Honda Pilot Vs Honda Pilot TrailSport: What's The Difference?

The three-row Honda Pilot is an appealing family SUV. It has plenty of space for passengers, a long list of standard features, and a stout V6 under the hood. If you're looking to go off the beaten path, it is offered in a TrailSport trim level. Just above the middle trim levels in the Pilot lineup, the TrailSport trim is priced at $50,850 (including $1,450 destination fee). That's nearly $10k more than a base Pilot — a significant jump — but it has specific equipment and aesthetics designed to attract adventurous shoppers. Honda's TrailWatch camera system, for example, can help drivers navigate around off-road obstacles. And on the inside, there's unique stitching and all-season floor mats to make the cabin feel a bit more unique. 

Do you have a kayak that you take to the river each weekend? Do you spend your free time checking out topographic maps and looking for the nearest mountain to explore? This one should be right up your alley. The Pilot TrailSport has some undeniable off-road performance, and as we discovered when we tested the Pilot TrailSport a few years back, it doesn't compromise much when it comes to on-road performance. Here's what Honda has done to upgrade its three-row SUV and make it more aggressive when the pavement ends.

More than just some stitching and a nice off-road camera, the TrailSport is physically different from other trim levels. Compared to standard versions of the Pilot, the TrailSport adds an extra inch of ground clearance – 8.3 inches compared to the standard 7.3 inches. That's a significant ride height increase that will help you avoid scrapes and scratches on the underside of your SUV. That increased ground clearance also changes the Pilot's approach and departure angles, another off-road benefit. All-terrain tires are a part of the TrailSport package too, which helps to increase grip in off-road situations. Underbody steel skid plates are also attached to the TrailSport trim, protecting important parts of the Pilot's underside like the oil pan, transmission, and gas tank. 

Under the hood, the Pilot TrailSport gets the same 3.5-liter V6 as the other trim levels, which makes 285 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. Matching all the other trim levels of the Pilot, the TrailSport has a respectable maximum towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. With the extra off-road equipment offered by the Pilot TrailSport, however, it's the heaviest version of the SUV. According to Honda it has a curb weight of 4,685 lbs. It's also the least-efficient version of the Pilot. According to the EPA, the TrailSport will return 20 mpg combined (18 city/23 highway) while other versions are rated at 21 or 22 mpg combined. 

If you're looking for some mild off-road capability and the Pilot is too big for you, there are other options with the TrailSport badge to choose from. Honda recently debuted a new TrailSport trim level for the CR-V — an upgraded version of their compact SUV that's designed for a bit of light off-roading. The new trim on the CR-V is a pretty mild upgrade, though. It has some unique styling on the outside, some changes on the interior (different stitching and floor mats), and some all-terrain tires, but there isn't much else to set it apart from other all-wheel-drive CR-V's so don't plan any big rock-crawling trips. 

The CR-V's big brother, the Passport, is much more robust. SlashGear's Alex Hevesy got behind the wheel of the midsize Passport earlier this year, specifically testing out the TrailSport trim and it proved itself to be an impressive off-roader. And, of course, there's always Honda's pickup truck, the Ridgeline. It's not as robust as competitors like the Toyota Tacoma or the Jeep Gladiator (body-on-frame trucks are typically a bit better at off-roading) but the Ridgeline is impressively capable in the dirt, especially in its own TrailSport trim. It seems like the only SUV left in the Honda lineup without a TrailSport trim is the subcompact HR-V, but that one might just be next.