Only Pretending It’s a Brute

IF Honda’s designers feel they have been double-crossed by American consumers, it would be understandable.

But I think it is really just a matter of bad timing, not treachery. Several years ago, when Honda was planning the redesign of its Pilot utility wagon for 2009, drivers told researchers they wanted the next generation to look more like an S.U.V.

So Honda did it. But now as the trucky-looking Pilot is reaching showrooms, American consumers are panicking over gas prices — and shunning trucks as if they were bank-account devouring monsters, which isn’t all that far off.

The truck share of the overall light-vehicle market in the United States fell to 47 percent in the first five months of this year, from a peak of nearly 55 percent in 2004, according to J. D. Power & Associates. And sales of large S.U.V.’s, which the new Pilot now resembles more closely (intentionally, but unfortunately) are shriveling as pump-dazed car buyers shift to smaller vehicles.

Honda’s considerable task, then, is to persuade shoppers that beneath the Pilot’s brutish sheet metal is a crossover that uses car-type construction, powered by a V-6 engine that can save fuel by backing down from six cylinders to four or even three when conditions permit.

This is the first redesign of the Pilot since the original was introduced in 2002 and quickly became a hit. The second generation was developed in the United States and is built in Lincoln, Ala., where its 3.5-liter engine is also made.

The Pilot is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and comes in four trim levels. Prices of two-wheel-drive models start at $28,265 for the LX, $31,065 for the EX, $34,265 for the EX-L and $37,465 for the fancy Touring version. All-wheel drive is about $1,600 more.

I tested a Touring with all-wheel drive priced at $40,625.

The market has changed considerably since the first Pilot. There is much more competition from a formidable gathering of other crossover (that is, car-based) utilities like the Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia, all from General Motors; the Toyota Highlander; and the Mazda CX-9.

While the exterior of the Pilot has been toughened up for ’09, the interior follows a theme of thoughtfulness and practicality. That includes a huge, multisection storage compartment between the comfortable front seats that leaves no excuses for disorganization.