Honda.

They run forever. I’ve had 4. They are awesome products

@@clarkkent9080 toyotas 2gr has been chain driven for how long? Also Hondas own K series uses timing chains too

Tried the elite with the middle seat down. More or less like a arm rest with cup holders. The removable seat looks fancy, but I don't see much use in reality- just a personal view of course.

I dont think the trailsport comes with a removeable middle seat. Or a middle seat at all

@@wanliyang2380 I see the middle seat option a great thing for if I'm going on a long trip I can have all 3 of my kids on the center and put more gear in the rear. Otherwise it's nice for most situations to have the middle seat out, my kids seperated with the oldest in the rear.

Exactly

@@wanliyang2380 I agree realistically why would you ever remove the seat? With it there you have cupholders / armrest, without it, nothing. Also when 2nd row is folded, w/o the seat there you don't have flat load floor.

Yes that kid and his cameraman rocks!

While he is doing well. It’s at the expense of Nathan. My favorite TFL host. I truly don’t understand why TFL is nearly eliminating his camera time. He’s a legend.

My only problem is that it was all advertisement for Honda. Too scared to say anything negative

@@clarkkent9080 TFL learned the hard way from Subaru!

@@haroldbeauchamp3770 It is very difficult to comment on what is not so great without making the manufacturer mad but some like Alex on Auto will compare with like vehicles to make a point. Instead of saying the trailsport could handle most trails he should have said it has 8.3 inches of ground clearance with is at least 0.1 less than most other SUVs like the Rav4 but the skid plates make up for that. That would let the consumer know that the ground clearance is no so good but at least the skid plates are there to protect things. He is being too kind to Honda and that is ok if the viewed is set on a Honda but if you are comparison shopping this video was not helpful. $50,000 for a Honda is also ridiculous. Honda is living on their past but charging today prices

Agreed

Disagreed.

Yeah chrome was like real big back in the 80s 😂 I like the black.

Agreed, I can't stand chrome.

Agreed! Chrome should be left in the past.

Whoever designed that new Accord needs to be fired! What a piece of crap! Looks like a poor man’s DeLorean.

​@@JoseTorres-st5ici notice it looks like an older accord instead of a new one, more or less it was an old design that wasnt choosesn til now

Y’all stay hating on the new accord. It’s more mature compared to the last one that a young 20 person would have. 🤣

@mannygonzalez4178 weird that you say that because my 67 year old mom, who owns the previous gen Accord hates the look of the new one.

@@TheSiGuy yea. Really weird…

Regarding the hitch, I'm sure Honda dealers will jump at the opportunity to install one for you.

Hitch is available as an accessory on all trims.

My concern exactly. I would rather seat 3 in 2nd row and have all the space for cargo in the back, rather than have captain seats and put 5th passenger in 3rd row.

1, 100 too add the hitch on my elite in Oklahoma bdw

Essentially, you can get the Elite and add the lifts, skid plates, etc. later. Honda sells those parts.

@@L4mTr4n But it wouldn't have the more robust rear differential, full size spare, and perhaps some of the programming of the Transport still.

Looks like sht, ruined its japanese aesthetic to this americanized peice of sht

Yes! An 8 seat trailsport would be the undisputable king of amateur off road SUVs

Remarkably the 23 Honda Elite Odyssey seats are annoyingly difficult to move and can be done without two hands by an adult. My 10 year old and 5 year old spent significant time in one at the dealership and they couldn’t move the seats and it was challenging for me as well. In comparison, the Pilot has a one finger button to move the 2nd row seats. One on the lower side of the seat and another up on the shoulder of the seat so it was incredibly easy for my 5 year old to operate on her own. It also would be easier for a parent who has one hand holding an infant car seat or toddler’s hand. I was so surprised that the Odyssey wouldn’t have an easy to use mechanism for this.

@@cd2290 Did they change something in 2023 Odyssey? We have removed our middle 2 row seat. You can slide seats to make space in the middle or each side to get into the back. Also helps to keep two kids away from each other, when they are fighting. I don't need 3rd row, that will be for the stuff.

I SWEAR TO god!!!! I thought the same thing but I wonder if it’s tuned different ya know!!! But I really love the sound system in the elit

I agreee with you so much!!!!

The trail sport also has different suspension components, so you’d have to swap those too if you wanted a true “Trail Sport Elite”

@@nickcivic21 it is tuned a little different to take into account the wheels off the ground. So you get the additional programming of Trail Logic with the Trailsport for use when in Trail drive mode only (that is my understanding) and wheels are lifted. That is when the TrailSport gets rear diff torque is in that tire lifting scenario compared to the elite which doesn’t get trail logic programming. I bet otherwise it is the same programming as the Elite. Now granted the Elite is already like $4K more expensive than the Trailsport. So to turn the Elite into a Trail Elite is probably going to run you another $3-4K. That is getting pretty pricey for the 3-4 times a year it would hit an actual trail where those changes will actually matter. :)

I would rather do this.

Probably camera angle and the color. The Trailsport should be the same size but an inch higher

You can definitely get a hitch for the Elite, it just doesn’t come included like on the Trailsport.

Trailsport ride quality ??????

2wd winter tires is fine if you're not driving aggressively on deep snow and know your vehicle's limits enough to account for not having all wheels driven

No. I've investigated this extensively. The 2nd row bench seat insert cannot be retro-fitted to the TrailSport. Once removed, there are welded hooks that the center bench insert hooks onto to keep it in place. There are no such hooks on the TrailSport. Also oddly enough, the TrailSport does not get the Honda GPS on-board navigation system. Those two things have made me move to a Touring (once I can find one equipped the way I want it). Lastly, no Pilots come with a Trans Cooler. You can retro-fit one on but it is not factory available.

You can add 2mpg for the standard AWD trims, and add another 2mpg for FWD versions.

MPG is poor on both

I’m looking hard at that one. The EX-L has basically anything you’d ever need except a sunroof. If it had even a smaller one I’d buy that one over a more expensive trim level, but that’s probably why they removed the sunroof on if 😂 so you pony up more for a more expensive trim with panoramic sunroof

The only must have is ground clearance. You can go almost anywhere in the world with almost any vehicle.

Just want to check out the on road difference in handling and ride between the TrailSport and the Elite .before I decide which one to......

I have a Sierra. The GMC version of the Silverado z71. You hit a pothole and you don't feel it. But you bounce up and down the road. No big deal as the driver but passengers complain. It's the nature of off road vehicles. Tires are also critical on all cars. Like the old 13 inch civics became a different car with 14 inch summer tires. If you take a Trailsport for a test drive, have an objective person in the passenger seat. I actually bought my version of Truck because of the skid plates. I have a 1000 ft dirt driveway. I was going to switch out the whole front system and rear shocks to the Denalis. So for $1500, I would have the smaller engine I want, the shocks and ride I want, with skid plates. Versus 6K more for worse gas mileage and no skid plates. I also didn't want a sunroof. But I LOVE that potholes mean nothing, so I left it alone. There's just no way you can have both. The shocks travel longer. Has to bounce some if not a lot.

I hear ya in that being able to sit 3 across on the 2nd row. We can’t do it because of Hondas design approach. They wanted the TrailSport to have a full size spare tire and that tire underneath cuts into the space where you would be able to store the 8th seat. All the other trims have lightweight donut spare which gives them the maximum space necessary to store the 8th seat.

@@cue03 So don't provide a storage area for the extra seat in the Trailsport. My wife has a Toyota that *has* a storage area for the jump seat, but it's still in the basement when we're not using it because we prefer to have the seat storage area available for other stuff.

@@markweaver1012 100% agree. I wish they would have provided the seat as well to make the TrailSport 8 seats.

@@cue03 Thank you for the explanation. The 3rd seat storage space issue makes sense. Still hope Honda could have at least an option of 8 seat version for trailspot, like Sport/EXL, even if that means the 3rd seat in the 2nd row cannot be removed.

Lots happens in 5 years. New GC Limited is over $50k now, and even more if you want 3 rows of seating.

@@ALMX5DPTruth. So much is expensive now, grand cherokees can run up to 70k now it’s insane. Even Kia Telluride tops out more expensive than these Pilots MSRP wise and they have worse markups. Surprising but these are actually priced pretty well in current market

I like empty sit in the middle if the 2nd row. But im sure in 2 or 3 yrs it will have a modification available.

Nope cannot add those options. I look at it as if you don’t camp or off-road get the elite. If you do camp or off-road, get a forerunner or wait for the new forerunner to be redesigned.

​@artieartya The 4Runner is way too rough on pavement, the Trailsport is great to drive on long road trips, and very capable off road too.

Exactly

No. Honda needs a 300 horsepower Ridgeline.

No, there are no mounting points in the Trailsport

Yes

But then on the one you want to take camping (the Trailsport), you're missing the middle seat to have a completely flat floor. I tell you, sometimes I wonder what Honda is thinking.

the current passport is going to be phased out soon enough and the trailsport for that will mimic the trailsport for this also the ivtm-4 system in the pilots have always been a slightly detuned version of SH-AWD from the acura products, so yes, its a mechanical twin clutch rear differential system also sirius xm kinda sucks in the current year unless you NEED the djs, just use car play/android auto lmao

@@ShaiyanHossain So, it is FWD until slippage occurs, right? Too bad. And what do you mean Sirius sucks? Does it come with it or not? I really dislike relying on my phone for everything.

All trims except LX and Sport. EX-L Gets wireless along with Trailsport, touring, elite, black Editon

Yes, WTH was Honda thinking with the "Trail" Sport with only 8" of ground clearance? My Subaru Crosstrek XV had more that that. Seems Honda is clueless if it's trying to get into the "off-road" scene. Really don't see any significant difference compared to the larger Pilot...especially since each has Honda's excellent iVTM4 (Accura SH-AWD) AWD system. -- BR