Honda Pilot tow vehicle?

[Chris Sawatsky]

I know this is going to be on the bottom end of the tow vehicle scale, but Honda is advertising the pilot as having a 4500lb towing capacity.

Would this be suitable for a ITA crx and open trailer? It'd be nice to have a tow vehicle that's not too burly for daily driver duty in the city

For comparison's sake, I tow with a 4.3 astrovan right now, bone stock

[joeg]

Nah...It's furrin, too efficient and above all else, too quiet.

[lobster]

Chris, Most small pickups can tow 3500lbs with I-4's now! How much does the car and trailer weight? Add in spares and gear and you are most likely around 3500-3750 lbs so it should not be a problem Glenn

[turboICE]

My money is on the wheelbase being too short even if you can make the GCVW after loading and hooking up the trailer.

Stick with the Chevy Astro unless it is falling apart. I towed with the GMC version Safari AWD until this year and those make fine open trailer haulers especially for a CRX. For comparison I would frequently tow my STi with it.

[jc836]

I seriously doubt you will have success. I asked my HOnda dealer what they had available before I bought the truck. Our CRX is being towed by a Dakota w/4.7 because it is enough for the 20' aluminum trailer, bed full of gear and car. Wait till you try and it will be somewhat uncomfortable performance wise. We have a capacity of 6010gvwr on the truck and the trailer weighs ~3500 with car and no other things. That makes for 350 on the tongue. BTW: the trailer weighs 1300 dry versus 1800 for a 16' steel one.
I agree with others-don't do it.

(99 Prelude Base for sale)

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Grandpa's toys-modded suspensions and a few other tweaks
'89 CRX Si-SCCA ITA #99
'99 Prelude=a sweet song-FOR SALE
'03 Dodge Dakota Club Cab V8-Patriot Blue gonna tow

[Jake]

Absolutely. I've travelled long distances towing my MR2 with a Pilot. It's a great vehicle and tows without a problem. FWIW, my MR2 on an aluminum trailer weighs about 3500lbs, so I can use just about any car-based SUV to tow it. I've used an Acura MDX, BMW X3, BMW X5, Mitsubishi Endeavor, among others with great success.

[B Schley]

I towed with a 97 Jeep Cherokee straight 6 cyl. for two years. The listed towing capacity was 5000 lbs. I was pulling a 16ft. open steel trailer and a CRX. I think my total towing weight was about 4000-4200 lbs. The power of the Jeep was fine, but the wheelbase is just too short. Any wind or going through hills or not balancing the load made it a towing adventure. I added one set of rear leaf springs and I did invest in the weight distribution hitch that had the torsion bars to help with tongue weight. This helped balance out the Jeep and kept the nose from being too high. I still wouldn't recommend the Pilot. The wheelbase is too short and if the trailer starts swaying, you can't recover. I know from experience. Its not enough vehicle to tow. The wear and tear on the Jeep was too much. It has never felt the same after only two years of towing. I ended up getting a used V-10 Excursion, no problems now, but obviously not a daily driver because of fuel cost.
--Bill