Towing with a Pilot?

Currently I tow my boat the 2.5ish miles to the lake with my 2.7l tacoma, and we are looking to get a 2nd tow vehicle replacing our Honda Element. With the great luck we've had with our honda (150k, no mechanical issues), the vehicle we're leaning towards is a Honda Pilot.

Info on the boat that it will be towing: 1995 Ski Nautique, and the trailer brakes do work fine. Eventually we are looking to upgrade to a newer 06-? open bow ski nautique 206 or 200. I know those boats weigh roughly 2900 lbs + 1200 for trailer and gear will bring me awfully close to the 5000 lbs tow rating.

Has anyone towed their boat with a Pilot? We're also considering a Toyota 4runner, maybe a F150 or Tundra, depending on how comfortable she is with the size of the vehicle. We're leaning towards the Pilot because of the low cost of ownership.

Before you say just get a F150 for me, a new vehicle for me isn't a good investment because I commute roughly 50 miles a day to work; I don't want to put miles on a vehicle of value.

i would go with a 4runner as you mentioned. the newer boat's weight and gear will be all that pilot could handle. i have a tundra now but i sold my '99 4runner with 270K on it. i did nothing but regular maintenance, tires and oil. it was still running great when i sold it and regret doing so. would've been a great hunting rig.

p.s. love my tundra too, but if you don't need a bed, the 4runners are perfect. my wife drives a sequoia and we love it too, but we have a heavier boat and kid stuff to pack around.

jbach wrote: i would go with a 4runner as you mentioned. the newer boat's weight and gear will be all that pilot could handle. i have a tundra now but i sold my '99 4runner with 270K on it. i did nothing but regular maintenance, tires and oil. it was still running great when i sold it and regret doing so. would've been a great hunting rig. p.s. love my tundra too, but if you don't need a bed, the 4runners are perfect. my wife drives a sequoia and we love it too, but we have a heavier boat and kid stuff to pack around.

Appreciate the input.

The full frame on the 4runner is a plus, however it's tow capacity is only 4700 lbs. The Sequoia is another vehicle we are considering, the only downside to all the larger vehicle is the fuel economy.

1) What motor did you have in your 4runner?

2) How did it handle in hills?

3) What size boat did you tow?

We are pulling our Mustang with my wife's 2006 Toyota Highlander which is the competition to the Pilot. It does a better job than my Xterra which is a real truck. I think it's mostly due to the wheelbase of the Highlander being longer than the Xterra's.

Now the Mustang is only 1600 lbs so that probably doesn't help you much with your comparison.

My brother's wife just got a new 4Runner and it's quite nice. Really a beefy vehicle. Seemed a bit underpowered to me but I'm used to a 6 speed in my Xterra.

I'm very interested in the new Grand Cherokees myself. There's not a whole lot of mid size SUV choices left that have a real truck frame. Xterra, 4runner, Cherokee, Landrover... thats all I can think of.

I drive the Touareg TDI and diesel pumps can be pretty dirty. Some have plastic mitts next to the pump to keep your hands clean. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is basically a Mercedes GL underneath with an Italian engine, so there isn't much for Chrysler to screw up. For the money the Grand Cherokee is a great deal, I just preferred the options and style of the VW. Plus my VW tows the Debonnaire just fine which is probably over 6,000 with the trailer.

I have a 2005 Pilot. I routinely tow about 18 miles each way to the ramp on hilly but not extreme roads. At that speed etc.I have absolutely no problem. Once a year I tow to Virginia which is 400+ miles, mostly interstate. In a perfect world I would have a stronger, heavier vehicle for this but I don't and the Pilot does fine. Coordinating a level trailer height with the hitch is important as the natural tendency is that the hitch it too low and the boat/ trailer are pitched forward putting extra tongue weight on the Honda. We're at 106,000 miles of totally low maintenance ownership and the thing is just like new. I love it.
I also used to tow with a 97 Tacoma, 5 speed v6. The Honda is a stronger pull and the new ones are rated for more towing capacity.
I'm towing virtually the same boat too - a 93 Ski Nautique on a single axle Prestige trailer.

I got the smell of gas on my hands and stepped where someone had over filled so I don't like buying gas vehicles anymore.

I guess I'm stuck buying electric till I get shocked once.

dip wrote: I have a 2005 Pilot. I routinely tow about 18 miles each way to the ramp on hilly but not extreme roads. At that speed etc.I have absolutely no problem. Once a year I tow to Virginia which is 400+ miles, mostly interstate. In a perfect world I would have a stronger, heavier vehicle for this but I don't and the Pilot does fine. Coordinating a level trailer height with the hitch is important as the natural tendency is that the hitch it too low and the boat/ trailer are pitched forward putting extra tongue weight on the Honda. We're at 106,000 miles of totally low maintenance ownership and the thing is just like new. I love it. I also used to tow with a 97 Tacoma, 5 speed v6. The Honda is a stronger pull and the new ones are rated for more towing capacity. I'm towing virtually the same boat too - a 93 Ski Nautique on a single axle Prestige trailer.

Thank you very much! This is exactly what I wanted hear. The Pilot is the car that she wants; however we felt that if it isn't a strong tow vehicle it wouldn't work out for us.

It sounds like we have towed with similar vehicles; right now I tow with a 2000 tacoma, which does okay. I'm glad to hear the Pilot does better than the taco.

A couple questions:
1) What maintenance have you done? Obviously brakes and tires at 106k, but anything out of the ordinary? Valve adjustments? Timing belt?

2) What kind of MPGs towing? 12?

3) Do you notice a lot of down shifting when towing?

vondy wrote: We are pulling our Mustang with my wife's 2006 Toyota Highlander which is the competition to the Pilot. It does a better job than my Xterra which is a real truck. I think it's mostly due to the wheelbase of the Highlander being longer than the Xterra's. Now the Mustang is only 1600 lbs so that probably doesn't help you much with your comparison. My brother's wife just got a new 4Runner and it's quite nice. Really a beefy vehicle. Seemed a bit underpowered to me but I'm used to a 6 speed in my Xterra. I'm very interested in the new Grand Cherokees myself. There's not a whole lot of mid size SUV choices left that have a real truck frame. Xterra, 4runner, Cherokee, Landrover... thats all I can think of.

Thanks for the reply. The highlander is another vehicle for us to look into.

I see you live in the Chicago area. Towing with a truck how you going
to get the rest of your peeps in it when your cruzing the hood you knows what im saying???

Gary S wrote: I see you live in the Chicago area. Towing with a truck how you going to get the rest of your peeps in it when your cruzing the hood you knows what im saying???

Hmmm interesting point, it's all about accommodating the homies. With that being said, I'm going to look at this vehicle tomorrow; it doubles as a tow vehicle/boat.

74Wind wrote: Our 2007 Pilot AWD tows our Southwind or our Century quite well. 4500lb rated towing capacity and seats 8 or plenty of gear. Our trailers are a bit odd, old, and mismatched (not uncommon with older era boats), so we've got just a bit too much tongue weight; but we rarely tow anyway. A modern boat with a well-balanced properly-matching trailer should ride nicely, evenly, and effortlessly. If you do tow frequently in mountainous terrain you might consider going up a size; Tahoe, Sequoia, something like that; but the Pilot is great vehicle. It's my wife's car and she loves it and that's what counts.

Thanks for the reply. The Pilot should be a huge improvement from my current (Tacoma) and past (GMC Safari) tow vehicles. I'd rather not get a full size SUV because those larger vehicles are more expensive to maintain; taking away from boating $$$$$.

Glad to hear your Pilot does the job.