The Honda Pilot has been a mainstay at shopping malls and school drop-offs ever since its inception more than 20 years ago. It has always been a spacious, no-nonsense family hauler with room for up to seven, along with your typical Honda reliability and above-average fuel economy. The 2025 Honda Pilot Black Edition doesn’t deviate from this formula in the least.
The Pilot is now in its fourth generation, which debuted in 2023. Styling has gone up and down in my books, at times looking like a proper boxy SUV, and other times having you rub your eyes to make sure it wasn’t an Odyssey. Sure, having a familial resemblance is nice, but people buy three-row SUVs and crossovers precisely because they aren’t minivans.
This fourth-generation Pilot, however, is the best yet. It went back to boxy and looks very SUV-like, even though the Pilot has always had a unibody construction. The front end blends Honda’s latest design language with a bit of Ford—the horizontal headlights and equally large, gloss black mesh grille mimics the Explorer ST, as do the flat hood and overall dimensions. The Pilot’s side profile is slab-sided, with some gloss black trim following the wheel wells and lower parts of the doors along the way. The rear end has some with some basic-looking tail lights connected by black trim, finished off with big, bold letters across the tailgate spelling out its name, along with dual rectangular exhaust tips integrated into the bumper.
The Black Edition is a new trim for 2025, positioned above the Trailsport and Elite. It’s fully loaded, with blacked-out 20-inch wheels, the aforementioned blacked-out trim bits, and the requisite ‘Black Edition’ badges on the front grille and rear tailgate. The odd thing is that the Honda logo and exhaust tips are still chrome. I’m not typically a fan of these blackout packages in general, but contrasted against our tester’s deep red paint, it adds some much-needed panache to the Pilot. For 2025, Honda’s full suite of active safety and driver assists is now standard on all Pilots, which includes collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control lane-departure warning, and much more.
The Black Edition treatment continues inside as well. Red-accented perforated leather seats with ‘Black Edition’ embossed in them, along with contrast red stitching on the steering wheel, seats, and door panels, and red ambient lighting are exclusive to the Black Edition. [Shouldn’t it be called the Red Edition, then? —Ed.] The rest of the interior is typical Honda, with a simple digital gauge cluster and nine-inch touchscreen for the infotainment shared across the lineup. Honda ensures there are physical controls for your most commonly used functions, so the Pilot gets bonus usability points for that.
But I’m docking a few points for Honda’s odd decision to borrow Acura’s much-hated button-shifter layout. It’s probably a cost-saving measure since the Pilot shares much with the MDX, but still, the conventional shift lever requires zero getting used-to. I also would’ve loved to see the metallic vent grille spanning across the dashboard, rather than the current plain-jane dash, here in the Pilot. This classes up other Hondas considerably, so it’s a missed opportunity. And finally, the Bose audio system on-board is ho-hum at best.
What the Black Edition doesn’t change is the powertrain. The Pilot still features Honda’s normally aspirated 3.5-litre V6, working with a nine-speed automatic and Honda’s intelligent all-wheel-drive system. It’s not the same V6 the Pilot debuted with, but output hasn’t changed much since the third-gen model in 2016. Today, it puts out 285 horsepower—only five more than the last one—and the same 262 pound-feet of torque as the last one, albeit 300 rpm later. Normally that wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the 2025 weighs a few hundred pounds more than that third-gen model.
It’s a little bit unfortunate because it’s hard not to notice how much the engine works to keep you moving. It’s not that it’s rough, you need to rev it out even in moderate acceleration. You can hear and feel it, so much so that my wife asked me what was wrong with it. it isn’t a torquey thing the engine needs to rev quite high even in moderate acceleration, so much so that my wife asked me what was wrong with it. It makes sense—peak torque arrives at 5,000 rpm, and peak power at 6,100. All that said, the numbers are consistent with competitors like the Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, and VW Atlas—although the Atlas’ turbo-four produces more torque much lower in the rev range.
I say it’s unfortunate because the rest of the Pilot’s road manners are well-sorted. The suspension tuning is great, if a little soft for a Honda, but steering is solid, and road and wind noise are minimal. And with its comfortable cabin and good visibility, it’s easy to rack up the miles in the Pilot—as long as you don’t poke the gas pedal too much. Despite this gripe, the 2025 Honda Pilot Black Edition is a solid choice in the midsize three-row crossover segment, providing the right stuff and space for larger families’ needs. But it does face some stiff competition, so I would suggest shopping around before
I say it’s unfortunate because the rest of the Pilot is well sorted, with great suspension tuning (if a little soft for a Honda), solid steering and low road and wind noise. And with a comfortable cabin with good visibility, it’s easy to rack up miles in the Pilot, so long as you accelerate smoothly to keep the revs low and engine quiet. Despite this gripe, the 2025 Honda Pilot Black Edition remains a solid choice in the midsize crossover segment, providing the right stuff and space for larger families’ needs. But it does face stiff competition and I’d suggest shopping around before landing on your final choice.
