Honda is being unnecessarily coy again over the release of the 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport. The latest teaser gives almost a complete look at the front and rear end of the upcoming off-road Pilot but stops short of fully revealing the SUV.
At least this time, Honda shared a little more information about what makes the TrailSport different than the rest of the lineup, instead of just showing an image that had us saying “Enhance!”
Honda insists the 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport will be its “most rugged SUV ever” straight from the factory. That implies the next-generation Pilot will be more capable than both the previous Pilot TrailSport and Passport TrailSport, which were Honda’s original attempts at selling SUVs tailored for off-road.
The Passport TrailSport did a decent job on the trail, but it couldn’t really brush off its bias as an SUV made for the city. As the bigger, heavier model of the two, the Pilot will have to try even harder than the Passport to prove it’s serious about hitting the trail — unless it’s not serious, and just wants to look the part.
Either way, Honda is giving the new Pilot TrailSport standard features such as all-terrain tires, steel skid plates (plural), an off-road tuned suspension and an all-wheel drive system with expanded capabilities, which will probably just end up having more drive modes than the current torque vectoring AWD system.
The Pilot TrailSport that debuted in 2021 also came with smaller 18-inch wheels compared to the rest of the lineup, and gained 0.6 inches of ground clearance. And for reference, it cost about $6,700 more than the base model Pilot Sport.
It’d be nice if Honda increased the new TrailSport’s ground clearance even more this time, but the Pilot is first and foremost an SUV with comfortable seating for up to eight passengers. So, more ground clearance might not be a priority. We’ll know soon enough: the new Pilot TrailSport’s reveal is later this fall. Until then, we can only imagine what it’ll cost, and what its full front and rear end look like.
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