A Buyer’s Guide to the 2025 Pilot: Everything You Need To Know

Honda has disrupted the landscape of midsize SUVs with the updated 2025 Honda Pilot. This three-row, five-door SUV returns with a fresh trim lineup, new high-end features, and the kind of family-focused practicality that drivers have come to expect. If you’re considering a 2025 Honda Pilot for sale, there’s a lot to be excited about for all kinds of shoppers, including those seeking comfort, capability, and cutting-edge technology. With an expanded selection of trims, more standard features, and enhanced styling, the 2025 Pilot is ready to make its mark.

Headlining the updates for 2025 is the debut of the all-new Black Edition trim. At the top of the lineup, this trim gives the Pilot a bold, upscale edge that stands out in any setting. The Black Edition lives up to its name with aggressive styling upgrades, including 20-inch gloss-black aluminum alloy wheels, a gloss-black grille bar, and side mirror housing caps finished in black. Blackout treatments on the front fascia, window trimming, and cladding add a stealthy sophistication. You’ll also find exclusive badging that proudly sets this trim apart, while the interior has red-accented perforated leather upholstery with unique red-contrast stitching throughout the cabin, highlighted by red ambient lighting.

Trim Levels & Color Options

The 2025 Honda Pilot has altered the trim lineup, with the Sport now being the entry-level option, replacing the outgoing LX trim. This adds more overall value to the Pilot when it comes to entry-level features, as you get more standard equipment with the Sport. The EX-L provides you with more options and upscale luxury elements, such as leather seating and more advanced safety features. 

Further up the trim ladder, you’ll have a stronger focus on ruggedness and luxury. The TrailSport is designed for off-road traversal, with all-terrain tires and an off-road-tuned suspension, as well as accompanying infotainment and safety tech to boost your satisfaction. The Touring trim is all about luxury convenience, with enhanced accessibility, navigation support, and a Bose Premium Sound System—and then, the Elite trim comes with enhanced standard luxury, comfort, and tech features. 

Finally, there is the Black Edition, which is fully featured for all of the luxury and ruggedness that helps make the Pilot so great, offering top-end comfort, convenience, and tech all in one package. The 2025 Pilot is available in one of eight colors, with specific hues being available for specific trims:

• Crystal Black Pearl (Sport, EX-L, TrailSport, Touring, Elite, Black Edition)
• Diffused Sky Blue Pearl (TrailSport)
• Lunar Silver Metallic (Sport, EX-L, TrailSport, Touring, Elite)
• Modern Steel Metallic (EX-L, Touring, Elite, Black Edition)
• Obsidian Blue Pearl (Sport, EX-L, Touring, Elite)
• Platinum White Pearl (Sport, EX-L, TrailSport, Touring, Elite, Black Edition)
• Radiant Red Metallic (Sport, EX-L, TrailSport, Touring, Elite, Black Edition)
• Sonic Gray Pearl (Sport, TrailSport, Touring, Elite, Black Edition)

Power & Fuel Efficiency

Getting your family to and from destinations requires a purpose-built powertrain in a three-row SUV. The 2025 Pilot thankfully has a very reliable and powerful 3.5-liter V6 under the hood, pumping an impressive 285 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque. The V6 is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission, delivering extremely smooth gear shifts for both stop-and-go traffic in the city and longer stretches on the highway. The Pilot is also available in both front- and all-wheel drive.

You have the benefit of extended range and better fuel economy in front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive gets you Honda’s Intelligent Variable Torque Management (iVTM-4) system for enhanced stability and traction control, improving confidence in poor weather conditions or on challenging terrain. As for fuel economy, the EPA estimates that you can expect 19 MPG in the city and 27 MPG on the highway in FWD, or 19 MPG in the city and 25 MPG on the highway in AWD.^[a]

The Pilot comes standard with 20-inch aluminum wheels, and trims like the TrailSport come standard with all-terrain tires. The Pilot is also configured with multiple drive modes; there are the standard five drive modes on the lower trims, which include Normal, Econ, Snow, Tow, and Sport; off-road-themed trims have two additional modes—Trail and Sand—for added traction control when venturing into slippery or difficult terrain. The TrailSport, in particular, comes with skid plates, recovery points, and an integrated Class III trailer hitch.

Convenience & Capacity

Large family vehicles are known for good cargo capacity and comfortable seating arrangements. All trim levels of the 2025 Pilot have the same amount of cargo capacity, so no matter which one you go with, you can configure your cabin the same way. You have 18.6 cu.ft. behind the third row; with easy-fold, one-touch capabilities for the back-row seats, you can expand your cargo area to 48.5 cu.ft.; folding down the second row as well will increase that space to 87 cu.ft.

The EX-L and TrailSport come with a power liftgate, but the Touring trim and onward have a hands-free gesture-based liftgate, which is useful for accessing the rear cargo area without having to use your hands. All trims come with roof rails, so you can use compatible roof racks for the Pilot. LED lighting (for the headlights, tail lamps, and fog lights) helps with clarity, while the acoustic glass helps keep sounds in the cabin from escaping outward and exterior sounds from seeping into the cabin.

Lower trims come with powered and heated front seats, and moving up the trim ladder adds ventilation to the front seats, as well as memory settings for the driver’s seat and heated seating for the second row. Select trims like the TrailSport can also be configured with second-row captain’s chairs instead of a split bench, with synthetic leather upholstery. However, the Touring and higher come with leather-trimmed upholstery. All trims support tri-zone automatic climate control, as well as multiple storage opportunities, such as a center console, a stowable second-row center seat, a hidden storage wall, and side-door storage. Select trims like the Touring also provide you with a panoramic moonroof if you want that extra level of pleasure.

Connectivity & Safety

The different trims provide you with different levels of tech, but all come with the Honda Sensing suite, which has all of the basics you could want from a family-oriented three-row SUV, including driver assistance features to help you with daily errands and commutes alike. Standard tools include a Collision Mitigation Braking System, Road Departure Mitigation System, Blind Spot Information System, Traffic Sign Recognition, Adaptive Cruise Control, rearview camera, and parking sensors, among others.

Many of these features communicate with you through the infotainment system, which is either a 7-inch touchscreen for the lower trims or a 9-inch touchscreen for the upper trims. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard, giving you phone projection and media access, as does Bluetooth. Every trim above the EX-L comes with a wireless phone charging pad and the CabinTalk in-vehicle public announcement system, making it easy to communicate with those in the third row. 

Multi-row USB ports for charging devices and Smart Entry With Walk Away Auto Lock are standard across the trim lineup. The TrailSport has access to the TrailWatch system with multi-camera angles, while the Touring comes with Wi-Fi hotspot compatibility and multi-zone audio thanks to the Bose Premium Sound System. The Elite and Black Edition have access to everything on the previous trims but with added support for a Honda satellite-linked navigation system and a head-up display on the driver’s side for added telemetry information.

Shop for a 2025 Pilot Right Now!

The 2025 Honda Pilot is available now, with its refined trims, bold new Black Edition, and a perfect blend of utility, comfort, and technology. Need help choosing the right 2025 Pilot? We’re here to help. Whether it’s answering your questions, walking you through features, or helping you schedule a test drive, our knowledgeable staff is ready to assist. Contact us today to explore our inventory and find your perfect match.

Are you planning on doing a lot of off-road adventuring? Or are you looking for a good daily driver? Are you interested in something more upscale for ridesharing or events? We can help you identify the specific Pilot that will fit your intentions, making it easy to get behind the wheel of your next three-row SUV.

^[a]19 city/27 highway/22 combined mpg rating for 2WD trims. 19 city/25 highway/21 combined mpg rating for non-TrailSport AWD trims. 18 city/23 highway/20 combined mpg rating for TrailSport. Based on 2025 EPA mileage ratings. Use for comparison purposes only. Your mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle, driving conditions and other factors.