They put a winch on a Dang Honda Pilot

This week we learned that Honda shuffles his activities around a bit Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) the official in-house aftermarket parts engineering house. A release teased that nine of its cars would be coming to the SEMA show in Las Vegas and mentioned a “Honda Pilot HRC Prototype” with off-road concepts. Well, we finally have a photo of the thing and it’s packed with every bro-tacular adventure gear, from a side-mounted fuel canister to a crazy winch bumper. However, there are some cool designs on display here. And you can’t say the idea isn’t radical.

The current Honda Pilot, the fourth generation that will be released in 2022, is great in terms of comfort and better in terms of driving characteristics than you would expect. In 2023 Honda introduced a TrailSport trim that bundles a nice combination of skid plates, knobby tires and nifty traction control calibration for respectable trail competence. The text linked above takes you to my review of one at some moderate tracks in Colorado, and this video clip provides some more context on the TrailSport’s technology:

The Pilot HRC prototype clearly takes this idea and goes much, much further with it. All the necessary parts that people like to buy for 4 Runners And Administrators are present. There’s significant lift (I don’t know yet how that’s achieved, we’ll have to get someone to look at SEMA), tires with lots of sidewalls, a steel bumper that resembles the axle of a locomotive, a sleek roof rack, and I think that I’ve already mentioned the five-litre Rotopax fuel can, mounted on some sort of window-covering cargo system.

The Warn winch looks nicely integrated, which is impressive because a winch isn’t small or light.

For the setup we see to be truly functional, I imagine the Pilot would need to get significantly stiffer front springs to keep that massive skid plate from turning into a dirt plow.

I like the idea of ​​a winch on a rig like this. Really, it’s a great insurance policy if and when you find yourself in mud, sand or silt that’s a little too soft. And a modified Pilot is exactly the kind of vehicle that lends itself perfectly to off-road adventures, until suddenly it doesn’t anymore. While some other platforms have lockers or great power to fall back on, as soon as one of these gets stuck, it will crash.

Personally, I’m getting a little tired of the look of the modern Overlander starter pack, but it’s still quite popular… or at least I know that more than a few 4Runners in my area are still lugging ladders and tents around town on look for cool points.

I’m honestly excited to see what Honda ultimately brings to market here. A Honda Pilot with a great set of tires provides a good dose of capability. Something like this HRC prototype could bring it closer to the 4Runner looks with better driving dynamics and better fuel economy.

Pricing and availability of specific parts are not yet known, but I’m betting we’ll be able to get more information as the 2024 SEMA show progresses.

Have any of you ever driven in an older Pilot? Email the author at [email protected].