PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA. Like it or not, minivans offer the best cargo/passenger-hauling versatility. But they're just not cool. In 2003, Honda addressed this dilemma by recycling a few Odyssey minivan parts to create the Pilot, which lost the minivan's nerdiness but kept all the benefits of its unibody, front-wheel-drive platform: a stiff structure, seating for eight, and better handling than its body-on-frame peers. Now, Honda has removed the last visible relic of the Pilot's minivan roots-the column-mounted shifter. The 2009 Pilot looks like a more muscular caricature of its predecessor, with enormous headlights, a menacing grille, and thick C-pillars. It's a bit bigger, too - overhangs are the same, but the wheelbase has been stretched by almost three inches, facilitating access to the nicely sized third-row seats.
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