We “upgraded“ in 2018 from a 2002 Grand caravan that we bought new, to a 2018 Honda Pilot. I kept the minivan as my truck, took out both rear seats. I have to say I didn’t want the mini van back in 02, but there are things I like about a mini van Better. The Pilot does not have the room behind the rear seat that the mini van has. I also think the rear seat of the mini van had more room. Both were bought to be our “nice car”, go to church, take on vacations, etc ( our daily drivers are old beaters). The height of the Pilot is an issue for us on vacation, with our luggage topper we can not park in the parking garage at the condo we stay at. The Pilot has to be parked on the ground floor parking lot, which I’m not a fan of, at times the lot is full. The mini van w/topper fit in the condo parking garage. I will say the Pilot is great in snow, but of course it’s all wheel drive, mini is front wheel drive and did pretty well in the snow we usually receive.
Pilot (3.5l) gets better mileage by 6-8mpg on trips, which is nice. Pilot is very comfortable and has the bells and whistles the mini doesn’t have. We had serious issues the first year of ownership with the Pilot. First the Mass air flow sensor then the complete engine wiring harness and computer had to be replaced (under warranty of course) Pilot kept going into limp mode and doing what I called “stroking out” all warning lights and trouble codes rotated through the dash screen, couldn’t drive over 20ish miles per hour. last few years have been trouble free. I wanted another mini van but the boss researched the Pilot and we really needed the all wheel drive, so Pilot it was.
Mike
