Is the Honda Pilot 9 speed that bad?

[yash sharma]

i'm planning to get a 2018 honda pilot touring, but the pilot reviews say that the 9 speed is slow and are really defective. I just want to know if the problems are the same in the touring model and in the fwd and awd models.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

On ‎2018‎-‎03‎-‎10 at 8:47 PM, yash sharma said:

i'm planning to get a 2018 honda pilot touring, but the pilot reviews say that the 9 speed is slow and are really defective. I just want to know if the problems are the same in the touring model and in the fwd and awd models.

The 9-speed automatic is only on the top touring model. All the lower models get 6-speeds.

The main issue I see is that first gear is very short which makes it feel odd in bumper to bumper traffic. Once you get going on the highway however, it's not much of a big deal. The fact the Honda went for buttons rather than a traditional gear select/shifter is also reason why people hated it. 

[Canada EH]

Go out and buy Phil Edmonston Lemon Aid book, he is the go to guy!

[vetali]

9 speed is a ZF transmission. Honda may be phasing them out for the internally designed 10 speeds because of how many issues that Acura has had with the ZFs.

[MadyTehWolfie]

Can't speak, though I can say at the Honda service department I work at haven't had any of the new pilots with the 9 speed in for transmission issues yet.

[Jesus Tap Dancing Crust]

I know someone who owned a Chrysler Pacifica van with the same transmission, and it really was that bad. They ended up trading it in for a Toyota after 3 months.

 

Wait for Honda to introduce their 10 speed to the Pilot. My grandma's 2018 Odyssey has it, and having driven that van, my initial impression was that it was one of the best automatics I've ever experienced.

[bimmerman]

I had a Chrysler 200 rental car for ~4 months while my M3 was getting repaired (this was in 2016). This car had the 9 speed and some pathetically gutless 4 cylinder engine....it was embarrassingly slow and dangerously dimwitted.  I timed it when accelerating from 30mph to 65 mph-- one and a half full seconds elapsed between the time I floored the pedal to the time it kicked down a few gears, and then another few seconds more of "acceleration". Thankfully I had a protected merge lane, and knew it was going to do this ahead of time, but that transmission's programming is dangerously stupid and utterly useless. Imagine if there was no protected merge and there was a semi truck barreling down in the right lane-- I'd have been smashed, and there's nothing I could have done about it! Flooring the pedal should not flummox the transmission computer-- that's a signal to GO FAST NOW NOW NOW!

 

I would avoid anything that has that 9 speed transmission in it. It is terribly jerky, horribly programmed, and favors efficiency over performance to the detriment of safety.

 

Actually, screw any and all automatics. No unexpected shift delay in a manual, no moronic computer second guessing your inputs. Never have I ever been happier to be back in my 20 year old manual everything car than after that long extended rental experience. Screw automatics, and avoid the 9 speed ZF like the plague.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 hours ago, bimmerman said:

I had a Chrysler 200 rental car for ~4 months while my M3 was getting repaired (this was in 2016). This car had the 9 speed and some pathetically gutless 4 cylinder engine....it was embarrassingly slow and dangerously dimwitted.  I timed it when accelerating from 30mph to 65 mph-- one and a half full seconds elapsed between the time I floored the pedal to the time it kicked down a few gears, and then another few seconds more of "acceleration". Thankfully I had a protected merge lane, and knew it was going to do this ahead of time, but that transmission's programming is dangerously stupid and utterly useless. Imagine if there was no protected merge and there was a semi truck barreling down in the right lane-- I'd have been smashed, and there's nothing I could have done about it! Flooring the pedal should not flummox the transmission computer-- that's a signal to GO FAST NOW NOW NOW!

 

I would avoid anything that has that 9 speed transmission in it. It is terribly jerky, horribly programmed, and favors efficiency over performance to the detriment of safety.

 

Actually, screw any and all automatics. No unexpected shift delay in a manual, no moronic computer second guessing your inputs. Never have I ever been happier to be back in my 20 year old manual everything car than after that long extended rental experience. Screw automatics, and avoid the 9 speed ZF like the plague.

I read your reply and was immediately put off by your last comment.